An Investigation into the Understanding of Geological Time among 17-year-old Students, with Implications for the Subject Matter Knowledge of Future Teachers

Abstract

Conceptions of geological time among 17-year-old students are examined in order to explore the subject matter knowledge of beginning teachers from the pivotal educational context of GCE Advanced Level. The concept of time has received much attention over the centuries from many perspectives, but the geological perspective is poorly represented in popular literature: historical and scientific/theoretical perspectives dominate. The 'everyday' influences on beginning teachers' understanding of geological time are important because of their absence from formal school curricula. Perceptions of 136 17-year-old students were investigated using two instruments. One study identified those major geo-events in their collective consciousness. High-profile geo-events include dinosaur appearance and extinction, continental fragmentation, emergence of plants, human evolution and Ice Age/s. Misconceptions relating to Big Bang and related phenomena were identified. The second study probed students' understanding across 24 geo-events. Results show misunderstanding on the nature and timing of major geo-events, including Big Bang, bolide impact, glacial periods, climate change and the formation of the Sun and planet Earth. Eight previously cited principles for the construction of Deep Time Frameworks are applied for 17-year-old students using a 3-fold structure comprising (1) Lithospheric and Planetary, (2) Biospheric and (3) Atmospheric and Hydrospheric.