Pedagogy of structural measurements in the field: A comparison of the compass clinometer vs digital field work apps on learning and retention for male and female students

With the widespread adoption of digital field work technologies across the geoscience industry sector, it is desirable for the employability of graduating students that universities incorporate these practices into their degree programmes. It is conceivable that the use of such technology might both positively and negatively impact the learning of structural geology concepts. Positive impacts might come from live visual displays of structural data on stereonets and the ability to rapidly collect extensive datasets, whilst negative impacts may stem from the reduced time taken to gather individual measurements and from the use of 'black box' technology, which could prevent the understanding of underlying concepts. In Addition, the effects may also differ across genders, as female children are less likely to be given toys that are beneficial to the development of spatial skills in early childhood.

Here, we present the results from a field test of the digital fieldwork app 'Fieldmove Clino', which was used by students to record structural geology data during a two-day mapping exercise around Loch na Gainmhich, in Assynt. We assess the impact of the app on the learning and understanding of (1) structural geology measurements and concepts, and (2) 3D structural visualisation and stereogram interpretation. As part of the study, students were initially taught about and tested on these concepts, before being split into two groups of equal ability and gender distribution (allowing us to control for these factors). The mapping exercise was then undertaken by both student groups, the first using the Fieldmove Clino app to record structural data, whilst the second used a traditional compass clinometer. Students were subsequently retested using the same multiple-choice quiz, allowing the 'change' in each student's ability to be measured, which removes the effect of standard deviation in student ability from our results. The distribution of 'change' in student ability shows that using the app does not impact the learning and understanding of (1), however, it markedly benefits the learning and retention of (2). Furthermore, despite a small sample of females in the study, we demonstrate an apparently much greater benefit of using such technology to learning in females than in males.