Greetings colleagues,
Julie Libarkin and I, along with colleagues in geography and cognitive
sciences, are working on a project that will investigate the underlying
cognitive processes used by novice and expert geoscientists; we are
particularly interested in discovering key similarities and differences in
different populations along the expert-novice continuum. This work will provide
cognitive sciences -based evidence for future education and instructional
design initiatives. Since the list-serve is brand new, we thought it might be a
good opportunity to try it out as a means for both communicating our ongoing
work and gauging community interest in this project.
We are submitting a REESE proposal to NSF next week (1/8). Although we
have solicited letters of support and/or participation for this and past
proposals through traditional means, this list-serve provides us with an
opportunity to show NSF that the geocognition and geoscience education research
community is active and interested. A brief description of the project is
pasted below; please let us know if you might be interested in participating as
a research subject, support the project as a needed next step for the field,
know of any ongoing research we should consider, or would like us to keep you
updated as our work progresses! Participation in the project could include one
or both of the following: (1) two days of bedrock mapping in the Michigan UP
with data collected consisting of maps, GPS tracks, and possibly a follow-up
interview, and (2) experimental tasks at MSU consisting of memorization,
sorting, and observation activities.
Please email [log in to unmask] and/or
[log in to unmask] directly, so we don't
clutter the list-serve; of course, a discussion about this utility or
fruitlessness of this type of work over the list-serve would be great!
RESEARCH SYNOPSIS: Learning Across the Expert-Novice Continuum: Cognition
in the Geosciences
The overall goal of the project is to
better understand the transition from novice to expert geoscientist from a
cognitive perspective. Specifically we will look at three
populations: undergraduate junior/senior geology majors engaged in their first
field-training experience (novices), graduate students with some field training
and/or field-based data collection experience, and professional geoscientists
with more extensive field data collection experience (experts). The goal will
be met as we:
1) Characterize the knowledge and
behavior of the three populations as they are engaged in an authentic field-mapping task through
collection of both quantitative and qualitative data. The task consists of a
day-long mapping project in which participants create a geologic map of a small
region; this task is both typical of field-based educational programs and
representative of actual professional geologic practice. Analysis of these data
sets will address the question of how knowledge, reasoning, and problem-solving
skills related to the natural world develops and manifests across the
novice-expert spectrum.
2) Characterize the cognitive
processes of the three populations as they are engaged in experimental cognitive tasks through
collection of data from performance on the tasks and think-aloud interviews as
participants complete tasks. These data will help answer the question of
whether or not visualization skill is a critical aspect of geological
expertise. Furthermore, these tasks will enable us to closely tie our project
results to the larger expert-novice literature in the cognitive sciences.
3) Link data sets from both types of
tasks to gain a comprehensive picture of novice to expert geological thinking.
Please let us know what you think!
Thanks and take care,
Heather and Julie
-------------------
Heather L. Petcovic
Assistant Professor
Department of Geosciences and
The George G. Mallinson Institute for Science Education
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, MI 49008
(269) 387-5488 Geosciences
(269) 387-5380 Science Education
(269) 387-5513 FAX