Collaborative Research - Characterizing the Role of Spatial Thinking in Learning Hydrogeology: A Classroom, Field, and Expert-Novice Study

该项目旨在通过改善水文地质学方面的地球科学和环境专业人员的教育来服务于国家利益，该教育的重点是了解地表水和地下水的流动。国家对水文地质学家的需求越来越大，以确保清洁和可持续的水源。为了理解和预测水和其他分子的运动，水文地质学家必须整合来自地图、水井和其他来源的三维数据。一些STEM学科的研究表明，训练学生的三维思维可以提高他们的坚持性和记忆力，特别是在女性和有色人种学生中。然而，水文地质学中使用的具体三维思维技能尚未确定，这阻碍了培养学生从事水文地质学职业的努力。这个项目将探索专家和学生水文地质学家如何使用三维空间思维技能来预测水和污染物的运动。它将定义专业水文地质学家用来解决水和污染物流动问题的关键三维思维技能。然后，它将描述学生在课堂上学习水文地质学时如何使用(或不使用)这些技能。这些信息是向创建教材迈出的关键的第一步，以更好地培养多样化和有能力的水文地质学家队伍。水文地质学研究地表和地下水流以及环境污染物在这些水流中的迁移和去向。受过水文地质培训的毕业生在环境和地球科学劳动力市场上的需求量很大。除了需要专业知识外，水文地质学是一门高度可视化的学科，需要从业者整合来自地图、横断面、地层柱、地质和数字模型、井数据、水位数据和污染物浓度的不同数据。这些数据被综合起来，形成地下和地下水流动以及污染物迁移的三维模型。本项目旨在解决两个研究问题：(1)成功完成水文地质学中的场地表征和污染物羽流任务所必需的空间思维技能？(2)学生如何在课堂和野外环境中使用这些技能来完成这项任务？问题1将采用以定量、描述性、横断面为主的专家-新手研究，在这项研究中，水文地质学方面的高级本科生、研究生、工业和学术专家完成一套空间思维和知识测试，以及基于典型课堂练习的场地表征水文地质学任务。问题2将进行定性调查，调查学生如何使用(或不使用)问题1中确定的基本空间思维技能在野外和课堂环境中完成相同的水文地质学任务。一个由认知科学、地球科学教育研究和水文地质学专家组成的外部顾问委员会将就研究过程提供建议和反馈。研究结果将在会议演示文稿和期刊上传播。项目成果将包括确定对水文地质学至关重要的特定空间思维技能，开发水文地质学概念清单以评估学生的知识，以及学生如何利用水文地质学知识和空间思维来解决实地和课堂环境中的水和污染物流动问题的循证模型。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过参与式学生学习路径，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。 该奖项反映了国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving the education of geoscience and environmental professionals in hydrogeology, which focuses on understanding the flow of surface and subsurface water. The nation has a growing need for hydrogeologists to ensure clean and sustainable water sources. As they work to understand and predict the movement of water and other molecules, hydrogeologists must integrate three-dimensional data from maps, wells, and other sources. Research in some STEM disciplines shows that training students in three-dimensional thinking can improve their persistence and retention, especially among women and students of color. However, the specific three-dimensional thinking skills used in hydrogeology have not yet been defined, hampering efforts to train students for hydrogeology careers. This project will explore how expert versus student hydrogeologists use three-dimensional spatial thinking skills to predict the movement of water and contaminants. It will define the critical three-dimensional thinking skills used by professional hydrogeologists to solve water and contaminant flow problems. It will then characterize how students use (or do not use) these skills when learning hydrogeology in the classroom. This information is a critical first step toward creating teaching materials to better prepare a diverse and capable hydrogeologist workforce. Hydrogeology deals with surface and subsurface water flow and the transport and fate of environmental contaminants within those flows. Graduates with hydrogeological training are in high demand in the environmental and geosciences labor market. In addition to requiring specialized knowledge, hydrogeology is a heavily visuospatial discipline that requires practitioners to integrate disparate data from maps, cross-sections, stratigraphic columns, geological and numerical models, well data, water level data, and contaminant concentrations. These data are synthesized to form a three-dimensional model of the subsurface and groundwater flow and contaminant transport. This project seeks to address two research questions: (1) What spatial thinking skills are essential to successfully completing a site characterization and contaminant plume task in hydrogeology? (2) How do students use these skills while completing this task in classroom and field settings? Question 1 will be addressed using a dominantly quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional expert-novice study in which upper-level undergraduate students, graduate students, and industry and academic experts in hydrogeology complete a suite of spatial thinking and knowledge tests, as well as a site characterization hydrogeology task based on typical classroom exercises. Question 2 will be addressed with a qualitative investigation of how students complete the same hydrogeology task in field and classroom contexts using (or not using) spatial thinking skills identified as essential in Question 1. An external advisory board of experts in cognitive science, geoscience education research, and hydrogeology will advise and provide feedback on the course of the research. Study results will be disseminated in conference presentations and journals. Project deliverables will include identification of specific spatial thinking skills essential to hydrogeology, development of a hydrogeology concept inventory to assess student knowledge, and an evidence-based model of how students use hydrogeology knowledge and spatial thinking to solve water and contaminant flow problems in field and classroom settings. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.