Developing Student Understanding of Complex Earth Systems. A Critical Review

Most environmental issues involve near-surface earth systems that often exhibit complex characteristics and dynamics. The nature of near-surface earth systems often present major difficulties to students in their development of authentic, accurate mental models of earth systems. This talk reviews the nature of near-surface earth systems that exhibit complex behavior and the cognitive and epistemological issues that students may experience in understanding these systems.

There are three fundamental cognitive and epistemological challenges in studying complex earth systems. The first challenge is the conceptualization of natural earth environments as systems with accurate definition of boundaries and the nature of interactions between the elements of the system. Descriptions of the processes that transfer and manipulate matter and energy within the systems and across system boundaries as well as relations between one system and other systems should also be included in an accurate conceptualization. The second challenge is the characterization and explanation of the complex nature of earth systems through a description of the system's state over space and time, self-organization, or emergence of structure or patterns. A system's state encompasses a description of the all the important variables of the system and how they change under both steady state and non-equilibrium conditions. The third major challenge is the application of conceptual and scientific models of earth systems to support problem solving and the development of effective environmental policy.

Finally, I suggest that the same learning issues that challenge students also challenge environmental experts, policy managers, and stakeholders while developing solutions to environmental problems. Therefore, educational research of student learning in earth science may not only support the development of improved pedagogical practices and learning environments, but may also support improved environmental decision making.