synthesis of research on thinking & learning in the geosciences: developing representational...
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Synthesis of Research on Thinking & Learning in the Geosciences:
Developing Representational Competence
Kim A. Kastens(Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University)
Cathryn A. Manduca(SERC, Carleton College)
Geological Society of America, 19 October 2009
An NSF REESE Synthesis
Project
Knowledge Integration in Geosciences:
How to pull it all together?
So many terms
So manydata types
So many modes of inquiry
So manylocalities,
all different
No consensuscurriculum
Students struggle with knowledge integration
Percentage of Students Achieving NAEP Proficiency in 1990
Level 13 yrs 17 yrs
150 Knows everyday scientific facts 100 100
200 Understands simple scientific principles
97 97
250 Applies basic scientific information 57 81
300 Analyzes scientific procedures and data
11 43
350 Integrates specialized scientific information
0 9
Source: Baker & Piburn (1997) Constructing Science
How can Geoscience educators foster knowledge integration?
Integrate around professional practices of scientists
• Practices of scientific discourse (IQWST)• Use of representations/ visualizations• Use of physical and computer models
Integrate the content• Integrate around a place or region• Integrate around a societally-important problem• Integrate around big ideas of science
“Representational Competence” (Schank and Kozma, 2002)
Big Problem for Geoscience Education:
• The Earth is 18 orders of magnitude larger than your classroom.
Classroom (exaggerated)
Earth
3. Use representations
There are three, and only three, ways to cope with this fundamental challenge:
http://www.school-assemblies-dinosaur-program.com/arts_in_education.htm
1. Bring small pieces of the Earth into your classroom (e.g. minerals, fossils)
2. Bring students out of the classroom to observe pieces of the Earth in nature.
http://eesc.columbia.edu/courses/v1010/index.html
Geoscientists use a lot of kinds of
representations
• What does it mean to have “representational competence”? • How can we foster this expertise?
Water in Oceans Water in Atmosphere
Evaporation
Temperature of AtmosphereGreenhouse Effect
Water in Oceans 2 Water in Atmosphere 2
Evaporation 2
Albedo Cloud cover
Four components of representational competence
1. Ability to read and write geoscientists’ conventional representations (basic literacy)
2. Metarepresentational understanding (the nature of representations and representational strategies)
3. Ability to invent suitable representations to record and convey novel concepts or new data types
4. Ability to make inferences about Earth processes from representations (“meaning-making”)
http://middlezonemusings.com/trust-chicken-egg/.
Concept of earthquak
e slip direction
1. Ability to read and write geoscientists’ conventional representations (basic
literacy)
2. Understanding about the nature of representations and representational
strategies
Adapted from Liben in Damon & Lerner, 2006.
(Earth)Learner
Insight from Clark & Wiebe (2000) Journal of Technology Studies, v26.
Data-driven Visualization Concept-driven Visualization
Reynolds et al. (2010)
Knowledge of representational strategies: Distinguish between…
Reynolds et al. (2010)
Universal Truths
Mantle wells upbeneath mid-ocean ridge
Mid-ocean ridge vulcanism is basaltic
Volcanoes occur above subduction zone
Conditional Truths
Arc vulcanism is only sometimes andesitic
Overriding plate is only sometimes continental
Continent-ocean boundary is only sometimes an active margin (subduction zone).
Concept-driven visualizations often overspecify; they commit to a single set of options.
The Blue Planet p. 152
Insight from Dutrow (2007)
Representation suitable for data interpretation
Representation suitable for communicating
www.geography.wisc.edu/classes/geog331/VostokSlide400kweb.jpg
www.ferdinand-engelbeen.be/klimaat/eemian.html
Knowledge of representational strategies: Distinguish between…
3. Ability to invent suitable representations to record and convey novel concepts or new
data types
http://www.unh.edu/esci/greatmap.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:William_Smith_(geologist).jpg
Portions of the first geological map and legend
Cross-section
William Smith
Novices Invent Representational Strategies
Collaborators: Lynn Liben, Shruti Agrawal, Toru Ishikawa
Invented representations for dip angle
…and come across as an ingenious solution to an authentic representational challenge ….
Eventually, the professionally accepted representations are introduced…
…. rather than an arbitrary, imposed convention.
4. Ability to make inferences about Earth processes from representations
Divergent Plate Boundary
Divergent Plate Boundary
Transform Plate Boundary
Seamounts
Continental Fragment
Kastens, K.A., Macdonald, K.C., Becker, K., and Crane, K., 1979, Marine Geophysical Researches, 4, 129-151.
Suggestion for meaning-making: Hypothesis templates
Example: in a spatial representation, objects or phenomena are clustered.
There are recurring patterns in representations.
One final thought:In Geoscience education,
representational competence is a means, not an end.
Adapted from Liben in Damon & Lerner, 2006.
(Earth)
Earth Sciencelearning goals are here . . .
. . . not here
Learner
DeBruin, Richard (1970) 100 Topographic Maps: Illustrating Physiographic Features, p19.
Google Maps
Students no longer need representational strategy of topographic contours to examine landforms!
Learning goal: How glaciers shape the
landscape
• Because of the size and spatial character of Earth phenomena, geoscientists use many and varied representations
• Competence in using representations is a core expertise in Geoscience which can serve as a unifying theme across the curriculum
• Competencies include:• Ability to understand and produce standard Geo representations• Metarepresentational understanding about how representations work in general• Ability to invent effective representations to convey novel ideas or observations• Ability to infer meaning about Earth processes from representations
• Representational competence in Geosciences is a means not an end; the goal is to understand the referent, the Earth.
Summary
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