How Do We Help Students Build
Beliefs That Allow Them to Avoid
Critical Learning Barriers and
Develop A Deep Understanding of
Geology?

Dal, Burçkin

doi:10.12973/ejmste/75407

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Whereas "conceptual models are devised as tools for the understanding or teaching of … systems […], mental models are what people really have in their heads and what guides their use of things" (Norman, 1983, p. 12). Mental models that are incongruent with expert-defined mental models have been referred to as misconceptions (Helm, 1980), naïve (Clement, 1993;Kinchin, Hay, & Adams, 2000), preconceptions (Arthurs, 2011;Novak, 1977;Clement, 1993), and alternate frameworks (Driver, 1981;Dal, 2007). For the purposes of this study, "preconception" is defined as prior knowledge or a mental model held before formal instruction during a given period of interest (Arthurs, 2011).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental Models Of Groundwater Residence: A Deeper Understanding Of Students’ Preconceptions As A Resource For Teaching And Learning About Groundwater And Aquifers

Arthurs

Elwonger

2018

JAESE

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There is a growing need for public understanding about groundwater resources. Knowing what groundwater and aquifers are is fundamental to understanding more complex issues such as groundwater quality and availability. However, groundwater and related concepts are among the topics that instructors most struggle to teach. Although constructivist theories suggest that students’ preconceptions or misconceptions can be used as teaching tools, the question about exactly how remains. A resource perspective on this question states the first step involves understanding students’ preconceptions. To gain a deeper understanding of college students’ pre-instructional mental models about groundwater residence, 215 students enrolled in introductory-level environmental geoscience courses taught at two large US state universities were surveyed. An open-ended questionnaire asked participants to draw and label a concept sketch. Follow-up interviews asked participants to elaborate upon their concept sketches. Eight categories of mental models emerged from the analysis of the collected data. These results were interpreted through the lens of cognitive schema theory, which generated to four patterns of mental models. These patterns emphasize key aspects of students’ pre-instructional mental models about groundwater residence. Instructors can use this information to design instructional activities about groundwater and aquifers using a resource perspective.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental Models Of Groundwater Residence: A Deeper Understanding Of Students’ Preconceptions As A Resource For Teaching And Learning About Groundwater And Aquifers

Arthurs

Elwonger

2018

JAESE

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“…King (2008) describes how authors often contribute to students' misconceptions by describing that Earth's crust floats atop on ocean of magma. Dal (2007) finds in his study of 120 (13-14 year old) students from inner-city schools in France that students believe magma occupies the entire interior of Earth. King (2008) reports that authors describe volcanoes as places where magma is squeezed and forced upward through cracks in Earth's surface rather than the scientifically accurate model where less dense magma rises due to buoyancy.…”

Section: Volcanoesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geology misconceptions targeted by an overlapping consensus of US national standards and frameworks

Guffey

Slater

2020

International Journal of Science Education

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In the past few decades, scientific and educational entities in the United States have repeatedly expended considerable fiscal and human resources in an effort to establish contemporary education standards, curriculum frameworks, and assessment tools. These efforts are intended to reform the quantity and quality of K-16 Earth science education across the U.S. including, most recently, the Next Generation Science Standards. Most of the reform efforts enthusiastically recommend a constructivist-oriented approach to instruction that requires educators to clearly identify their learning targets. At the same time, a contemporary approach to instruction requires educators to be aware of misconceptions, misunderstandings, naïve beliefs, and alternative frameworks students bring to the learning experience. Although several dated surveys of learners' geology misconceptions exist across the scholarly literature landscape, little of the geology misconceptions literature is systematically organised around the current collections of U.S. national standards and frameworks. Geoscience educators, curriculum developers, and assessment specialists benefit from summaries of misconceptions research organised around various national reform efforts.

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“…The teachers of the course were university science education faculty members who designed the instructional content of the course. The teachers were knowledgeable of the earth science curriculum and were capable of employing a constructivist model of teaching and learning (Dal 2007) (See Table 1).…”

Section: Setting and Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning the language of earth science: Middle school students’ explorations of rocks and minerals

Reid-Griffin

2016

EJSTEME

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The approaches and interpretations of a class of 6th graders and a class of 8th graders in a U.S. middle school asked to engage in tasks that involved using observations to describe and classify samples is the subject of this paper. Overall 8th graders were better able to perform the tasks, suggesting a developmental advantage aspect. However, the descriptions of the rock and mineral samples recorded by students can be considered salient for identification purposes. However, the descriptions were not recognized as salient features by most of the grade 6th and 8th U.S. students.

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How Do We Help Students Build Beliefs That Allow Them to Avoid Critical Learning Barriers and Develop A Deep Understanding of Geology?

Cited by 12 publications

References 23 publications

Mental Models Of Groundwater Residence: A Deeper Understanding Of Students’ Preconceptions As A Resource For Teaching And Learning About Groundwater And Aquifers

Mental Models Of Groundwater Residence: A Deeper Understanding Of Students’ Preconceptions As A Resource For Teaching And Learning About Groundwater And Aquifers

Geology misconceptions targeted by an overlapping consensus of US national standards and frameworks

Learning the language of earth science: Middle school students’ explorations of rocks and minerals

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