Professional Development to Improve the Spatial Thinking of Earth Science Teachers and Students

这个项目由哥伦比亚大学的Lamont-Doherty地球观测站（L-DEO）主持，旨在为地球科学教师创建和测试一个专业发展计划，旨在提高地球科学学生的空间思维。在这种情况下，“空间思维”包括从物体或现象的位置、形状、方向、轨迹或配置中设想、操纵或绘制意义。从二维空间表示（如地图、图表和剖面图）中提取洞察力，以及设想三维过程（如季节、日食和潮汐的原因），都是空间思维的例子。在美国教育体系的传统课程中，空间思维很少被评估或教授；然而，研究表明，它是科学的基本技能，一般来说，特别是地球科学。参加L-DEO Earth2Class系列研讨会的纽约州地球科学教师是该计划的共同开发者/参与者。教师学会诊断学生的空间困难，并制定策略来支持学生的空间思维。通过对纽约州立大学地球科学核心课程和相关评估中具有空间挑战性的元素的分析，选择了重点主题，并反映了地球科学家在研究和实际应用中使用的思维技能。主题包括：“什么是空间思维，为什么它很重要？”“从模式中推断”；“增加第三维度：轮廓、横截面和方框图”；“规模：为什么规模很重要；透视和预测”。

This project, hosted at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (L-DEO) of Columbia University, is creating and testing a professional development program for Earth Science teachers targeted at improving the spatial thinking of Earth Science students. "Spatial thinking" in this context involves envisioning or manipulating or drawing meaning from the position, shape, orientation, trajectory, or configuration of objects or phenomena. Extracting insight from 2-D spatial representations, such as maps, diagrams, and profiles, and envisioning 3-D processes, such as causes of seasons, eclipses and tides, are examples of spatial thinking. Spatial thinking is rarely assessed or taught in conventional courses in the U.S. education system; however, research shows that it is an essential foundational skill for science, in general, and Earth Science, in particular. New York State Earth Science teachers participating in L-DEO's Earth2Class workshop series are co-developers/participants in the program. Teachers learn to diagnose students' spatial difficulties and develop strategies to support students' spatial thinking. Focus topics have been chosen through analysis of spatially-challenging elements of the NY State Earth Science Core Curricula and associated assessments, and reflect thinking skills used by geoscientists in research and practical applications. Topics include: "What is spatial thinking and why is it important?"; "Making inferences from patterns"; "Adding the 3rd dimension: profiles, cross-sections and block diagrams"; "Scale: why size matters; Perspective taking and projections".