An Investigation of Undergraduate Students' Spatial Thinking about Groundwater

Autor/inn/en	White, Holly; Forbes, Cory T.
Titel	An Investigation of Undergraduate Students' Spatial Thinking about Groundwater
Quelle	In: Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 47 (2023) 1, S.128-148 (21 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (White, Holly)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0309-8265
DOI	10.1080/03098265.2021.2004582
Schlagwörter	Undergraduate Students; Water; Environmental Education; College Science; Science Instruction; Spatial Ability; Cognitive Processes; Visualization; Models; Computer Simulation; Topography; Maps; Map Skills; Misconceptions + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Wasser; Umweltbildung; Umwelterziehung; Umweltpädagogik; Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Räumliches Vorstellungsvermögen; Cognitive process; Kognitiver Prozess; Visualisation; Visualisierung; Analogiemodell; Computergrafik; Computersimulation; Topografie; Map; Karte; Kartenverständnis; Missverständnis
Abstract	Undergraduate students may possess underdeveloped knowledge about water systems, particularly groundwater. The use of models and modeling have been employed in undergraduate classrooms to support students' learning about water. However, effective modeling requires spatial thinking skills, which undergraduate students may also need to develop. Here, undergraduate students used a computer-based groundwater model in an introductory water course and we explored students' spatial thinking about groundwater in two consecutive iterations of the course. We report findings from a descriptive study conducted in the course, through which we explored students' understanding of space, representation, and reasoning by conducting quantitative and qualitative analyses on student tasks and interviews. Findings suggest that students may struggle with certain components of spatial thinking, such as tools of representation and reasoning. Specifically, students had difficulties interpreting model representations such as contour lines, and struggled to reason about groundwater flow. However, students performed better on other aspects of spatial thinking, such as concepts of space. Overall, these results suggest students struggle with certain aspects of spatial thinking in relation to this groundwater model. These findings have implications for undergraduate teaching and learning about groundwater. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01