EXPLORING STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS ABOUT THE FORMATION AND STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH.

Numerous studies indicate that students frequently struggle to understand the geosphere, particularly the Earth's formation and structure. The study focuses on how curriculum presented to children ages 11-14 led to an improved understanding of the formation and structure of the Earth using stratigraphic columns. Overall, 8th grade students (age 13-14) performed better on the task than 6th grade students (ages 11-12), suggesting a developmental advantage in their interpretations of the columns. Researchers observed that both classes of students had trouble with the concepts of scale, time, and size as they completed the activity. Even after receiving instruction, younger students continued to struggle with the Principle of Superposition, which explains the relative ages of rock layers based on their sequential arrangement. In general, age and experience impacted the students' ability to explain the Principle of Superposition and accurately label stratigraphic column models. There is still a need for more classroom studies to prepare teachers to scaffold students' sense of geologic scale as it relates to time and size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]