Spatial Thinking & NYS Regents Earth Science: Finding the Spatial Dr. Kim Kastens & Dr. Michael Passow Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Originally presented: American Museum of Natural History April 11, 2012 and July 10, 2012 Updated for STANYS 2014 From 1941 Earth Science Regents exam http://earth2class.org/site/educational- resources/spatial-thinking/
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Spatial Thinking & NYS Regents Earth Science: Finding the Spatial Dr. Kim Kastens & Dr. Michael Passow Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Originally presented:
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Spatial Thinking &NYS Regents Earth Science:
Finding the Spatial
Dr. Kim Kastens &Dr. Michael Passow
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Originally presented:American Museum of Natural History April 11, 2012 and July 10, 2012Updated for STANYS 2014
Spatial thinking is thinking that finds meaning in the • shape, • size, • orientation, • location, • direction, or • trajectory
….of objects, processes, or phenomena,
….or the relative positions in space of multiple objects, processes, or phenomena.
• Describing the shapes of natural objects, rigorously and unambiguously. Categorizing objects by their shape. Ascribing meaning to the shape of a natural object.• Recognizing a shape or pattern amid a cluttered noisy background. Visualizing a 3-D object or structure or process by examining observations collected in one or two dimensions. Describing the position and orientation of objects in the real world relative to a coordinate system anchored to the Earth.
Kastens, K. A. and T. Ishikawa (2006). Spatial Thinking in the Geosciences and Cognitive Sciences. In Earth and Mind., C. Manduca, D. Mogk and N. Stillings, editors, Geological Society of America Special Paper 413, p. 53-76.
Spatial Thinking in Earth System Science
Kastens, K. A. and T. Ishikawa (2006). Spatial Thinking in the Geosciences and Cognitive Sciences. In Earth and Mind., C. Manduca, D. Mogk and N. Stillings, editors, Geological Society of America Special Paper 413, p. 53-76.
• Recalling locations of previously observed geological phenomena.
• Mentally manipulating a volume by folding, faulting, and eroding.
• Envisioning the motion of objects or materials through space in three dimensions.
• Making and interpreting spatial representations (including maps).
• Using spatial thinking to think about time.
• Using spatial thinking to think about non-spatial properties.
Marshak, Stephen, (200) Earth Portrait of a Planet, new York, W.W. Norton & Co. Inc., Appendix B-2 Flow Charts for Identifying Minerals .
Classifying or categorizing an object by its shape
Ascribing meaning to the shape of a natural object.
Mylonite. Note fine grain size and strong foliation probably caused by intense shearing.
Distribution of modern species of planktonic foraminifera. Figure 16-1 in: Kennett, James (1982) Marine Geology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Mentally manipulating a volume by folding, faulting and eroding.
Figure 24.13 in: Ramsay, John G. and Martin I. Huber (1987) The Techniques of Modern Structural Geology, Volume 2: Folds and Fractures. New York: Academic Press; Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers.
Visualizing a 3-D object or structure or process
by examining observations collected inone or two dimensions.
Spatial cognition is a well-developed field of cognitive and learning science research
Downs and Liben (1991) studied college students’ ability to anticipate the form of a shadow cast by a shape rotated to various angles.
Figure 5B in: Downs, Roger M. and Lynn S. Liben (1991) The Development of Expertise in Geography: A Cognitive-Developmental Approach to Geographic Education. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 81(2), pp.304-327.
They found that college students performance on projective tasks is poor when the shapes are three dimensional.
Figure 2 in: Merriwether, Ann M. and Lynn S. Liben (1997) Adults’ Failures on Euclidean and Projective Spatial Tasks: Implications for Characterizing Spatial Cognition. Journal of Adult Development, Vol. 4, No. 2.
Computer-supported instructional activities to foster spatial thinking in Earth Sciences, developed by Steve Reynolds
Spatial thinking can be improved through instruction and practice.
Spatial Thinking in Earth System Science
• Teachers need to know that spatial thinking is pervasive in Earth & Environmental Sciences
• Teachers need to understand that performance on spatial tasks:
• differs widely among individuals• does not necessarily correlate with other
academic strengths,• can be improved with instruction and practice.
• Teachers need to be able to design, select, and evaluate student activities that develop and assess spatial thinking.
GEO10-34994
Professional Development to Improve the Spatial Thinking of Earth Science Teachers and Students http://earth2class.org/site/educational-resources/spatial-thinking/• Analyze released New York State Earth Science
Regents exam items for spatial thinking: • What is abundant?• What is hard?
• Pilot and evaluate a professional development program for Earth Science teachers piggy-backing on Earth2class
• Expand spatial thinking professional development statewide and nationwide, leveraging move towards data-driven PD (?)
“Finding the Spatial” inEarth Science Regents Course
You won’t find much
spatialness here
New York Earth Science Reference Tables
16 page booklet
Lots of spatialness here
“Finding the Spatial” inEarth Science Regents Exams
• Began with exploration of RES Core Curriculum, exams, and practices
• Gradual identification of sub-categories wrt RES:
Sample Activities to Develop Spatial Thinking in RES
• “Professional Development to Improve the Spatial Thinking of Earth Science Teachers and Students”Supported by National Science Foundation GEO-1034994http://earth2class.org/site/educational-resources/spatial-thinking/