What problems are we trying to solve through
use of data, simulations and visualizations
in Geoscience education
and
how research on learning can help
Kim Kastens
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University
Presented at New Tools Workshop
February 11, 2008
The Fundamental Challenge
of 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
What kinds of representations can we use
for teaching & learning about the Earth?
• Words
• narratives (e.g. eye witness accounts)
• textbook descriptions
• analogy/metaphor
• Equations
• Numbers
• Gestures (e.g. hand over hand motion for subduction)
• Physical models
• static models (e.g. syncline)
• working model (e.g. stream table)
• Photographs
• Video
• Drawings
• realistic drawings
• artist’s rendering of conceptual models
• Maps (including GIS)
• Data-based visualizations (other than maps, including graphs)
• Computer animations (not manipulatable)
• Computer models (manipulatable; student-built and non-student-built)
Which kinds of representations do you think are most
commonly used in Geoscience education?
3. Satellite
Data
1. Artist’s rendering
2. Map
3. Satellite data
5. Table
4. Data Graph
6. Data
Visualization
8. Photo
7. Diagram
1. The Blue Planet p. 152, 2. The Blue Planet p. 153, 3. Earth Science p. 379, 4.The Blue Planet p. 96,5. The Blue Planet p.
371, 6. Earth Science p. 422 7. The Blue Planet p. 5, 8.Earth Science p. 25
Category
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ap
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Ar
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Number of Images
Prentice Hall Earth Science
244
200
150
75
8
0
2
300
250
239
213
Number of Images
200
150
100
90
78
50
30
18
16
12
Diagrams
Data Satelite
Other
0
Artist's
Rendering
Photos
Graphs
Maps
Tables
Category
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
Problem: Artists’ renderings of conceptual models
overspecify: they commit to a single set of options.
Search term: “Water Cycle”
Evaporation only over the ocean?
Total Sites Yes No
20
12 8
http://education.jlab.org/reading/water_cycle.html
Precipitation only on land/continents?
Total Sites Yes No
20
16 4
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/ocean/Wate
rcycle.shtml
Precipitation only over the mountains?
Total Sites Yes No
20
11 9
http://www.troy.k12.ny.us/faculty/dibarij/earth%20science/117.html
Land on the left and ocean on the right?
Total Sites
20
Yes
15
No
5
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/graphics/watercyclehigh.jpg
Why so much similarity?
What are the consequences of such similarity?
Craft data-using activities that will have students use
spatial thinking and confront Earth’s spatial variability
1. The Earth and environment vary
across space on all scales.
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Snowpack Depth
Craft data-using activities that will have students use
spatial thinking and confront Earth’s spatial variability
2. Geoscientists rely on natural
experiments, which often take the form of
methodically examining variation over
space:
• by latitude
• by altitude or depth
• along an onshore-offshore gradient
• along an upstream-downstream gradient
• along a rural-urban gradient
• by position in the plate tectonic mosaic
Craft data-using activities that will have students use
spatial thinking and confront Earth’s spatial variability
3. If location/position is not
your independent variable,
it’s probably a confounding
factor.
http://geology.about.com/library/bl/maps/blnewyorkmap.htm
versus
Physical Sciences
• It doesn’t matter where you are:
focus is on that is which is true
everywhere, every time.
Lab Report
Methods: We made our
observations at 40° 47'
N, 73° 58' W, 72 cm
above the floor level, at
the front table, in room
558 Schermerhorn.
Earth & Environmental Sciences
• It matters crucially where you
are.
–Variation from place to place has
causes.
– Variation from place to place has
consequences.
Field photo from: http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/users/menke/slides/EESC2200FIELDTRIP04/fieldtrip_3.html
Lab photo from: www.ldeo.columbia.edu/edu/DLESE/activities/Galileo/index.html
A systems view of Earth & Environmental Research and Education
A systems view of Earth & Environmental Research and Education
A systems view of Earth & Environmental Research and Education
A systems view of Earth & Environmental Research and Education
A systems view of Earth & Environmental Research and Education
A systems view of Earth & Environmental Research and Education
Instrument
Builders
Information
Specialists
Scientists
Curriculum
Developers
Environmental
Educators
Teachers
How?
Problem #3: It’s a huge leap from data to understanding.
What aids and insights can we provide to students that will help
them make this leap?
…. in addition to access to the data?
Hypothesis: scaffold data exploration by providing a choice array.
(from Mayer, 2002, based on software by W. Prothero)
First Training Approach: Look at sketches of possible geological
features: “Pictorial Training”
(after Mayer et al, 2002)
Second training approach: “Strategic Scaffolding”
(after Mayer et al, 2002)
Correct answers out of 5:
Control (no aids)
M=2.36 SD=1.52
M=3.25 SD=1.41
M=2.90 SD=1.78
Both aids
M=3.39 SD=1.41
Analyzing and clearly articulating the
strategies used by experts…..
…. was not as valuable as providing a
visual array of candidate answers.
How do geology students learn to visualize 3-D geologic
structures from the limited information available in outcrops?
?
Artificial Outcrop Project
What we analyze:
• Inscriptions recorded as they
observe outcrops
• Actions as they observe outcrops
• Their selection from an array of 3-D
physical models
• Videotape of their explanation of
why they chose model
Did you already have any kind of a picture in your
mind of the shape of the structure before we came
back here and looked at the models?
Did participants have a mental image of the shape
of the structure?
Next frame: Video
from a science
major with no
initial mental model
Number of participants
14
12
10
8
6
12
7
6
Yes
6
No
4
2
1
0
Science majors
Experts
Participants
Non-science majors
Video shows student
using choice array to
guide methodical
reasoning process.
Expert begins the task
pre-equipped with an
array of plausible
shapes, that vary with
respect to symmetry,
aspect ratio, etc.
Choice array gives the student
access to the same library of
possibilities.
Choice array supported methodical reasoning from observations.
Could we generalize this insight to other kinds of data and observations?
In “Planet Earth” class,
students explore a data
set of ocean temperature
and salinity, with a data
viewer that lets them
make any N-S, E-W or
horizontal slice, and
zoom or pan at will.
They are supposed to
“discover” the
Mediterranean salt
tongue.
Existing Scaffolding
Go to http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/dees/ees/
Click “Data”
Click “Oceanographic”
Select “Annual: LEVITUS Salinity”
Click anywhere on the map. The control buttons should appear around the map.
This will bring you a view of the salinity of the world ocean, as shown on the Lamont Data Viewer.
(1) You can zoom in or out by using the “zoom” pulldown menu and clicking “redraw. ” For example
"x4" zoom brings you to a view that is four times as detailed as the previous view. Zoom in the region
of the Mediterranean and eastern North Atlantic.
(2) The colors show the salinity of the water according the scale beneath the map. What is the
maximum salinity in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic? What is the minimum salinity? (Show
units.)
….. Snip….
(4) Initially the display shows the salinity of the water at the surface of the ocean (0m depth). You can
change the depth of the display by typing a new number in the space above the map and clicking
“Redraw.” Use the depth controls to scroll down through the water column in 100m increments.
Observe how salinity varies with depth in the region near the Straits of Gibraltar. Write your
observations below:
Would a choice array be better scaffolding?
An array of spatial hypotheses:
choose and defend one model, based on data…
Cartoon-like sketches may more nearly
approximate our mental images than would
polished renderings.
Answer should not be guessable in advance
from “textbook learning.”
Structure requires commitment; no vague
waffling.
Problem #4: Where a geoscientist sees trends and processes,
some students see just blotches of color, dots, and wiggly lines.
Object versus Spatial Visualization: Perception
Dorsal Pathway (“Where”?)
• Size
• Position
• Orientation
• Grasping objects
Ventral Pathway (“What”?)
• Shape
• Color
• Texture
• Recognizing objects
(Figure simplified from Milner and Goodale, 1995.
Science from Ungerleider, L., & Haxby, J. V. (1994) and many others.)
Object versus Spatial Visualization: Mental Imagery
Dorsal Pathway
(“Where”?)
• Lights up in fMRI when
recalling a memorized map.
• If injured, can’t describe or
draw spatial layout of
scenes.
Ventral Pathway (“What”?)
• Lights up when recalling
faces or visualizing colors.
• If injured, can’t draw
objects from memory.
Refs: Farah et al (1988), Uhl et al (1990).
Object versus Spatial Visualization: Cognitive Style
“Verbalizers”
Jack, Paul, and Brian all have
birthdays on January 1st, but
Jack is one year older than Paul
and Jack is three years younger
than Brian. If Brian is 10 years
old, how old is Paul?
“Spatial
Visualizers”
“Visualizers”
“Object
Visualizers”
Kozhevnikov, et al. (2005), Hegarty & Kozhevnikov (1999)
“Spatial Visualizers” score
well on mental rotation and
paper folding.
Kozhevnikov, et al. (2005)
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“Object Visualizers” score well
on degraded pictures task.
Kozhevnikov, et al. (2005)
Object Visualizers score well
on tasks of face recognition
and “Greeble” recognition.
Gauthier & Tarr (1997); Wooley, et al. (2006)
van de Paverd (1995).
Application to Physics
Education Research:
Task: Visualize, describe and
draw the situation depicted by
the graph above.
Kozhevnikov, et al. (2005)
Object-Spatial Imagery Questionnaire
Object Visualizers agree with:
Spatial Visualizers agree with:
"My mental pictures are very
detailed precise representations
of the real things.”
"My images are more like schematic
representations of things and events.”
"I can close my eyes and easily
picture a scene that I have
experienced.”
"I have excellent visual memory; I
can recount what people wore for
a dinner, the way they sat and
looked.”
…etc.
Blajenkova et al., 2006
"I can easily rotate three dimensional
geometric figures."
"I am good at playing spatial games
involving constructing from blocks and
papers."
…etc.
Geoscience tasks that seem likely to tap
spatial visualization ability:
• mentally unfolding or unfaulting rock layers
• projections: map projections, ternary
diagrams, stereonet plots
• mentally rotation: e.g. plates into former or
future configurations
• remembering where an outcrop, fossil,
structure, etc. was located
Geoscience tasks that seem likely to tap object visualization ability:
• interpretation of imagery: photographs, seismic reflection, side-looking
sonar, remote sensing
• discerning sedimentary structures, faults or other features in outcrop
• identifying and classifying: fossils, rocks, minerals
• geomorphology, including identification and interpretation of landforms
• remembering what an outcrop, fossil, or map looked like.
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Figure 16-1 in: Kennett, James (1982) Marine Geology. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/glossary/A_D/dune.html
Object versus Spatial Visualization: Questions
• Does geoscience require both object visualization and
spatial visualization abilities?
• If so, can geoscience activities rich in object visualization
provide an attractive entrée point into science for students
left cold by typical spatially-demanding science curricula?
• If it is true that the two abilities co-occur rarely, how can
we foster object visualization in natural spatial visualizers
and vice versa, to create geoscientists who can do both?
Object versus Spatial Visualization: Actions
• As you develop your visually-rich multimedia materials,
exercise and assess both spatial and object visualization
ability.
If you dredged a rock sample from near the
crest of the East Pacific Rise, which
Version 1
rock type would you be most likely to advantages
recover?
verbalizers?
(a) Basalt
(b) Sandstone
(c) Granite
(d) Not enough information to determine
Version 3
advantages
object
visualizers?
Version 2
advantages
spatial
visualizers?
Problem #5: The Earth System is very complicated
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(http://www.usra.edu/esse/BrethColor.GIF)
“Distributed Cognition”
Unit of analysis for cognition:
Task: Piloting a
naval vessel into
San Diego harbor.
• one brain
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Images from: http://www.careers.govt.nz/
Science from Hutchins (1995)
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“Distributed Cognition”
Unit of analysis for cognition:
Task: Piloting a
naval vessel into
San Diego harbor.
• one brain
• brain + tool
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Images from: http://www.careers.govt.nz/
Science from Hutchins (1995)
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“Distributed Cognition”
Unit of analysis for cognition:
Task: Piloting a
naval vessel into
San Diego harbor.
• one brain
• brain + tool
• multiple brains + tools
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Images from: http://www.careers.govt.nz/
Science from Hutchins (1995)
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Method
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(Stephen Kosslyn, Harvard)
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(Wooley et al, 2007)
• Recruited 100 spatial visualizers and 100 object
visualizers by screening ~2500 individuals online
• Task:
• Explore a computer-based maze of branching
corridors populated by “greebles.”
• Find and “tag” as many identical twin pairs of
greebles as possible in 3 min.; monetary
reward.
•Participants worked in pairs:
• Navigator on joystick
• Greeble tagger on keyboard
•Pairs were composed by visualizer type
“Heterogeneous
incongruent” condition:
•Spatial visualizer
assigned to greeble
tagging
•Object visualizer
assigned to navigation
Performance Score
• Greebles correctly
tagged minus greebles
mistakenly tagged
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Collaboration Score
• low, moderate, extensive
• two raters, score 2-6
(Wooley et al, 2007)
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ODP: From Mountains to Monsoons
• Simulation of a research voyage
• Students integrate multiple data types: paleomagnetics,
sedimentology, paleoceanography, stratigraphy.
• Students gain insights into complex earth processes and
interactions between “spheres.”
…..but they don’t have the opportunity to learn through
collaboration, to experience “distributed cognition.”
Take-home Ideas
Problem
Idea
#1: The earth is very big relative to Bring pieces inside, bring students
your classroom.
outside, use a variety of
representations.
#2: Artist’s renditions overspecify,
and intermingle universal truths
and conditional truths.
Craft activities using data that will
force students to confront Earth’s
spatial variability.
#3: Students don’t know where to
begin to turn data into
understanding.
Scaffold initial exploration of a new
data type by providing a choice
array.
#4: Students see blotches of color, Mix activities suited to object
dots and wiggly lines, rather than
visualizers, spatial visualizers,
trends and processes.
and verbalizers.
#5: The Earth System is very
complicated--too complicated for
one brain to encompass.
Set up simulations in such a way
as to require distributed cognition
to solve a problem.
Coming Attractions
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Acknowledgements
• Students in “Teaching & Learning Concepts in Earth
Science” for critiques of Earth Science visualizations
• Margie Turrin, tally of water cycle images
• Adam Darer, tally of textbook images
• Maria Kozhevnikov, discussion of object/spatial
visualization
• Ed Hutchins & Stephen Kosslyn, discussion of
distributed cognition
• Lynn Liben, Shruti Agrawal, and Toru Ishikawa,
collaborators on artificial outcrop project
• Holly Chayes, video snippets
• National Science Foundation grants ESI01-01806,
REC04-1182, and OCE03-28117
Take-home Ideas
Problem
Idea
#1: The earth is very big relative to Bring pieces inside, bring students
your classroom.
outside, use a variety of
representations.
#2: Artist’s renditions overspecify,
and intermingle universal truths
and conditional truths.
Craft activities using data that will
force students to confront Earth’s
spatial variability.
#3: Students don’t know where to
begin to turn data into
understanding.
Scaffold initial exploration of a new
data type by providing a choice
array.
#4: Students see blotches of color, Mix activities suited to object
dots and wiggly lines, rather than
visualizers, spatial visualizers,
trends and processes.
and verbalizers.
#5: The Earth System is very
complicated--too complicated for
one brain to encompass.
Set up simulations in such a way
as to require distributed cognition
to solve a problem.