Mid-Ocean Ridge Conceptests

Conceptests are single item multiple choice questions given in the middle of a lecture to assess students' learning of basic concepts. This technique was originally developed in physics (Mazur, 1997), but has been migrated to geoscience by McConnell et al (2006). Students answer the question individually. While the student answers are tallied, students discuss the question with their neighbors. Afterwards, the students reanswer the question. Benefits are reported as as better engagement of students, students more focused on concepts, better pacing by teacher, better attendance, and better all over learning as assessed by concept inventories.

These mid-ocean ridge conceptests were developed by Kim Kastens and Linda Pistolesi, as part of the education component of the Marine Geoscience Data System project. We welcome comments and suggestions to kastens@ldeo.columbia.edu.

Rock Type on Mid-Ocean Ridge

• Variant A: words
• Variant B: compositions
• Variant C: photos of hand samples
• Variant D: photomicrographs

Direction of Motion of Sea Floor Near Mid-Ocean Ridge

• Variant A: arrows along transform segment (answer key)
• Variant B: arrows along spreading segment

Sediments Near Mid-Ocean Ridge

• Variant A: words
• Variant B: photomicrographs

Age of Sea Floor Near Mid-Ocean Ridge

• Variant A: words (answer key)

The development of Mid-Ocean Ridge Conceptests has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Grant OCE03-28117. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.