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

两个相关的研究项目将调查地质学专业本科生、地质学研究生和专业地质学家的认知。实地研究涉及学生和专业地球科学家通常使用的真实任务。导航(GPS)以及认知(地图、音频记录和汇报访谈)数据将使调查人员能够研究复杂的自然问题解决方案。实验室研究涉及一系列认知任务，这些任务允许调查工作记忆功能、知觉能力和特定领域内容知识的结构。研究人员期望产生：(1)有效和可靠的调查现场地质认知和导航的方法，这可以使大量注册参加野外课程的学生能够容易地收集基于现场的认知数据；(2)新的基于实验室的认知实验，它打破了现有知识关于复杂地球科学内容学习和教学的认知过程的界限，这将在地球科学教育和认知科学文献之间架起一座桥梁；(3)从经验数据中得出的地学认知理论模型，描述了认知过程是如何随着学生向专业知识的发展而表现和变化的，这将为地学的研究性教学设计和教学提供基础。

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 methodsfor 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 thegeosciences.