Sources of individual differences in scientific problem solving were investigated. Participants representing a wide range of experience in geology completed tests of visuospatial ability and geological knowledge, and performed a geological bedrock mapping task, in which they attempted to infer the geological structure of an area in the Tobacco Root Mountains of Montana. A Visuospatial Ability × Geological Knowledge interaction was found, such that visuospatial ability positively predicted mapping performance at low, but not high, levels of geological knowledge. This finding suggests that high levels of domain knowledge may sometimes enable circumvention of performance limitations associated with cognitive abilities.

No abstract

This study investigates six university professors' reflections on the shift to remote instruction during the Spring 2020 semester in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. The rapid shift in instructional platform presents an opportunity to learn from unresolved challenges that persisted through the semester.Here we present a qualitative study of how experienced (i.e., associate or full) chemistry professors report their teaching practices in light of the COVID-19 disruptions. We observed four major themes: personal factors, contextual factors of the structure and culture, teacher thinking, and teachers' practice. These themes revealed that the professors in this study adapted quickly using institutionally offered platforms, modified their courses as minimally as possible, struggled with assessment, and held diverging beliefs about teaching and students. The outcomes of this study have implications for ongoing efforts to reform instructional practices at the institutional and departmental level. Specifically, we recommend similar studies to ascertain current faculty beliefs and instructional practices in other departments in order to identify shared visions for change and effective supports for enacting that change.

No abstract

Geoscientists analyze and integrate spatial and temporal information at a range of scales to understand Earth processes. Despite this, the concept of scale is ill defined and taught unevenly across the K-16 continuum. This literature review focuses on two meanings of scale: one as the magnitude of the extent of a dimension and the other as a relationship between objects or events. We review 42 papers from science education and discipline-based education research (DBER) literature on students' conceptions related to one or both meanings of scale. Analysis of this prior work reveals a broader (though still limited) research base on domain general concepts of scale as magnitude and scant research on scale as a relationship. Learners begin reasoning about spatial and temporal magnitudes categorically by working with scales based on standard units and nonmetric values, such as body length. Concepts of scale magnitudes outside human experience are nonlinear. Facility with fractions and proportional reasoning are positively associated with the ability to reason about scale as a relationship. Two constructs from the psychological literature, structure mapping and the category adjustment model, offer theoretical accounts for these findings. We borrow a typology from the psychological literature to frame common geoscience instructional models in the context of spatial and temporal scale and suggest how instructors might facilitate students' reasoning about scale models. We identify a number of avenues for possible future research, including a critical need to understand how conceptual understanding of scale develops across the K-16 continuum. Ó