Teach Geoscientific Thinking

The methods and ways of thinking that are intrinsic to Earth science differ in important ways from the experimental procedures that are commonly taught in schools as the scientific method. Geoscientists navigate easily within a range of temporal and spatial scales, incorporate the complexity of the Earth system into their reasoning, and develop multiple working hypotheses (1). Students in all disciplines can benefit from a better understanding of the way that geoscientists think and reason through a question, whether they are geoscience majors who will do research, education majors who will teach geoscience, economics majors who will assess the value of a resource or the impacts of climate change, or anyone who will need to make informed decisions about the risk of encountering a natural hazard.

What is geoscientific thinking? »

Make Geoscientific Thinking Explicit

Geoscientific thinking is so ingrained for most college-level geoscience instructors, it is easy forget that students don't have yet have the same habits of mind. Teaching geoscientific thinking is not difficult, however—the single most important thing you can do is to simply make your thinking explicit.

Being explicit involves articulating learning outcomes that focus on geoscientific thinking skills, designing activities that allow students to both develop and reflect on those skills, and assessing not only mastery of content, but mastery of geoscientific thinking skills. Keep in mind that habits of mind require repeated experience and practice to develop. As a result, geoscientific thinking is not a topic that fits at a single point in a course or curriculum, and the way it fits in will vary for different student groups.

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Improve Scientific Literacy through Geoscientific Thinking

Geoscientific thinking is a key component of scientific literacy. Aspects of it are highlighted in all of the literacy documents developed for Earth, ocean, atmosphere, climate, and energy sciences, reflecting the perception within all of these communities that understanding how we know what we know is essential knowledge.

Resource Collections

References

  1. Earth and Mind II: A Synthesis of Research on Thinking and Learning in the Geosciences
    Kim A. Kastens, Cathy Manduca 2012 Geological Society of America Boulder, CO