SL-CN: Understanding and Promoting Spatial Learning Processes in the Geosciences

这个学习科学协作网络由来自坦普尔大学、卡尔顿学院和北伊利诺伊大学的认知心理学家、教育研究人员和地球科学教育工作者组成，专注于空间学习。该团队将通过设计可应用于地球科学的课堂和实地课程的教学工具来开发新的空间学习原则，地球科学是一个非常依赖空间技能和空间推理的科学领域。这些工具将设计为使学生能够自我纠正他们对科学概念的理解中的概念错误，并将通过一个项目网站提供。还将在地学专业人员和教师会议上提供有关使用这些工具的课程。这项研究将通过描述复杂空间科学实践所需的不同类型的空间推理，扩大对学习科学的基本理解。这项研究将为空间学习挑战开发新的支持，这些挑战一直是学生学习的障碍。这些发现最终可能会改善地球科学和许多其他依赖空间思维的科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)领域的保留和学习。空间思维对STEM相关课程的成绩起着至关重要的作用。在科学课程中支持空间思维的发展需要跨学科的努力，将特定学科的科学知识与教育和心理学专业知识结合起来。这个协作网络将发展两个新的基本和互补的空间学习原则。一种是空间反馈，这是以空间误差的形式进行的反馈，允许头脑和大脑引导学习。提供有关空间信息的反馈对于支持对整个地球科学中复杂的空间概念的学习至关重要。另一种是空间调节，即通过心理模型的构建和重构，准确地融合空间信息，从空间反馈中改善不准确的心理模型。这个网络将创造一个理论和实践交汇的“交易区”，这样教育和认知心理学的研究就可以受到学科地学内容的影响，反之亦然。预期的结果包括对教学工具的新设计和对人类思维和大脑工作的新见解。奖项来自学习科学-协作网络(SL-CN)计划，资金来自SBE行为和认知科学部门(BCS)、SBE多学科活动办公室(SMA)和EHR核心研究(ECR)计划。

This Science of Learning Collaborative Network of cognitive psychologists, education researchers, and geoscience educators from Temple University, Carleton College, and Northern Illinois University focuses on spatial learning. The team will develop new spatial learning principles by designing teaching tools that can be applied across classroom and field courses in the geosciences - a field of science that depends very heavily on spatial skills and spatial reasoning. The tools will be designed to allow students to self-correct conceptual errors in their understanding of scientific concepts, and will be made available through a project web site. Courses on using the tools will also be offered at meetings of geoscience professionals and teachers. The research will expand fundamental understanding of the science of learning by characterizing the different types of spatial reasoning that are required for the practice of a complex spatial science. The research will develop new supports for spatial learning challenges that have been barriers for student learning. The findings could ultimately improve retention and learning in geosciences and in many other Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) domains that depend on spatial thinking. Spatial thinking plays a critical role in STEM-related course achievement. Supporting the development of spatial thinking in a science curriculum requires an interdisciplinary effort that combines knowledge of the specific disciplinary science with education and psychology expertise. This collaborative network will develop two new fundamental and complementary spatial learning principles. One is spatial feedback, which is feedback in the form of a spatial error that allows the mind and brain to guide learning. Providing feedback about spatial information is essential to supporting learning about complex spatial concepts across the geosciences. The other is spatial accommodation, which is the constructing and reconstructing of mental models to accurately incorporate spatial information to improve inaccurate mental models from spatial feedback. The network will create a "trading zone" where theory and practice converge so that research on education and cognitive psychology can be influenced by disciplinary geoscience content, and vice versa. The expected results include new designs for teaching tools and new insights into the working of the human mind and brain.The award is from the Science of Learning-Collaborative Networks (SL-CN) Program, with funding from the SBE Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (BCS), the SBE Office of Multidisciplinary Activities (SMA), and the EHR Core Research (ECR) Program.