These results are consistent with the findings from other disciplines over multiple years.  Redesigning Higher Education (Gardiner, et al., 1994) reported on a 1980 study (Pellino, et al., 1981) in which 73 to 83 percent of the college teachers surveyed identified the lecture method as their usual instructional strategy.  Hence, despite recent and well designed efforts over the past decade to produce learning objects and pedagogical strategies that reflect new understandings on how people learn geosciences instruction continues to be dominated by traditional lecture methods.  This result of course does not mean teaching is substandard, but it does illustrate how difficult it is (and will be) to retool the field.

It is perhaps not surprising that instruction has not changed dramatically over the past decades.  When the same two geosciences educator groups were asked, “Which of the following have influenced your teaching techniques for survey courses?” most reported that they still tend to rely on methods learned either from their mentors and/or from their peers.  Learning from mentors and peers is not, in itself, an undesirable way to learn how to teach, especially if your peers are experienced in effective pedagogical practices.  But the pragmatic approach of teaching as we were taught is less likely to produce significant change in teaching methods.