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Common student difficulties - Geological Sciences
On the Assessment page, we have included a list of established assessments in Geological Sciences. Development of these assessments always includes an investigation of common student difficulties and the published article(s) which describe the development of an assessment usually include a discussion of common student difficulties incorporated in the design of the assessment.
- Reading the articles which describes the development of established assessments can be a great starting point to understanding common student difficulties!
- On the assessment page, we include links to articles for each assessment instrument.
In addition, see below for other articles which discuss student difficulties with various geological concepts.
- Dr. Julie Libarkin leads the Geocognition Research Lab at Michigan State University, which is a lab dedicated to investigating how people understand Earth and Earth processes. Dr. Libarkin has been instrumental in the development of the Geoscience Concept Inventory. In addition, she has written extensively on student difficulties with geological concepts.
- A full list of Dr. Libarkin’s publications is available here
- From this list, the following papers discuss student difficulties with geological concepts:
- Libarkin et al., Revisiting the Geoscience Concept Inventory: A call to the community (2011)
- Libarkin et al., College student conceptions of geological time and the disconnect between ordering and scale (2007)
- Libarkin, College student conceptions of geological phenomena and their importance in classroom instruction (2006)
- Libarkin and Anderson, Development of the Geoscience Concept Inventory (2006)
- Libarkin et al, Ontology and the teaching of earth system science (2006)
- Truscott et al., The concept of time: can it be fully realised and taught (2006)
- Libarkin et al., Assessment of learning in entry-level geoscience courses: Results from the Geoscience Concept Inventory (2005)
- Libarkin et al, College students' ideas about geologic time, Earth's interior, and Earth's crust (2005)
- Libarkin, Conceptions, cognition, and change: Student thinking about the Earth
- Dahl et al., Digging into Earth Science: Alternative conceptions held by K-12 teachers (2005)
- Libarkin et al., Qualitative analysis of college students' ideas about the Earth: interviews and open-ended questionnaires (2005)
- Kurdziel et al., Research methodologies in science education: Training graduate teaching assistants to teach (2003)
- From this list, the following papers discuss student difficulties with geological concepts:
- Additionally, the following papers discuss student conceptions of various geology topics and/or student attitudes toward geology/science:
- R. M. Clary, et al., Students' Geocognition of Deep Time, Conceptualized in an Informal Educational Setting (2009)
- R. Teed and W. Slattery, Changes in Geologic Time Understanding in a Class for Preservice Teachers (2011)
- G. Smith and S. Bermea, Using Students' Sketches to Recognize Alternative Conceptions About Plate Tectonics Persisting From Prior Instruction (2012)
- S. Clark et al., Alternative Conceptions of Plate Tectonics Held by Nonscience Undergraduates (2011)
- J. Hererra and E. Riggs, Identifying Students' Conceptions of Basic Principles in Sequence Stratigraphy (2013)
- L. Nadelson and K. Viskupic Perceptions of the Nature of Science by Geoscience Students Experiencing Two Different Courses of Study (2010)
- S. Rakkapao et al, Thai University Students' Prior Knowledge About P-waves Generated During Particle Motion (2009)
- D. McConnell et al., Affective Domain and Student Learning in the Geosciences (2011)
- E. Rappaport, What Undergraduates Think About Clouds and Fog (2009)
- D. Capps et al., Alternative Conceptions Concerning the Earth’s Interior Exhibited by Honduran Students (2013)
- L. Arthurs and A. Templeton, Coupled collaborative in-class activities and individual follow-up homework promote interactive engagement and improve student learning outcomes in a college-level Environmental Geology course (2009)
- E. Burton and G. Mattietti, Cognition and Self-Efficacy of Stratigraphy and Geologic Time: Implications for Improving Undergraduate Student Performance in Geological Reasoning (2011)
- K. Kortz and D. Murray, Barriers to College Students Learning How Rocks Form (2009)
- S. Gill et al., Model My Watershed: Connecting Students’ Conceptual Understanding of Watersheds to Real-World Decision Making (2014)
- K. Cheek, How Geoscience Novices Reason About Temporal Duration: The Role of Spatial Thinking and Large Numbers (2013)
- J. Sexton, College Students' Conceptions of the Role of Rivers in Canyon Formation (2012)
- This list is by no means comprehensive, but it is intended as a starting point for learning about how students reason about geoscience