TEACHING 3-D SPATIAL COGNITION IN MINERALOGY AND STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY USING THE IMMERSIVE PLANETARIUM ENVIRONMENT

Three-dimensional cognition is the minimum requirement for understanding and practicing the geosciences despite much of a geoscientist’s work incorporating only limited three-dimensional data. Geoscientists use mostly 2D information such as outcrop and mineral surfaces, field and laboratory images of geological features, and microscopy, that is then correlated to determine 3D relationships. Images are 2D even if depicting perspective views, and although more interactive than static images, rock thin sections on the microscope stage are effectively the same as 2D images because they are planar views. Even 3D tools used by geologists are 2D, such as maps, structure sections, and a stereographic net. Further, the challenge in teaching 3D geoscience is complicated by student experiences prior to such instruction. What is known as visual penetration ability is not usually part of education before learning geology, so students may arrive in a geology class without this ability. We have challenged ourselves as professors of geosciences to help students learn 3D cognitive skill, but with mixed success using the standard tools of the trade. Although it is clearly possible for students to achieve correct results using 3D tools, such as 2D projections (e.g., a stereonet), a deeper understanding of the related 3D relationships is not necessarily achieved, and errors may be common.

Like many colleges and universities, SUNY Buffalo State College has a state-of-the-art planetarium with a perfect hemispherical dome. As digital planetarium systems have advanced, programming has expanded beyond astronomy to other disciplines including the geosciences. While often focusing on visualization of global datasets, use of the planetarium to enhance student understanding of 3D geoscience tools such as mineral symmetry and stereographic projection has been lacking. We have developed uses of the 3D projection in the planetarium to teach concepts of mineralogy and structural geology. Our results show student cognition to be increased relative to before we started using the planetarium in this way. We have only just begun to explore this and other ways that immersive teaching spaces can benefit students’ three-dimensional cognition.