Field studies are defined here as any study of the natural world that occurs beyond classrooms. There is rising concern for the future of field studies in Earth and Environmental Sciences in Higher Education, despite being core to environmental inquiry, as cost-cutting across the sector was intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper reviews…

Undergraduates majoring in geoscience are often unaware of their career options beyond traditional resource industries; they need explicit supports to consider their post-graduation options. This mixed methods study sought to fill gaps in the literature related to the overabundance of solely quantitative studies related to career awareness and the…

Much of the focus of international comparative studies of students' achievement has been on New Zealand students' falling standards. Using the most recent findings from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and, in particular, Year 9 New Zealand students' performance in specific items, this article suggests that there…

Water sciences education is paramount to sustainable groundwater resource management, especially of drinking water, but misunderstandings about groundwater among non-experts remain widespread. Groundwater residence is an especially challenging concept to learn because it is not directly visible in typical circumstances. The present study uses a…

The geosciences consist of multiple disciplines including geology, oceanography, and atmospheric science. Significant work expended to understand spatial thinking skills important to teaching and learning geology has advanced our ability to support students in geology courses and to achieve increased student success, retention, and diversity in…

Working memory is a cognitive system that allows for the simultaneous storage and processing of active information. While working memory has been implicated as an important element for success in many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, its specific role in geoscience learning is not fully understood. The major goal of…

This article explores the influential role of planning on recognition-primed decision-making. Considerable prior thinking occurs and there is a need to trace and account for the cognitive processes that precede and guide decisions in dynamic outdoor environments. Seven expert leaders from four countries were interviewed about memorable decisions…

The purpose of this research is to analyze the life and earth science curricula in Tunisia in order to determine its characteristics and to know if it really helps to develop critical thinking as it is claimed in curriculum documents. In this analysis, the authors applied the revised Bloom's taxonomy. The results show that curriculum authors…

Gesture-based learning have particularities, because learners interact in the learning process through the actual way, just like they interact in the nondigital world. It also can support kinesthetic pedagogical practices to benefit learners with strong bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. But without proper assistance or guidance, learners' learning…

Spatial reasoning is a critical skill in the Geosciences. Using a randomized control study with 592 undergraduate students enrolled in introductory and advanced Geology courses, our data indicates that regular, short interventions throughout an academic semester improve students' spatial thinking skills significantly with a moderate to large…

Follow-up activities after fieldwork are recommended, yet little research has been conducted in this area. This study investigates six cases of follow-up work carried out by three teachers and their students in three upper secondary schools in Norway. The data comprises video observations of teachers and students, instructional artifacts,…

The purpose of the study was to investigate university learners' visual attention during a PowerPoint (PPT) presentation on the topic of "Dinosaurs" in a real classroom. The presentation, which lasted for about 12-15 min, consisted of 12 slides with various text and graphic formats. An instructor gave the presentation to 21 students…

While there has been a remarkable worldwide convergence in the emphases of primary science curricula over the last four decades, the cognitive and knowledge demands that they make on learners have not been well-researched. Without knowing what these intellectual or epistemic requirements are when learning science in school, issues concerning…

This study reports on an effort to illustrate the coupling of educational research with ongoing curriculum development to promote effective and evidence-based online learning. The research findings have been used to inform the "EarthLabs" curriculum development team as they revise existing modules and create new modules, in order to…

Decades of science education research have provided us with a variety of tools to deal with the cognitive processes behind our students' learning. However, we have placed much less attention on student "affect," the feelings, attitudes, emotions, and values that can encourage or discourage the adoption of effective learning behaviors.…