Collaborative Research - Characterizing the Role of Spatial Thinking in Learning Hydrogeology: A Classroom, Field, and Expert-Novice Study

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving the education of geoscience and environmental professionals in hydrogeology, which focuses on understanding the flow of surface and subsurface water. The nation has a growing need for hydrogeologists to ensure clean and sustainable water sources. As they work to understand and predict the movement of water and other molecules, hydrogeologists must integrate three-dimensional data from maps, wells, and other sources.

Research in some STEM disciplines shows that training students in three-dimensional thinking can improve their persistence and retention, especially among women and students of color. However, the specific three-dimensional thinking skills used in hydrogeology have not yet been defined, hampering efforts to train students for hydrogeology careers. This project will explore how expert versus student hydrogeologists use three-dimensional spatial thinking skills to predict the movement of water and contaminants.

It will define the critical three-dimensional thinking skills used by professional hydrogeologists to solve water and contaminant flow problems. It will then characterize how students use (or do not use) these skills when learning hydrogeology in the classroom. This information is a critical first step toward creating teaching materials to better prepare a diverse and capable hydrogeologist workforce.

Hydrogeology deals with surface and subsurface water flow and the transport and fate of environmental contaminants within those flows. Graduates with hydrogeological training are in high demand in the environmental and geosciences labor market. In addition to requiring specialized knowledge, hydrogeology is a heavily visuospatial discipline that requires practitioners to integrate disparate data from maps, cross-sections, stratigraphic columns, geological and numerical models, well data, water level data, and contaminant concentrations.

These data are synthesized to form a three-dimensional model of the subsurface and groundwater flow and contaminant transport. This project seeks to address two research questions: (1) What spatial thinking skills are essential to successfully completing a site characterization and contaminant plume task in hydrogeology? (2) How do students use these skills while completing this task in classroom and field settings?

Question 1 will be addressed using a dominantly quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional expert-novice study in which upper-level undergraduate students, graduate students, and industry and academic experts in hydrogeology complete a suite of spatial thinking and knowledge tests, as well as a site characterization hydrogeology task based on typical classroom exercises. Question 2 will be addressed with a qualitative investigation of how students complete the same hydrogeology task in field and classroom contexts using (or not using) spatial thinking skills identified as essential in Question 1.

An external advisory board of experts in cognitive science, geoscience education research, and hydrogeology will advise and provide feedback on the course of the research. Study results will be disseminated in conference presentations and journals. Project deliverables will include identification of specific spatial thinking skills essential to hydrogeology, development of a hydrogeology concept inventory to assess student knowledge, and an evidence-based model of how students use hydrogeology knowledge and spatial thinking to solve water and contaminant flow problems in field and classroom settings.

The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. 

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.