HOW TO READILY INTEGRATE SPATIAL THINKING TRAINING INTO UNDERGRADUATE GEOLOGY COURSES (Invited Presentation)

Spatial thinking plays a pivotal role in geoscience education and practice, enabling students to interpret geological phenomena, analyze spatial data, and engage in critical thinking. The development of spatial reasoning abilities benefits both students’ academic success and prepares them for future careers. However, integrating spatial thinking training into undergraduate geology courses can present a challenge. Instructors may not recognize that students lack these skills, may not be aware of the range of specific skills, and may have reservations about adding additional components to their instruction. Our goal is to help geology instructors identify the tools and gain the confidence necessary to promote spatial thinking development without overburdening their course preparation load.

This presentation aims to empower geology instructors with practical guidance on how to incorporate spatial thinking training into their courses. , we will use practical examples to demonstrate how instructors can foster students' skill development within core geology courses, such as mineralogy, sedimentation and stratigraphy, and structural geology. For example, analysis of multiple courses within the geology curriculum reveals that spatial thinking skills such as disembedding, mental transformation, and updating movement are often represented whereas others (e.g., perspective taking, penetrative thinking) are less frequently observed. We will identify specific topics within geology courses where different types of spatial thinking training can be included and will explore practical strategies to blend spatial training into existing curricula.