Spatial Thinking Workbook part of Spatial Thinking Workbook
This project is developing and testing teaching materials to improve the spatial thinking skills of geoscience undergraduates, using strategies supported by cognitive science and geoscience education research.

The Method of Multiple Working Hypotheses part of SERC Web Resource Collection

This essay describes the problems that can develop while working with multiple hypotheses and presents ideas for solving these problems. Topics discussed include premature theory development, the ...

The Hidden Earth: Visualization of Geologic Features and their Subsurface Geometry part of SERC Web Resource Collection

This PDF from researchers at Arizona State University illustrates useful graphs, charts and maps with which to teach undergraduates petrology and other processes beneath the earth's surface.

First-Year Students 'Go Beyond' with Integrative Inquiry into Abrupt Change part of SERC Web Resource Collection

In a first-year seminar on abrupt change in climate and human networks, the author analyzed student writing for integrative science learning that 'goes beyond'. Her research maps what students gain ...

Scientific Argumentation in Earth System Science Education part of SERC Web Resource Collection

We investigate the merit of including deliberate instruction on argumentation and debate in an undergraduate Earth system science course. We examine sample student evaluations of arguments ...

Systems Theory and Modeling part of SERC Web Resource Collection

From the website: 'This site is for teachers, students, and anyone else who would like a very brief, general introduction to systems thinking and systems modeling. It was written primarily as a ...

Earth's climate: past and future part of SERC Print Resource Collection
(From Book News, Inc.) In this introductory climate science textbook, Ruddiman (environmental sciences, U. of Virginia) summarizes 550 million years of Earth's climate changes, including the impact ...

The Hidden Earth: Visualization of Geologic Features and their Subsurface Geometry part of SERC Print Resource Collection
Describes development and testing of computer-based materials for improving understanding of topographic maps and block diagrams and the associated visualization skills. Paper presented at the annual ...

Geomorphology and the World Wide Web part of SERC Print Resource Collection
This paper examines the possibilities and risks involved in using technology and the World Wide Web to improve the teaching of geomorphology. It also addresses the potential of the web as a research ...

Earthquakes Online part of SERC Print Resource Collection
This article examines the use of technology to augment science education at the middle and high school levels. Earthquake data was downloaded from the internet on a daily basis, plotted and tracked ...

part of SERC Print Resource Collection
This article presents the software, A Virtual Journey within the Rock Cycle, which was developed as a microworld game meant to enhance students' ability to perceive the rock cycle in terms of a ...

Software for Assisting High School Students in the Spatial Perception of Geological Structures part of SERC Print Resource Collection
This paper investigates students' spatial perception of three-dimensional geological structures. Software was developed to assist students in developing the spatial skills needed for such perception. ...

CILT Visualization and Modeling website part of SERC Print Resource Collection
CILT is the Center for Innovative Learning Technologies an NSF-funded center created to develop and study technological solutions of problems in K-14 science, mathematics, engineering, and technology ...

Spatial Abilities of High-School Students in the Perception of Geologic Structures part of SERC Print Resource Collection
Spatial abilities are required to study structural geology. The Geo3D software which the authors of the article have created allows high school students to perceive geological structures and envision ...

Multisensory Immersion as a Modeling Environment for Learning Complex Scientific Concepts part of SERC Print Resource Collection
This article explores the strengths and limits for learning of various types of VR (virtual reality) modeling. Previous research shows that such immersive, multisensory experiences enhance students' ...

Construction of Models to Promote Scientific Understanding part of SERC Print Resource Collection

Worlds of information: The geographic metaphor in the visualization of complex information part of SERC Print Resource Collection

A city metaphor for supporting navigation in complex information spaces part of SERC Print Resource Collection
A major problem in modern information systems is the location and relocation of information. Appropriate navigation metaphors make modern navigation systems easier to use. This article proposes a ...

Regional geology as a unifying theme and a springboard to Deep Time part of SERC Print Resource Collection
Miller (2001) teaches Earth History within regional contexts in his course 'The Geology of National Parks'. He emphasizes the geological relations of the strata, principles like superposition, and ...

What is Deep Time and why should anyone care? part of SERC Print Resource Collection
Zen (2001) recommends a field approach because it invites student inquiry into stratigraphy, sequence, and time. He takes his students on trips to complicated sites at which a sequence of events have ...