Earth Science Concepts Research Articles

AnnoTerra: building an integrated earth science resource using semantic Web technologies

We discuss about AnnoTerra, a prototype knowledge-based system that uses semantic Web technologies to present enhanced earth science news feeds by making focused semantic searches on NASA resource catalogs using earth science concepts and relationships.

An Earth Science Scrapbook Project as an Alternative Assessment Tool

A scrapbook, in which students assemble news articles, advertising images, postcards, and other flat items has been developed as an assessment tool for an introductory level Earth Science course for pre-service teachers. The students are asked to locate items that relate in some way to Earth Science and to write a relevant caption for each one that demonstrates something the student has learned in the course. The scrapbook can be used to evaluate the breadth and depth of the students' comprehension of Earth Science concepts. The assignment encourages students to relate course content to the world outside the classroom, and to become aware of the relevance of Earth Science to their daily lives.

Using Food to Demonstrate Earth Science Concepts: a Review

This paper categorizes over one hundred print and web resources that use food to demonstrate earth science concepts with the goal of placing these resources in a more usable format for K-12 earth science instructors. Most activities: 1) are found with nearly equal frequency from journals and from the web; 2) feature geologic rather than weather-,water-, or space-related themes; 3) are designed for a primary and middle school audience, but are adaptable to almost any education level, including introductory college classrooms; 4) meet the “Structure of the Earth” middle school National Science Standard; 5) require less than 30 minutes of instructor preparation; 6) cost less than $20 in materials for a class of 25; and 7) are adaptable for variety of group sizes. Outstanding examples of edible earth science include using candy bars to demonstrate weathering concepts, orange peels to mimic plate tectonics, and cookies to demonstrate mining and environmental reclamation. These activities are interesting, promote active learning, facilitate the teaching of the K-12 National Science Standards, and offer opportunities for interdisciplinary education. The main disadvantages of using this approach are safety concerns and, in some cases, extensive preparation.

Could a laptop computer plus the liquid crystal display projector amount to improved multimedia geoscience instruction?

AbstractIn this study, a multimedia computer‐aided tutorial (MCAT) on the topic of debris‐flow hazards was developed for senior high‐school students in Taiwan. The format of the new course is a blend of whole‐class presentations, interactive discussions among the teacher and students, and classroom activities using the MCAT software. The whole‐class presentation was presented using both a laptop computer and a high‐resolution liquid crystal display projector to display the MCAT contents on a large white screen in front of a whole class. Besides, class discussions between the teacher and the students and among students were also embedded in the teaching format. Students' earth science learning outcomes were evaluated by administering an achievement test and a survey of attitudes towards the earth science subject before and after the course. The results indicated that MCAT accompanied by the current ‘interactive whole‐class teaching’ form could significantly help the students' grasp of earth science concepts and greatly improve their attitudes towards earth science.

Natural Disasters Workshop Integrating Hands-On Activities, Internet-Based Data, and GIS

The many unanswered questions about natural hazards and the difficulty to predict them make them a most suitable topic for inquiry-based classroom activities. The abundant information about and frequent occurrence of natural disasters supports even further the learning of key earth science concepts in a way that it is intellectually challenging and personally meaningful.To promote this approach to education, the authors offered a week-long “Mapping Natural Disasters” workshop to 30 K-12 teachers during the summer of 2001. The workshop modeled the effective integration of hands-on activities, internet-based data, and use of geographic information system (GIS) software, a powerful analytical tool that displays the spatial distribution of data. Teachers deepened their understanding of current earth science concepts through models and simulations, and then applied this understanding as they analyzed data downloaded from the internet and mapped with the GIS software. In addition, the workshop modeled techniques for promoting student inquiry and reflective professional practice among teachers that may be applied to other curriculum units.

Pre-/Post-Knowledge Assessment of an Earth Science Course for Elementary/Middle School Education Majors

Many K-12 educators never experience active learning processes in their science courses that are part of their formal teacher preparation program because of the prevalence of the didactic teaching approach (lecture-read-answer) used in undergraduate science classrooms. From an educational perspective there are substantial benefits to experiencing the process of science through active learning strategies. A 16-week, one semester course entitled, “Earth Systems Science for Educators” has been designed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to use an active learning approach to improve student knowledge of basic Earth science concepts. To evaluate the extent to which their knowledge has improved, we developed a fairly simple assessment instrument, which consists of 38 statements in which the student responds true-false-“I do not know.” Based on pre- and post-course assessments of 108 elementary and middle-level education majors who took the class in 5 different semesters from 1998 to 2000, there was an average increase in their content knowledge of 30 percent.

Enhancing Tenth Graders' Earth-Science Learning Through Computer-Assisted Instruction

This study investigated the comparative efficiency of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) and traditional teaching methods on tenth-graders' learning of earth science in Taiwan. A total of 151 students enrolled in four earth science classes participated in this pretest/post-test controlgroup experiment. Experimental-group students learned earth science concepts through the CAI, whereas comparison group students were taught by a traditional approach. Results include: (1) Students in the experimental group had significantly higher achievement scores than did students in the comparison group (F = 4.90, p<.05); (2) There were also statistically significant differences in favor of CAI on students' test performance, especially on the knowledge (F = 8.00, p<.005) and comprehension (F = 5.80, p<.05) test items, but not on the application (F = 0.12, p>.05) test items. These findings suggest that incorporating CAI into secondary schools has promise in helping students' grasp of earth science concepts.

Inquiry Teaching and Its Effects on Secondary-School Students' Learning of Earth Science Concepts

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of inquiry-based teaching and traditional teaching on student learning of earth-science concepts at the secondary-school level. A quasi-experimental non-equivalent control-group design was employed to identify any significant gains in student achievement. Students chosen to participate in the study included 232 earth-science students (9th grade) enrolled in six earth-science classes. The experimental group received two weeks of the inquiry-based instruction, whereas the control group received the traditional lecture-type instruction. Selected items from the Taiwan Indicators of Educational Progress in Science Process Skills and Taiwan Entrance Examinations for Senior High School were used to measure student learning of earth-science concepts. The data were analyzed with an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) on posttest scores with pretest as the covariate. The results indicated that students taught using inquiry-based instructional method scored significantly higher on the selected test items than those taught by a traditional teaching approach (F=6.75, p<.05). Most notably, there was significant improvement in achievement test performance, especially on the comprehensive (F =3.94, p.<05) and integrated (F=6.47, p.<0.05) test items but not on the “factual knowledge” (F = 3.43, p>0.05) test items.

Full-Circle Partnerships for Elementary-School Science Education – A Collaborative Approach to Group Learning in Earth Science

Clemson University has recently instituted a three-semester sequence of science content courses specifically designed for elementary- school teacher-education majors. New courses in life science, earth science, and physical science all emphasize interdisciplinary content coverage and learner-centered pedagogical approaches as recommended by Project 2061 and other national curriculum initiatives. Each course stresses a constructivist approach to learning and incorporates cooperative learning, performance-based assessment, and a modified learning cycle as instructional strategies, as well as providing a mentoring component in which preservice students are paired with local practicing elementary-school teachers. The earth-science course served as the pilot course and provided research data on student achievement, attitude towards earth science, self-assessment of understanding of earth-science concepts, and self assessment of confidence in teaching earth-science concepts. Pretest and posttest comparisons, al...

Structural regularities in the lithosphere of continents and plate tectonics

Two fundamental, but competing earth science concepts have been under discussion in Russia. The first one, that of endogenous regimes, is based on the assumption that permanent vertical relationships or long-term interactions between the crust and upper mantle control crustal evolution. Significant horizontal movements of the lithosphere, as required by the second concept, that of global plate tectonics, would destroy these crust-mantle interactions. Certain regular features of the crust and upper mantle support the endogenous regime concept and are difficult to explain in terms of conventional plate tectonics. In particular, the close correlation between near-surface features and deep (> 400 km) mantle inhomogeneities suggests that many geological structures are deeply rooted in the mantle. Moreover, geophysical studies have failed to reveal a well-defined and continuous asthenosphere at relatively shallow depths (∼ 100 km) that would allow lithospheric plates to be transported over large distances, and the rheology of the lithosphere itself is found to be sufficiently inhomogeneous as to cast doubt on the principle of thin rigid plates. In contrast, palaeomagnetic and other data require that horizontal movements of many near-surface geological structures must have taken place. To explain this apparent contradiction, it is suggested here that the crust and its connected deep root are capable of gliding along one of the deep mantle phase transition zones with respect to the inner Earth.

The remote access astronomy project: an example of a university/high school cooperative effort

The Remote Access Astronomy Project is a unique computerized telescope and data distribution system that has the potential to change the way astronomical, earth science and physics concepts are taught to high school and undergraduate students. The project uses high resolution astronomical and earth resource images and image processing techniques that appeal to the natural curiosity young people have about space and astronomy as well as taking advantage of the familiarity of video imagery. In addition, particularly at the secondary school level, it serves as a forum for low cost and rapid distribution of curriculum materials among teachers and as an educational network between high schools and between high schools and universities. By using a combination of high performance, low cost microcomputers, high resolution interactive graphics, high speed modem technology and data compression techniques, the project can break down the traditional learning boundaries in a classroom and allow students and teachers access to a much richer environment that is, in a sense, a classroom without walls. The graphics resolution achieved is near photographic at 1024 × 768 pixels allowing us to have in the classroom a system that only five years ago would have cost roughly 25–50 K$ but can be utilized for less than $2500 today. The system is currently undergoing testing at the undergraduate level at UCSB, at a number of California high schools and a junior high. The project is supported by the University of California, The National Science Foundation's Center for Particle Astrophysics and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

In-Service Field-Oriented Earth Science Programs for the Precollege Teacher that Make a Difference

As our world community places increasingly greater demands on earth resources, we must likewise place increasingly greater emphasis on educating people about the earth, and how earth processes and resources are vital to our continued existence. The obvious place to implement this educational process is at the precollege level. However, the majority of teachers who should be covering earth science at these grade levels do not have the knowledge, expertise, or enthusiasm to adequately address topics in earth science. For these teachers, field-oriented, in-service enhancement programs provide a mechanism by which they can gain up-to-date knowledge, develop hands-on skills, and learn where and how to integrate earth-science topics and concepts into their existing areas of expertise. The Mathematics and Science Education Center at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the Center for Strengthening of Teaching at the University of Puerto Rico, have developed a series of field-oriented, in-service Ear...

Importance of Earth Science in the Precollege Curriculum

A knowledge of the enormity of geologic time and the extraordinarily slow rate at which many earth processes occur is critical if we are to address the global environmental problems of resource depletion, pollution of our environment, and waste disposal. Human population growth both affects these and is affected by them. Each can be considered a limiting factor to human population growth. It is only through the study of earth science that the importance of these topics can be effectively inculcated. The teaching of earth science, however, should include an emphasis, whenever possible, on the relationship between earth processes and environmental/social issues. Because earth science is so important, it should be taught to everyone. That will require the incorporation of earth-science concepts into elementary, middle/junior high, and high school. In order to get the general public to address these critical environmental issues, teachers at all levels must go beyond making students aware of the processes and...

Project STARWALK

Project STARWALK is an Earth/space science program, developed for elementary students in grades 3 and 5 or 4 and 6. The program is designed around the teaching of some basic earth science concepts (Earth’s rotation, revolution, and axial tilt), and their consequences. Classroom lessons are designed to both prepare and follow-up student visits to a planetarium facility. The planetarium is used as an instrument to display models to help the students understand the concepts. There are three visits to the planetarium (fall, winter, and spring).The role of the teacher is to prepare the students for a laboratory experience at the planetarium. This is done by way of the materials provided, and whatever other strategies the teacher deems necessary. There are a variety of activities designed for both pre- and post-reinforcement of the concepts.

Attainment of Selected Earth Science Concepts by Texas High School Seniors

AbstractThis investigation was conducted to determine the degree to which 492 high school seniors in Texas attained five earth science concepts. The study examined the influence of school type and years of science background on the attainment of these concepts. A concept attainment instrument was developed, validated and administered to the seniors sampled in this investigation. The results of this investigation indicated that the enrollment of the school attended by the senior affected whether the concepts were attained, with students in suburban high schools (AAA) attaining more concepts than seniors from small rural high schools (A). In addition, students with more than two years of science coursework attained significantly higher scores on the concept instrument.

Earth science concept list for grades K‐12 curriculum construction and evaluation

AbstractThe problem for this study was the identification of earth science concepts recommended by scholars in earth science for inclusion in the R‐12 science curriculum. Three panels of earth science scholars assisted in the study. The third panel was selected in such a manner as to insure that the judgement of the entire memberships of five major professional organizations within the earth sciences would be represented within specified limits. The final concept list contained fifty‐two earth science concepts.The claim is not made that the concept list which was developed is a complete list of earth science concepts which earth science scholars believe to be important for inclusion in the K‐12 science program; the list is to be regarded as a sample of those concepts which would form a complete list. However, it would seem that due to the method of compiling the list that a majority of the earth science concepts which earth science scholars rate as most important for inclusion in the K‐I2 science program would be present.

The use of visual advance organizers for learning earth science concepts

The use of visual advance organizers for learning earth science concepts

Subject organization proposed for teaching related‐fields concepts required to learn earth science concepts in the junior high school

Subject organization proposed for teaching related‐fields concepts required to learn earth science concepts in the junior high school