REASONING ABOUT PLATE TECTONICS AND EARTHQUAKES: STUDENT MULTIMODAL SENSE MAKING WITH GESTURES, SELF-GENERATED DRAWINGS, LABELING AND VERBAL EXPLANATION

The purpose of this study was to develop a better understanding of how students represent and make sense of big ideas in the geological sciences, specifically the relationship between plate tectonics and earthquake phenomena. A convenient sample of eleven freshman students was recruited from a bi-weekly Physical Geology class. Students participated in a scaffolded interview during which they were asked to respond verbally and to use gestures, label maps and photographs, and draw figures as they generated responses to a consistent suite of nine questions. Student verbal responses and gestures were videotaped while their graphic representations were captured with a screen recorder using a tablet PC. For example, we recorded students’ verbal explanations of their interpretations of faults as we videotaped them labeling a photograph of a fault using a stylus and graphics tablet.

We assessed student meaning making around three principal, related themes: a) why earthquakes occur and how they are related to faults; b) the characteristics of earthquakes (e.g., depth, magnitude) associated with plate boundaries, with reference to the Caribbean Basin; and, c) the relationship between plate tectonics and geologic time. Student responses were aggregated and analyzed using a multimodal discourse analysis framework which considers the simultaneous actions of students as they complete different activities.

Preliminary findings included student gesturing was often used to initiate verbal reasoning processes. Graphic representations were used as a reflective tool when asked to elaborate on geoscience understanding. Modeling tools such as vectors where used extensively to clarify geological behavior. Our finding is that students need opportunities to express themselves in multiple modes so that they may fully reason about geologic phenomena. Activities that require students to express themselves verbally, graphically, and with gestures provide a greater likelihood for us to fully appreciate the depth and range of student understanding of key concepts.