MEASURING NOVICE-EXPERT MEANINGS FOR FAR-AWAY PLACES: AN APPROACH FOR CHARACTERIZING PLACE MEANING AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR GEOSCIENCE INSTRUCTION

In the Geosciences, places are defined by their physical attributes, location on Earth and processes that shape them. However, people’s sense of place is defined through relationships and emotions that build connection to a place. It is usually developed for places that people have experienced but can be developed for far-away places. Place-based science education focuses on place to achieve learning outcomes and often focuses on locations close to home. Here we introduce new tools to measure the sense of place that people hold for a remote, far-away location, using Greenland as an example. We surveyed people with a strong connection to Greenland (experts, n=94) and compare the findings to results from Geoscience students who have never visited Greenland (novices, n=143). We analyze words and phrases that subjects used to describe Greenland and explored in what way novices’ sense of place compares to the sense of place of experts a far-away place like Greenland. Using i) thematic analysis of phrases, ii) emotional value attribution of words, a methodology borrowed from cognitive psychology, and iii) categorization of words following an existing place meaning instrument, we show significant differences in the sense of place between novices and experts. While both groups have an overall positive impression of Greenland, we found that about a third of novices express a neutral view of Greenland (experts 4% neutral) with no or little awareness of Greenland. We found differences between experts and novices along dimensions such as a focus on environmental and natural attributes, cultural attributes or people of Greenland, concerns about, the importance of, or their interest in Greenland, and the feeling of connectedness to Greenland, with experts exhibiting higher place meaning attributes. Experts frequently use words that carry emotions, while novices use descriptive words that illustrate a superficial knowledge of Greenland. Emotional value coding of words revealed significant and measurable differences in emotional values such as the power of the word (dominance), pleasantness of the feelings (valence), and the degree of arousal evoked by the word between experts and novices. We discuss the implications for Geoscience education and how our findings can be translated to other geographic contexts.