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)
An NSF REESE
Synthesis Project
Geological Society of America, 19 October 2009
Knowledge Integration in Geosciences:
How to pull it all together?
So many
terms
So many
modes of inquiry
So many
data types
So many
localities,
all different
No consensus
curriculum
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 the content
• Integrate around a place or region
• Integrate around a societally-important problem
• Integrate around big ideas of science
Integrate around professional practices of scientists
• Practices of scientific discourse (IQWST)
• Use of representations/ visualizations
• Use of physical and computer models
“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
There are three, and only three, ways to cope with this
fundamental challenge:
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.
3. Use representations
http://eesc.columbia.edu/courses/v1010/index.html
http://www.school-assemblies-dinosaur-program.com/arts_in_education.htm
Geoscientists use a lot of representations
Geoscientists use a lot of
kinds of representations
Wa ter i n Oce ans
Wa ter i n Atmosp here
Evapo ratio n
Te mpera ture of Atmos phere
Green hous e Effect
• What does it mean to have “representational competence”?
• How can we foster this expertise?
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”)
1. Ability to read and write geoscientists’
conventional representations (basic literacy)
Concept of
earthquake
slip direction
http://middlezonemusings.com/trust-chicken-egg/.
2. Understanding about the nature of
representations and representational strategies
Learner
(Earth)
Adapted from Liben in Damon & Lerner, 2006.
Knowledge of representational strategies:
Distinguish between…
Reynolds et al. (2010)
Reynolds et al. (2010)
Data-driven Visualization
Concept-driven Visualization
Insight from Clark & Wiebe (2000) Journal of Technology Studies, v26.
Universal Truths
Conditional Truths
Mid-ocean ridge
vulcanism is basaltic
Arc vulcanism is only
sometimes andesitic
Continent-ocean boundary is
only sometimes an active
margin (subduction zone).
Volcanoes occur
above subduction zone
Overriding
plate is only
sometimes
continental
The Blue Planet p. 152
Mantle wells up
beneath midocean ridge
Concept-driven visualizations often overspecify;
they commit to a single set of options.
Expert’s epistemological
model of one data-driven
visualization
Collaborator: Sandra Swenson
Knowledge of representational strategies: Distinguish
between…
Representation suitable for
data interpretation
Representation
suitable
for communicating
www.ferdinand-engelbeen.be/klimaat/eemian.html
Insight from Dutrow (2007)
www.geography.wisc.edu/classes/geog331/VostokSlide400kweb.jpg
3. Ability to invent suitable representations to
record and convey novel concepts or new data
types
Cross-section
William Smith
Portions of the first geological map and legend
http://www.unh.edu/esci/greatmap.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:William_Smith_(geologist).jpg
Novices Invent Representational Strategies
Source: Enyedy (2005).
Novices Invent Representational Strategies
Invented
representations
for dip angle
Collaborators: Lynn Liben, Shruti Agrawal, Toru Ishikawa
Eventually, the professionally accepted representations are
introduced…
…and come across as an ingenious solution to an authentic
representational challenge ….
…. rather than an arbitrary, imposed convention.
4. Ability to make inferences about
Earth processes from representations
Divergent Plate Boundary
Transform Plate Boundary
Continental Fragment
Seamounts
Divergent Plate Boundary
Kastens, K.A., Macdonald, K.C., Becker, K., and Crane, K., 1979, Marine Geophysical Researches, 4, 129-151.
Suggestion for meaning-making:
Hypothesis templates
There are recurring
patterns in
representations.
Example: in a
spatial
representation,
objects or
phenomena are
clustered.
Hypothesis templates (continued)
One final thought:
In Geoscience education,
representational competence is a means, not an end.
Learner
(Earth)
Earth Science
learning goals are
here . . .
. . . not here
Adapted from Liben in Damon & Lerner, 2006.
Students no longer need
representational strategy of
topographic contours to examine
landforms!
Learning goal: How
glaciers shape the
landscape
Google Maps
DeBruin, Richard (1970) 100 Topographic Maps:
Illustrating Physiographic Features, p19.
Summary
• 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.
Join the conversation: serc.carleton.edu/earthandmind