SPATIAL SKILLS USE IN GEOLOGICAL TASKS: DESIGNING TOOLS FOR IMPROVING UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION

Geoscience and cognitive science have worked together to study the spatial skills needed to conduct geoscience research, but we see a need for refinement of those spatial skills. The different specializations within the geosciences use different spatial skills in their primary tasks. Our lab group has created a series of questions, based on the Santa Barbara Sense of Direction Scale, which we are iteratively refining to elicit from geologists their comfort in completing certain tasks (i.e. I am good at strike and dip measurements). These questions were drawn from the analysis of introductory geology lab manuals. We next labeled the questions according to the spatial skill they utilize to look for patterns in spatial skills, questions, and geological specialization. With this poster, we will inform geologists of our preliminary, theoretical construction and solicit additional questions and geological skills so as to increase both the breadth and depth of our survey. Our goal with this survey is to craft a tool to help improve the design of undergraduate geoscience coursework such that they will better prepare geology majors for their future careers in the geosciences.