A Phenomenographic Analysis Of Students’ Experience Of Geological Time
Lundqvist, Jennie Mari LU ; Svensson, Kim LU ; Ljung, Karl LU
; Eriksson, Urban
LU
and Eriksson, Moa
LU
(2021)
In Journal of Astronomy & Earth Sciences Education (JAESE)
8(1).
p.1-26
- Abstract
- Geological time is by many geoscience instructors considered a threshold concept for geoscience students, being a
central concept for how we experience geosceince phenomena that takes place on a spatio-temporal scale ranging
from micro (e.g. cloud formation) to macro (e.g. plate tectonics). If one wishes to understand geoscience phenomena
that goes beyond human perception, one must move from the concrete toward the abstract—from experiencing a
phenomenon with one’s senses toward an experience of the phenomenon that is based on an mind construct; we refer
to such competency as disciplinary spatio-temporal competency (DSTC). The purpose of this study is to gain an
understanding of how first-year students in a... (More) - Geological time is by many geoscience instructors considered a threshold concept for geoscience students, being a
central concept for how we experience geosceince phenomena that takes place on a spatio-temporal scale ranging
from micro (e.g. cloud formation) to macro (e.g. plate tectonics). If one wishes to understand geoscience phenomena
that goes beyond human perception, one must move from the concrete toward the abstract—from experiencing a
phenomenon with one’s senses toward an experience of the phenomenon that is based on an mind construct; we refer
to such competency as disciplinary spatio-temporal competency (DSTC). The purpose of this study is to gain an
understanding of how first-year students in a geoscience program in Sweden experience and represent the
phenomenon of geological time, i.e. to capture their DSTC. Analyazing data from three semi-structured group
interviews using a phenomenographic approach revealed how the students express geological time through their
language, their gestures, and their visualizations. From the result in this study, including four qualitatively different
themes, or categories of description, it is possible to conclude that the students' way of expressing geological time
give rise to exciting interpretations and we believe that these expressions can provide information also about how
students experience (and learn about) geological time. We report that through students’ illustrations and discussions,
students experience geological time as something more than a static one-dimensional straight line. The data analysis
shows that students connect geological time with spatio-temporal aspects from various geosientific phenomena, one
example of such an dynamic description of geological time is “One simply fills it with more information” indicating
that the students experience geological time as two-dimensional (space and time). (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Geological time is by many geoscience instructors considered a threshold concept for geoscience students, being a central concept for how we experience geosceince phenomena that takes place on a spatio-temporal scale ranging from micro (e.g. cloud formation) to macro (e.g. plate tectonics). If one wishes to understand geoscience phenomena that goes beyond human perception, one must move from the concrete toward the abstract—from experiencing a phenomenon with one’s senses toward an experience of the phenomenon that is based on an mind construct; we refer to such competency as disciplinary spatio-temporal competency (DSTC). The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of how first-year students in a geoscience program in Sweden... (More)
- Geological time is by many geoscience instructors considered a threshold concept for geoscience students, being a central concept for how we experience geosceince phenomena that takes place on a spatio-temporal scale ranging from micro (e.g. cloud formation) to macro (e.g. plate tectonics). If one wishes to understand geoscience phenomena that goes beyond human perception, one must move from the concrete toward the abstract—from experiencing a phenomenon with one’s senses toward an experience of the phenomenon that is based on an mind construct; we refer to such competency as disciplinary spatio-temporal competency (DSTC). The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of how first-year students in a geoscience program in Sweden experience and represent the phenomenon of geological time, i.e. to capture their DSTC. Analyazing data from three semi-structured group interviews using a phenomenographic approach revealed how the students express geological time through their language, their gestures, and their visualizations. From the result in this study, including four qualitatively different themes, or categories of description, it is possible to conclude that the students' way of expressing geological time give rise to exciting interpretations and we believe that these expressions can provide information also about how students experience (and learn about) geological time. We report that through students’ illustrations and discussions, students experience geological time as something more than a static one-dimensional straight line. The data analysis shows that students connect geological time with spatio-temporal aspects from various geosientific phenomena, one example of such an dynamic description of geological time is “One simply fills it with more information” indicating that the students experience geological time as two-dimensional (space and time). (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/8d428bd8-8d7d-40e6-a019-89c7058a7ca6
- author
- Lundqvist, Jennie Mari
LU
; Svensson, Kim
LU
; Ljung, Karl
LU
; Eriksson, Urban
LU
and Eriksson, Moa
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Discipline-Based Education Research,, Multimodality, Phenomenography, Spatio- Temporal Scales, Geological Time, DisciplGeoscience Education Research
- in
- Journal of Astronomy & Earth Sciences Education (JAESE)
- volume
- 8
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 1 - 26
- publisher
- Clute Institute for Academic Research
- ISSN
- 2374-6254
- DOI
- 10.19030/jaese.v8i1.10388
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 8d428bd8-8d7d-40e6-a019-89c7058a7ca6
- date added to LUP
- 2023-10-02 13:59:26
- date last changed
- 2023-10-03 03:09:19
@article{8d428bd8-8d7d-40e6-a019-89c7058a7ca6,
abstract = {{Geological time is by many geoscience instructors considered a threshold concept for geoscience students, being a<br/>central concept for how we experience geosceince phenomena that takes place on a spatio-temporal scale ranging<br/>from micro (e.g. cloud formation) to macro (e.g. plate tectonics). If one wishes to understand geoscience phenomena<br/>that goes beyond human perception, one must move from the concrete toward the abstract—from experiencing a<br/>phenomenon with one’s senses toward an experience of the phenomenon that is based on an mind construct; we refer<br/>to such competency as disciplinary spatio-temporal competency (DSTC). The purpose of this study is to gain an<br/>understanding of how first-year students in a geoscience program in Sweden experience and represent the<br/>phenomenon of geological time, i.e. to capture their DSTC. Analyazing data from three semi-structured group<br/>interviews using a phenomenographic approach revealed how the students express geological time through their<br/>language, their gestures, and their visualizations. From the result in this study, including four qualitatively different<br/>themes, or categories of description, it is possible to conclude that the students' way of expressing geological time<br/>give rise to exciting interpretations and we believe that these expressions can provide information also about how<br/>students experience (and learn about) geological time. We report that through students’ illustrations and discussions,<br/>students experience geological time as something more than a static one-dimensional straight line. The data analysis<br/>shows that students connect geological time with spatio-temporal aspects from various geosientific phenomena, one<br/>example of such an dynamic description of geological time is “One simply fills it with more information” indicating<br/>that the students experience geological time as two-dimensional (space and time).}},
author = {{Lundqvist, Jennie Mari and Svensson, Kim and Ljung, Karl and Eriksson, Urban and Eriksson, Moa}},
issn = {{2374-6254}},
keywords = {{Discipline-Based Education Research,; Multimodality; Phenomenography; Spatio- Temporal Scales; Geological Time; DisciplGeoscience Education Research}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{1--26}},
publisher = {{Clute Institute for Academic Research}},
series = {{Journal of Astronomy & Earth Sciences Education (JAESE)}},
title = {{A Phenomenographic Analysis Of Students’ Experience Of Geological Time}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.19030/jaese.v8i1.10388}},
doi = {{10.19030/jaese.v8i1.10388}},
volume = {{8}},
year = {{2021}},
}