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、音频日志和汇报采访）数据将使调查人员能够研究复杂的自然问题解决方法。实验室研究包括一系列认知任务，这些任务允许对工作记忆功能、感知能力和特定领域内容知识的结构进行调查。研究人员期望产生：(1)有效和可靠的方法来调查基于实地的地质认知和导航，这可以允许从大量参加实地课程的学生中轻松收集基于实地的认知数据；(2)新的基于实验室的认知实验，突破了复杂地球科学内容学习和教学背后的认知过程的现有知识界限，为地球科学教育和STEM学习的认知科学文献搭建了桥梁；(3)从经验数据中导出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向专业知识的发展而显现和变化，这将为基于研究的地理科学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.