Collaborative Research: Learning across the Expert-Novice Continuum: Cognition in the Geosciences

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Two related research projects will investigate cognition across undergraduate geology majors, geology graduate students, and professional geologists. The field-based studies involve authentic tasks commonly used by students and professional geoscientists. Navigation (GPS) as well as cognitive (maps, audio logs, and debriefing interviews) data will allow the investigators to study complex natural problem solving. The laboratory studies involve a series of cognitive tasks that allow the investigation of working memory function, perceptual abilities, and the structuring of domain-specific content knowledge. The investigators expect to produce: (1) Valid and reliable methods for investigating field-based geologic cognition and navigation, which could allow for field-based cognitive data to be readily collected from large numbers of students enrolled in field courses; (2) New laboratory-based cognitive experiments that push the boundaries of existing knowledge about the cognitive processes underlying the learning and teaching of complex geoscience content, which will bridge the geoscience education and cognitive science literatures on STEM learning; and (3) A theoretical model for geocognition derived from empirical data that describes how cognitive processes manifest and change as students progress toward expertise, which will provide a foundation for research-based instructional design and teaching in the geosciences.