Penetrative Thinking: Visualizing Interiors Carol J. Ormand, SERC, Carleton College Eric Riggs, Texas A&M University

Overview What do we mean when we talk about penetrative thinking? Example: the Geologic Block Cross-sectioning Test Key papers & assessment instruments Kali and Orion, 1996: GeoSAT Ormand et al., 2014: GBCT There are LOTS of other papers; see the reference list on the workshop website: http://serc.carleton.edu/earth_rendezvous/2016/program/morning_workshops/w12/resources.html SILC instrument collection: http://www.silccenter.org/index.php/testsainstruments Implications, strategies, and tools for teaching / training SILC and the Shipley research lab (esp. work by Atit, Gagnier) Spatial Thinking Workbook: exercises informed by this work Steve Reynolds’ semi-transparent blocks Rowan Cockett’s Visible Geology

5 minutes of experiential learning: the Geologic Block Cross-sectioning Test

Key papers and assessment instruments

Kali and Orion, 1996 Spatial Abilities of High School Students in the Perception of Geologic Structures GeoSAT: geologic spatial ability test; open-ended questions 115 HS students, 6 of whom were interviewed Key findings: Incorrect answers can be “penetrative” or “non-penetrative” To solve the GeoSAT problems, one has to be able to visualize the structure and imagine its interior

Kali and Orion, 1996

Kali and Orion, 1996

Kali and Orion, 1996

Geologic Block Cross-sectioning Test: Constructed to take advantage of common novice errors (Ormand et al., 2014) This answer assumes that what you see on the side of the block goes straight in – the layers on the right go straight in from the side of the block, while the top layers go straight down. This answer assumes that whatever is on the face of the block that is parallel to the slicing plane (the parallel face) goes all the way through the block Slicing Plane This answer assumes that whatever lines or shapes are inside the parallelogram that outlines the slicing plane is what’s inside the block

The Novice-Expert Spectrum Differences in skill levels Differences in types of errors reveal relative sophistication of penetrative thinking Variations within expert subpopulations Ormand, Carol J., Thomas F. Shipley, Charles Kiven, J. Steve Davis, Dale Klopfer, and Peter Vrolijk (2014). The Geologic Block Cross-Sectioning Test: Insights Into the Novice-Expert Spectrum in Visual Penetrative Ability: Geological Society of America annual meeting (Vancouver, BC).

Novice vs. Expert Errors Experts are considerably less likely than novices to be deceived by the parallel face foils, and even less likely to be deceived by the parallelogram foils. Ormand, Carol J., Thomas F. Shipley, Charles Kiven, J. Steve Davis, Dale Klopfer, and Peter Vrolijk (2014). The Geologic Block Cross-Sectioning Test: Insights Into the Novice-Expert Spectrum in Visual Penetrative Ability: Geological Society of America annual meeting (Vancouver, BC).

Assessing penetrative thinking in Geology (see handout) Domain general Planes of reference SILC’s Cross-sectioning test for children Domain specific GeoSAT (Kali & Orion) Crystal slicing (Ormand et al.) Domain specific version of Planes of Reference Geologic Block Cross-sectioning Test (Ormand et al.) MC outgrowth of Kali & Orion’s test

Implications, Strategies, and Tools for Teaching (“That’s great, but how can I use it in my classroom?”)

Improving penetrative thinking skills: predictive sketching & immediate feedback Laboratory experiments explored the effect of sketching vs. visualizing on students’ ability to visualize object interiors. Sketchers visualize more accurately. 64 undergraduate psychology students (half in each condition) Pre- and post-test: 7 items from the GBCT Experimental condition: make predictive sketches, for each of a series of progressive slices through PlayDoh “models” of geologic structures Control condition: place colored dots where you expect the center of each layer to be, for each of the same series of progressive slices through the same models Gagnier, Kristin Michod, Kinnari Atit, Carol J. Ormand, and Thomas F. Shipley. Comprehending Diagrams: Sketching to Support Spatial Reasoning. Submitted to Topics in Cognitive Science.

Improving penetrative thinking skills: have students show what they are thinking with gestures Laboratory experiments explored the effect of subjects gesturing vs. verbally describing the structures shown in geologic block diagrams on their ability to visualize interiors. Note: it’s not just that better visualizers gesture more accurately. Students who gesture develop the capacity to visualize more accurately. Photo by Tim Shipley Atit, Kinnari, Barbara Dutrow, Carol Ormand, and Thomas F. Shipley (2013). Gesture and Three-Dimensional Visualization: AAPG Hedberg Conference on 3D Structural Geologic Interpretation (Reno, NV).

We’ll spend the rest of this hour in exploration Spatial Thinking Workbook http://serc.carleton.edu/spatialworkbook/index.html 24 exercises – several each of domain general, Mineralogy, Structure, and Sed/Strat – mostly, but not all, focused on penetrative thinking Each exercise uses gesture, sketching, and/or analogy Reynolds' semi-transparent blocks http://reynolds.asu.edu/blocks/home.htm Structures, in rectangular blocks that can be made semi-transparent He also has visualizations of topography, which we’ll look at tomorrow – but feel free to look ahead Visible Geology http://app.visiblegeology.com/ Structures + topography Cross-sections, stereonets, strike and dip, and other fun tools

References Atit, Kinnari, Barbara Dutrow, Carol Ormand, and Thomas F. Shipley (2013). Gesture and Three-Dimensional Visualization: AAPG Hedberg Conference on 3D Structural Geologic Interpretation (Reno, NV). Gagnier, Kristin Michod, Kinnari Atit, Carol J. Ormand, and Thomas F. Shipley. Comprehending Diagrams: Sketching to Support Spatial Reasoning. Submitted to Topics in Cognitive Science. Kali, Y. and Orion, N. 1996. Spatial abilities of high-school students in the perception of geologic structures. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, v. 33, pp. 369-391. Ormand, Carol J., Cathryn A. Manduca, Thomas F. Shipley, Basil Tikoff, Cara L. Harwood, Kinnari Atit, and Alexander P. Boone (2014). Evaluating Geoscience Students' Spatial Thinking Skills in a Multi-Institutional Classroom Study: Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 62, n. 1, pp. 146-154. JGE Paper of the Year. Ormand, Carol J., Thomas F. Shipley, Charles Kiven, J. Steve Davis, Dale Klopfer, and Peter Vrolijk (2014). The Geologic Block Cross-Sectioning Test: Insights Into the Novice-Expert Spectrum in Visual Penetrative Ability: Geological Society of America annual meeting (Vancouver, BC). Additional references are listed on the workshop website.