Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Higher Education
ACCE DTP EDI Report 2023
Published: 2023-11-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Education, Environmental Sciences, Higher Education
Underrepresentation of minoritised and historically disadvantaged groups is prevalent in PhD recruitment, particularly in environmental sciences. The environmental science focussed ‘Adapting to the Challenges of a Changing Environment’ Doctoral Training Partnership (ACCE DTP) was awarded funding from the Natural Environment Research Council for an EDI-centred project. This project aimed to [...]
Towards Understanding the Geospatial Skills of ChatGPT: Taking a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Exam
Published: 2023-06-20
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Education, Environmental Studies, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Higher Education, Other Geography, Science and Mathematics Education, Spatial Science
This paper examines the performance of ChatGPT, a large language model (LLM), in a geographic information systems (GIS) exam. As LLMs like ChatGPT become increasingly prevalent in various domains, including education, it is important to understand their capabilities and limitations in specialized subject areas such as GIS. Human learning of spatial concepts significantly differs from LLM training [...]
Barriers to, and opportunities for off-grid sanitation provision in the rapidly urbanizing city of Mekelle, Ethiopia: Reimagining human waste as “brown gold” for environmental management and livelihood improvement
Published: 2023-06-08
Subjects: Higher Education
Inappropriate or poorly constructed sanitation is becoming one of the major challenges confronting rapidly urbanizing cities in the global south such as Ethiopia. This study was carried out to understand the sanitation and solid waste management challenges present in the city of Mekelle, in order to identify opportunities for sustainable faecal and solid waste management. This involved [...]
“you just look at rocks, and have beards” Perceptions of geology from the UK: a qualitative analysis from an online survey.
Published: 2023-03-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Higher Education
In the last few decades, Geology courses, particularly in the Global North have seen a decline in student enrolment. Geologists have linked this downturn to a lack of exposure to the subject at school and college level. This work seeks to understand the public’s relationship with Geology and draws on over 5000 open-ended question responses to a survey disseminated in 2021. The survey asked both [...]
Optimizing Sowing Window for Mungbean and its Adaptation Option for the South-Central Zone of Bangladesh in Future Climate Change Scenario Using APSIM Model
Published: 2023-02-20
Subjects: Higher Education
The Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) model was calibrated and validated and used to optimize the sowing window for mungbean (var. BARI Mung-6) at Gazipur, the South-central climatic zone of Bangladesh. Simulation was also done with elevated temperatures (1, 2 and 3 ºC) to find out the adaptation option against future temperature stress situations. The model was run for eight [...]
An interview with ChatGPT: discussing artificial intelligence in teaching, research, and practice
Published: 2023-02-15
Subjects: Engineering Education, Geology, Geotechnical Engineering, Higher Education
This paper examines the potential of using the AI language model ChatGPT in the field of engineering geology. The authors, an engineering geologist and a university teacher, conduct a series of conversations with ChatGPT to explore its capabilities in assisting with research and learning, and its potential implications for scientific publications. The paper also considers the future of human-AI [...]
Practical Reproducibility in Geography and Geosciences
Published: 2022-03-28
Subjects: Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Higher Education
Reproducible research is often perceived as a technological challenge, but it is rooted in the challenge to improve scholarly communication in an age of digitisation. When computers become involved and researchers want to allow other scientists to inspect, understand, evaluate, and build upon their work, they need to create a research compendium that includes the code, data, computing [...]
University of Sheffield Department of Geography Policy on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for field classes
Published: 2022-01-28
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geography, Higher Education, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Field-based teaching forms an important part of BSc/BA degree courses in Human Geography, Physical Geography, Environmental Science and taught postgraduate courses. The aim of this policy is to ensure that all students and teaching staff are able, and feel safe, to participate fully in compulsory and optional field classes offered by the Department of Geography. This is shared with the intention [...]
Safety and Belonging in the Field: A Checklist for Educators
Published: 2021-08-19
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Biogeochemistry, Climate, Cosmochemistry, Earth Sciences, Education, Environmental Education, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Fresh Water Studies, Geochemistry, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Geology, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Glaciology, Higher Education, Human Geography, Hydrology, Life Sciences, Meteorology, Mineral Physics, Natural Resource Economics, Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Nature and Society Relations, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Other Earth Sciences, Other Environmental Sciences, Other Geography, Other Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Other Planetary Sciences, Outdoor Education, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Physical and Environmental Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Biogeochemistry, Planetary Geochemistry, Planetary Geology, Planetary Geomorphology, Planetary Geophysics and Seismology, Planetary Glaciology, Planetary Hydrology, Planetary Mineral Physics, Planetary Sciences, Planetary Sedimentology, Remote Sensing, Sedimentology, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Soil Science, Spatial Science, Speleology, Stratigraphy, Sustainability, Tectonics and Structure, Volcanology, Water Resource Management
Ensuring taught fieldwork is a positive, generative, collective, and valuable experience for all participants requires considerations beyond course content. To guarantee safety and belonging, participants’ identities (backgrounds and protected characteristics) must be considered as a part of fieldwork planning and implementation. Furthermore, getting fieldwork right is an important step in [...]
Orbital, the Box - An interactive educational tool for in-depth understanding of astronomical climate forcing.
Published: 2021-04-07
Subjects: Adult and Continuing Education, Astrophysics and Astronomy, Climate, Earth Sciences, Education, Educational Methods, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Higher Education, Instructional Media Design, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, The Sun and the Solar System
“Orbital, the Box” provides an interactive tool with graphical user interface (GUI) for stimulating active, visual learning for understanding of astronomical climate forcing. This cross-platform tool can be run locally on a personal computer using a standard web browser environment with no need for plugins, thus maximising accessibility for students and teachers alike. The tool facilitates in the [...]
The True Cost of Field Education is a Barrier to Diversifying Geosciences
Published: 2021-02-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Education, Environmental Sciences, Geology, Higher Education, Outdoor Education, Science and Mathematics Education
Fieldwork is considered critical to developing technical skills in geoscience education, and typical undergraduate degrees require >30 days in the field. Tuition costs of enrolling in field camp are acknowledged as a barrier to participation in geosciences; however, the cost of participation in field activities may also include the cost of personal field gear (hiking boots, backpacks, etc.), [...]
Structural controls on the emplacement and evacuation of magma from a sub-volcanic laccolith; Reyðarártindur Laccolith, SE Iceland
Published: 2021-01-06
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Higher Education, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Science and Mathematics Education, Tectonics and Structure, Volcanology
Learning by Doing: Enhancing Hydrology Lectures with Individual Fieldwork Projects
Published: 2019-03-19
Subjects: Education, Higher Education, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Hydrology teaching deals with processes happening outside the classroom, which calls for active-learning methods to complement lectures. In a geography undergraduate course, new teaching methods and assessment were designed, in which students investigated a river of their choice by completing homework tasks and presenting their results on a poster. During a 3-year implementation process, the [...]
Opportunities for Classes of Geography in the High School: the Use of ’CORINE’ Project Data, Satellite Images and IDRISI GIS for Geovisualization
Published: 2019-02-13
Subjects: Adult and Continuing Education, Education, Educational Methods, Environmental Education, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Higher Education, Human Geography, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Nature and Society Relations, Physical and Environmental Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Remote Sensing, Science and Mathematics Education, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Spatial Science, Sustainability
Presented work illustrates application of the GIS based processing of various geographic data: satellite images and CORINE (Coordination of Information on the Environment) layers at the lessons of geography in the high schools and universities. The research illustrates GIS application for understanding, visualizing and modeling landscapes of the Earth. Practically, the work aims to demonstrate [...]
Knowledge in the Dark: Scientific Challenges and Ways Forward
Published: 2018-03-26
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Education, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Higher Education, Language and Literacy Education, Liberal Studies, Library and Information Science, Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Public Health, Science and Mathematics Education, Social and Behavioral Sciences
We propose the concept of knowledge in the dark – or short: dark knowledge – and outline how it can help clarify why in our current era of Big Data, the knowledge (i.e. evidence-based understanding) of people does not seem to be substantially increasing despite a rapid increase in produced data and information. Key reasons underlying dark knowledge are: (1) the production of biased, erroneous or [...]