THE VISUAL GEOPHYSICAL EXPLORATION ENVIRONMENT (VGEE): LEARNING FROM STUDENT-CONSTRUCTED VISUALIZATION OF GEOPHYSICAL DATA

The VGEE (Visual Geophysical Exploration Environment) is an online learning environment that helps undergraduate students learn fundamental Earth system science concepts through hands-on interaction with scientific visualization and data. The VGEE consists of four elements:

·An inquiry-based curriculum for guiding student exploration (http://www.dpc.ucar.edu/vgee)

·A learner-centered interface to a scientific visualization tool

·A collection of concept models (interactive tools that help students understand fundamental scientific concepts)

·A suite of El Niño-related data sets adapted for student use

A key innovation of the VGEE is the integration of concept models and the visualization tool. Concept models are simple, interactive, java-based illustrations of fundamental physical principles. We developed eight concept models and integrated them into the visualization tool to enable students to probe data. This ability to probe data using a concept model addresses the common problem of transfer—the difficulty students have in applying theoretical knowledge to everyday phenomenon.

We also conducted a classroom study of the VGEE’s impact on student understanding of the fundamental physics of El Niño and related Earth phenomena. In the study, the group that used the VGEE showed a 20% greater improvement from pre-test to post-test than the control group. The VGEE group also indicated that the class made a greater contribution to their ability to apply logic and reasoning to scientific problems.