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

两个相关的研究项目将调查本科地质专业，地质研究生和专业地质学家的认知。基于实地的研究涉及学生和专业地球科学家常用的真实任务。导航（GPS）以及认知（地图，音频日志和汇报采访）数据将允许研究人员研究复杂的自然问题解决。实验室研究涉及一系列认知任务，允许调查工作记忆功能，感知能力和特定领域内容知识的结构。（1）有效可靠的野外地质认知与导航研究方法，使野外认知数据能够从大量参加野外课程的学生中方便地收集;（2）新的基于实验室的认知实验，这些实验推动了关于复杂地球科学内容的学习和教学所依据的认知过程的现有知识的界限，（3）基于经验数据的地理认知理论模型，该模型描述了认知过程如何随着学生专业知识的发展而表现和变化，这将为基于研究的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.