Building Capacity for Investigating the Use of Spatial Reasoning in Fluid-Earth Science Disciplines

流体地球科学学科中空间推理应用研究能力建设

• 批准号: 2225637
• 负责人: Peggy McNeal
• 金额: $ 23.33万
• 依托单位: Towson University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-01 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2225637&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Building; Capacity; Investigating; Use; Spatial

This project aims to serve the national interest by developing a researcher’s skills to conduct fundamental geosciences education research that investigates how college students use spatial reasoning to think and learn about fluid-Earth science concepts. In fluid-Earth science courses, topics such as atmosphere and ocean dynamics are highly abstract and mathematical without a natural bridge to everyday understanding of physical reality. The important leaps in thinking from mathematical descriptions to visualizing fluids and understanding fluid flow are challenging. Although the ocean and atmosphere are not easily accessible to observe, they can be modeled in density and rotating tanks to support student learning. This provides an opportunity to study how students process these phenomena and use spatial reasoning to make sense of what they see. To advance this research, the project will establish a Fluid-Earth Science Spatial Thinking Laboratory at Towson University to be used for modeling fluid-Earth processes and observing students as they reason about what they observe. Throughout the project, the principal investigator (PI) will also develop her expertise and capacity for conducting spatial thinking research through an intense study of cognitive science theory and practice. With potential applications to the development of curricula and pedagogies, the project team ultimately seeks to make fluid-Earth science more accessible to diverse students with a broad range of backgrounds, experiences, and abilities.This project will establish a Fluid-Earth Science Spatial Thinking Laboratory at Towson University to model fluid-Earth processes in density and rotating tanks while conducting investigations of undergraduate students’ use of spatial reasoning during observations of geophysical fluid processes. To build her capacity to conduct this work, the PI will participate in professional development in cognitive psychology to learn how to make robust connections between human behavior and theories of the mind. The professional development plan will include coursework in cognitive psychology and coaching from mentors and advisors. Current spatial thinking typologies and characterizations of spatial reasoning will frame a qualitative study that addresses two questions: 1) How do students use spatial reasoning to make sense of physical models of fluid-Earth dynamics? and 2) What are students’ spatial conceptions about fluid flow in these models? The project team will address these questions through interviews of students who observe fluid behavior while making predictions, sketches, and explanations of dynamic fluid phenomena. From analysis of student sense-making, researchers seek to gain an improved understanding of the spatial reasoning necessary for making mental models of fluid transformations in atmospheric science and oceanography contexts. The project team will aim to describe how spatial skills used to make mental fluid transformations are related to those used in transforming rigid objects, such as when thinking about the solid-Earth. The team will disseminate results through workshops to advance fluid-Earth thinking research, apply insights from the project, and build tools designed to enhance teaching. The project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER) program, which is designed to build investigators’ capacity to carry out high-quality STEM education research.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.

该项目旨在通过培养研究人员进行基础地球科学教育研究的技能来服务于国家利益，该研究调查大学生如何使用空间推理来思考和学习流体地球科学概念。在流体地球科学课程中，大气和海洋动力学等主题是高度抽象和数学的，没有一个自然的桥梁来理解物理现实。从数学描述到可视化流体和理解流体流动的思维的重要飞跃是具有挑战性的。虽然海洋和大气不容易观察，但它们可以在密度和旋转罐中建模，以支持学生的学习。这提供了一个机会，研究学生如何处理这些现象，并使用空间推理来理解他们所看到的。为了推进这项研究，该项目将在陶森大学建立一个流体地球科学空间思维实验室，用于模拟流体地球过程，并观察学生对他们所观察到的内容进行推理。在整个项目中，首席研究员（PI）还将通过对认知科学理论和实践的深入研究来发展她进行空间思维研究的专业知识和能力。随着潜在的应用程序的课程和教学法的发展，项目小组最终寻求使流体地球科学更容易获得不同的学生具有广泛的背景，经验，该项目将在陶森大学建立一个流体地球科学空间思维实验室，在密度和旋转罐中的地球过程，同时对本科生在地球物理流体过程观察期间使用空间推理进行调查。为了培养她进行这项工作的能力，PI将参与认知心理学的专业发展，学习如何在人类行为和心理理论之间建立强大的联系。专业发展计划将包括认知心理学课程以及导师和顾问的辅导。目前的空间思维类型和空间推理的特征将框架定性研究，解决两个问题：1）学生如何使用空间推理，使流体地球动力学的物理模型的意义？（2）学生在这些模型中对流体流动的空间概念是什么？项目团队将通过对学生的采访来解决这些问题，这些学生在对动态流体现象进行预测、草图和解释时观察流体行为。从学生的意义的分析，研究人员试图获得一个更好的理解空间推理所需的大气科学和海洋学背景下的流体转换的心理模型。项目团队的目标是描述用于进行心理流体转换的空间技能与用于转换刚性物体的空间技能之间的关系，例如在思考固体地球时。该团队将通过研讨会传播成果，以推进流体地球思维研究，应用该项目的见解，并建立旨在加强教学的工具。该项目由NSF的EHR Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research（ECR：BCSER）项目提供支持，该项目旨在培养研究人员开展高质量STEM教育研究的能力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。