Spatial Thinking & NYS Regents Earth Science: Finding the Spatial Dr. Kim Kastens & Dr. Michael Passow Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Originally presented: American Museum of Natural History April 11, 2012 and July 10, 2012 Updated for STANYS 2014 From 1941 Earth Science Regents exam thinking/

Spatial thinking is thinking that finds meaning in the shape, size, orientation, location, direction, or trajectory ….of objects, processes, or phenomena, ….or the relative positions in space of multiple objects, processes, or phenomena.

Describing the shapes of natural objects, rigorously and unambiguously. Categorizing objects by their shape. Ascribing meaning to the shape of a natural object. Recognizing a shape or pattern amid a cluttered noisy background. Visualizing a 3-D object or structure or process by examining observations collected in one or two dimensions. Describing the position and orientation of objects in the real world relative to a coordinate system anchored to the Earth. Kastens, K. A. and T. Ishikawa (2006). Spatial Thinking in the Geosciences and Cognitive Sciences. In Earth and Mind., C. Manduca, D. Mogk and N. Stillings, editors, Geological Society of America Special Paper 413, p Spatial Thinking in Earth System Science

Kastens, K. A. and T. Ishikawa (2006). Spatial Thinking in the Geosciences and Cognitive Sciences. In Earth and Mind., C. Manduca, D. Mogk and N. Stillings, editors, Geological Society of America Special Paper 413, p Recalling locations of previously observed geological phenomena. Mentally manipulating a volume by folding, faulting, and eroding. Envisioning the motion of objects or materials through space in three dimensions. Making and interpreting spatial representations (including maps). Using spatial thinking to think about time. Using spatial thinking to think about non-spatial properties.

Marshak, Stephen, (200) Earth Portrait of a Planet, new York, W.W. Norton & Co. Inc., Appendix B-2 Flow Charts for Identifying Minerals. Classifying or categorizing an object by its shape

Ascribing meaning to the shape of a natural object. Source: Mylonite. Note fine grain size and strong foliation probably caused by intense shearing. Distribution of modern species of planktonic foraminifera. Figure 16-1 in: Kennett, James (1982) Marine Geology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Mentally manipulating a volume by folding, faulting and eroding. Figure in: Ramsay, John G. and Martin I. Huber (1987) The Techniques of Modern Structural Geology, Volume 2: Folds and Fractures. New York: Academic Press; Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers.

Visualizing a 3-D object or structure or process by examining observations collected in one or two dimensions.

Spatial cognition is a well-developed field of cognitive and learning science research Downs and Liben (1991) studied college students’ ability to anticipate the form of a shadow cast by a shape rotated to various angles. Figure 5B in: Downs, Roger M. and Lynn S. Liben (1991) The Development of Expertise in Geography: A Cognitive- Developmental Approach to Geographic Education. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 81(2), pp

They found that college students performance on projective tasks is poor when the shapes are three dimensional. Figure 2 in: Merriwether, Ann M. and Lynn S. Liben (1997) Adults’ Failures on Euclidean and Projective Spatial Tasks: Implications for Characterizing Spatial Cognition. Journal of Adult Development, Vol. 4, No. 2.

Performance on spatial tasks shows wide person to person variation. Students who struggle with typical verbally-demanding academic tasks may excel on spatially-demanding tasks.

Computer-supported instructional activities to foster spatial thinking in Earth Sciences, developed by Steve Reynolds Spatial thinking can be improved through instruction and practice.

Spatial Thinking in Earth System Science Teachers need to know that spatial thinking is pervasive in Earth & Environmental Sciences Teachers need to understand that performance on spatial tasks: differs widely among individuals does not necessarily correlate with other academic strengths, can be improved with instruction and practice. Teachers need to be able to design, select, and evaluate student activities that develop and assess spatial thinking.

GEO Professional Development to Improve the Spatial Thinking of Earth Science Teachers and Students resources/spatial-thinking/ Analyze released New York State Earth Science Regents exam items for spatial thinking: What is abundant? What is hard? Pilot and evaluate a professional development program for Earth Science teachers piggy-backing on Earth2class Expand spatial thinking professional development statewide and nationwide, leveraging move towards data-driven PD (?)

“Finding the Spatial” in Earth Science Regents Course You won’t find much spatialness here

New York Earth Science Reference Tables 16 page booklet Lots of spatialness here

“Finding the Spatial” in Earth Science Regents Exams Began with exploration of RES Core Curriculum, exams, and practices Gradual identification of sub-categories wrt RES: Spatial concepts Spatial representations Spatial skills Coded 12 exams:

Analyses revealed “spatialness” can be identified in:  63.6 % of all questions  63.3 % of the multiple choice questions  64.0 % of the constructed response questions Spatial thinking is abundant in Regents Earth Science Exam

Total items (out of 84 or 85) Multiple choice items (out of 50) Constructed response items (out of 34 or 35) Number of Spatial Items

Frequency of Spatial Concepts

Configuration (SC-Cn) …relative position of two or more objects, attributes or phenomena…

Frequency of Spatial Representations

Map (SR-Mp) Timeline -> Bedrock geology map -> Landscape regions map

Frequency of Spatial Skills

Mental animation (SS-MA) Student needs to or would benefit from envisioning that objects are moving or deforming and how they are moving or deforming…

Difficulty of spatial versus non-spatial items 26 school districts in one BOCES region One exam (June 2010) Mean of Non-spatial items = 73% correct Mean of Spatial items = 66% correct 12 out of the 13 hardest items are spatial

Difficulty of spatial versus non-spatial categories Hardest Spatial Concepts Trajectory (14 percentage points worse than average spatial item) Gradient (5 points worse) Hardest Spatial Representation Solar System (9 points worse) Hardest Spatial Skills Describe spatial phenomena (5 points worse) Perspective taking (4 points worse)

Hard Spatial Item (44.9% correct) SC: Trajectory SC: Motion SC: Position SC: Configuration SR: Solar System SR: Photograph SS: Perspective taking SS: Mental animation SS: Representational Correspond

Hard Spatial Item (44.0% correct) SC: Gradient SC: Position SC: Configuration SR: Profile SS: Describe Allowed answers: — Heat and pressure increase from B to C. — Regional metamorphism is greatest at C. — different grades of metamorphism

Easy Spatial Item (93.1% correct) Earth Science Reference Tables SC: Position SR: Map SS: Representational Correspondence

A wide range of spatial concepts, spatial representations, and spatial skills are being assessed on the Earth Science Regents. Configuration, position, motion and direction are the most frequently assessed spatial concepts. Mental animation and representational correspondence are the most frequently assessed spatial skills. Conclusions

Earth Science Reference Tables enable more challenging questions using spatial representations, especially maps & profiles Spatial questions are more difficult than non- spatial questions for students. Questions involving gradient, trajectory, and solar system diagrams are the most difficult (in a limited data set)

Next Steps Utilize: Pilot project on professional development on spatial thinking for Earth Science teachers Dream: Expand spatial thinking professional development statewide and nationwide, leveraging movement towards “data-driven” PD. -resources/spatial-thinking/

Sample Activities to Develop Spatial Thinking in RES

“Professional Development to Improve the Spatial Thinking of Earth Science Teachers and Students” Supported by National Science Foundation GEO resources/spatial-thinking/ resources/spatial-thinking/