Helping Students Thrive in Geoscience at Two-Year Colleges: Selected Strategies
IDENTIFY THE ISSUES RELATED TO SUPPORTING STUDENT TRANSFER
A. Svetlana a first generation college student who is doing very well in your introductory meteorology course. Last semester she took Peter’s geology course and Sybil’s oceanography course. This is her next – to- last term at Paducah Community College and you think she is planning to attend a four-year school. When you ask her if that is the case and what she plans to major in she replies yes she does plan to apply to the local four-year state school but is unsure of what major to choose or whether she can afford the tuition. She appears to have an aptitude for the geosciences.
B. Ivar served four years of active duty in the navy. He finished his service and returned home with the goal of becoming an oceanographer. He knew that he would be eligible for 36 months of GI Bill education benefits under the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Before joining the navy he had attended one year of community college. He returns to your school and is a student in your geology course.
C. Alexander has just transferred to Reynold’s University and is taking a full load of courses including GEO 331 Mineralogy and Physics 211. Both courses require considerable out of class work. Students in the courses seem to work together in the new science library on the problem sets. Alexander does not know any of the students in his courses. He is struggling to complete the homework successfully and is afraid he will fail his courses
D. Renatta is a freshman and one of the best students you have ever had in your class. She has strong analytical, verbal and writing skills. You can tell she has the capacity to succeed in graduate school and in your discussions with her she tells you she is very interested in astrophysics.
E. Jessica has had a checkered experience at Franklin Community College which she has attended on and off for the past four years. She has taken a wide variety of courses, some of which she has failed more than once and has a 1.95 GPA. In the past year she appears to have become more serious about her studies (she paid attention to the metacognition talk from her geology professor) and has done well in two of the geoscience courses she retook. She comes to you to ask whether she could continue on for a BS degree in this field.
F. Lily is a first generation college student who did well in her studies at Tillamook Community College and transferred to the closest four-year University to major in geology. She is interested in working in a field technician’s position. The Earth Sciences department has four tracks for its majors each of which have different course requirements. Lily has no idea which one would suit her interest best but needs to register for her fall courses on-line next week.
G.. Favio is a single parent with two children in elementary school. He plans to attend the local four-year college to get a teaching degree. He is not doing well in your environmental geology course and you expect he will fail the course.
H. Paul has always wanted to be an oceanographer. He takes as many ocean-oriented courses that he can at a two-year school and then transfers to a University that offers an oceanography degree and has lots of opportunities to get involved with “real-world” oceanographic experiences. His first class in the oceanography major sequence is physical oceanography and he realizes that he is ill prepared for the amount of math that the course requires. By the midterm, he realizes he will likely fail the course, which will mean he cannot take the next class in the sequence.