What do our students really know about geophysics?

Relationship to our project

What are earthquakes? & What causes them? A summary of student conceptions of earthquakes and other underpinning topics as informed by 25 years of research Michael Hubenthal, Education Specialist July, 2006 v1.2

Student Understandings Children develop their own non-scientific explanations of events, prior to instruction (Ault, 1982, 1984, 1994; Piaget, 1929) Understanding; description and explanation (Newton, 2000)

Challenges to conceptual understanding in the geosciences (Ault, 1984) ( Blake, 2005) (Piaget, 1929)

What is an EQ? - Young students (Ross and Shuell, 1991; Sharpe et al., 1995) (Leather, 1987; Sharpe et al., 1995) (Tsai, 2001)

Conceptual shift at age 14? (Barrow & Haskings, 1996; DeLaughter et al., 1998; Libarkin et al., 2005)

Possible explanations for conceptual shift

Others Explanations

Location of & relationship to EQs (Leather, 1987; Shapre et al., 1995) Philips, 1991; Schoon, 1992

Sharpe et al., 1995 Lillo, 1994 DeLaughter et al., 1998; Libarkin et al., 2005

Tectonic Plates

What do teachers know?

Dahl et al., 2005

Seismology as evidence

Limits of Current Practice What is an Earthquake? –Descriptive vs. cause definitions –What causes Earthquakes? Elastic nature of rocks Relation between seismicity and geologic features What is inside Earth? –How do we know if we have never been? –Complexity and boundaries Patterns and frequency of seismicity Intraplate vs edge fo plate earthquakes Plates and their boundaries (vertical and horizontal) How we know what we know

?

Implications A disconnect between students response about the causes of earthquakes & actual understanding Previous research of children’s understanding of science concepts shows –express scientifically acceptable statements while maintaining misconceptions –recite correct concept definitions with out any understanding Students themselves may be aware of this disconnect Barrow and Haskins (1996) found that 73% of undergraduates surveyed in a Geology 101 level course, who had not experienced an earthquake felt that they had a limited or low understanding of earthquakes.

Discussion Conceptual shift at ~ age 14 on to adulthood to a more scientific response to What is an earthquake?” Responses contain references to plate tectonics but often also contained erroneous or contradictory information Therefore –Existing research has done little to probe the depth of student understanding beyond the scientifically accurate terminology in their responses

Objectives Provide you with the best information possible about what your students probably know Examine what students know across a range of ages to assess the impact of current methods of instruction.