• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.235-253
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to compare by learner groups(K-12, geology-related majoring students, science teachers) how geologic fieldwork education cases in domestic and foreign papers for recent 20 years reflect the elements of inquiry in field geology. The total number of analyzed cases is 53(58 for double counting), and the analysis was conducted on the elements of inquiry in field geology and their sub-element. As a result, there was a clear difference between the cases of geologic fieldwork education for K-12 and college students majoring in geology-related disciplines, in the way of reflecting elements of inquiry in field geology. Because most of K-12 target fieldworks were designed based on the curriculum, it mainly included 2-3 elements of observations, representations, and/or abductive reasoning. On the other hand, because fieldworks for geology-related major students aim to train geologic experts, it diversely contained four or five of the elements of inquiry in field geology, including spatial thinking and diachronic thinking in a high proportion, and also frequently used activities that require specialized skills such as geological mapping. Fieldworks for science teachers were found to have mixed features of K-12 and geology-related major students. Considering the diversity of included inquiry elements, similarities with the activities performed by geologists, and the autonomy of learners, it was analyzed that geologic fieldwork for geology-related major students was more close to authentic geologic inquiry than fieldwork for others. Based on the results of this study, we suggested implications for improving geological fieldwork as authentic science inquiry.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.465-481
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• 2017

This study is a research synthesis analyzing how field geology education is conducted in domestic and foreign countries in the recent 20 years and how it reflects the characteristics of authentic geologic inquiry. For these purposes, we first drew five elements of inquiry in field geology (observation, representation, abductive reasoning, spatial thinking, and diachronic thinking) considering the field geologists' actual research method as well as its pedagogical significance in science education. We developed analysis criteria for field geology education. The 53 cases were analyzed based on each element of inquiry in field geology and its sub-elements, and also the tendency of overall elements. As a result, observation and representation were included in most cases, but there appeared less frequency in order of abductive reasoning, spatial thinking, and diachronic thinking. For observation, the ratio of purposive observation and autonomous observation is high. For representation, both visualizing and linguistic type of representation and free-form representation appear frequently. For abductive reasoning, the step of generating hypothesis is often included and the hypothesis tends to be about the geological formatting process. For spatial thinking, type of self-location and perception of the spatial configuration of the structure appear at a high rate. For diachronic thinking, type of stratigraphic sequence is the most frequent. The proportions of the cases including three or more elements of inquiry in field geology consist 87% of the total. We suggested implications for improving geological fieldwork as authentic science inquiry in the future.