HR: 1340h
AN: ED13E-0752    [Abstracts]
TI: Changing Attitudes and Assessments When Working With Maps: Use of Anaglyph Maps in the Classroom
AU: * Kirkby, K C
EM: kirkby@umn.edu
AF: Geology & Geophysics, University of Minnesota, 310 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 United States
AU: Morin, P J
EM: lpaul@umn.edu
AF: Geology & Geophysics, University of Minnesota, 310 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 United States
AU: Rapp, D N
EM: rappx009@umn.edu
AF: Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota, 178 Pillsbury Dr. SE , Minneapolis, MN 55455 United States
AU: Murphy, T
EM: apmurphy@stkate.edu
AF: Education Department, College of St. Catherine , Mendel Hall, Room 201 Mail #: F-13, St. Paul, MN 55105 United States
AU: Campbell, K
EM: kmc@umn.edu
AF: National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics (NCED), University of Minnesota, 2 3rd Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414 United States
AU: Culpepper, S
EM: culp0013@umn.edu
AF: Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota, 178 Pillsbury Dr. SE , Minneapolis, MN 55455 United States
AU: Friesen, B
EM: benjaminfriesen@yahoo.com
AF: Curriculum and Instruction, University of Minnesota, 157 Pillsbury Dr. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 United States
AU: Baumtrog, J
EM: jillbaumtrog@yahoo.com
AF: Curriculum and Instruction, University of Minnesota, 157 Pillsbury Dr. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 United States
AB: Anaglyph maps provide a low cost, easy way to present mapped data as a three-dimensional surface in Earth Science classrooms, but to date there has been relatively little evaluation of this technology's impact on students and student learning. In our extensive testing of the maps, in undergraduate and secondary classrooms, as well as in controlled studies, the maps' major strengths appear to fall in two areas. Anaglyph maps greatly reduce the amount of classroom time necessary to prepare students for map interpretation, allowing classes to spend more time on map content, rather than on map interpretation. Anaglyph maps also dramatically improve students' attitudes about working with maps. On those two fronts alone, anaglyph maps can be a priceless resource from an instructional viewpoint. It is more difficult to determine the impact of anaglyph maps on student learning however. Controlled studies of individual students using a variety of map types suggest some increases in student understanding and retention of mapped data, but the gains are relatively small. A significant problem is that the use of anaglyph maps completely changes what can, and should, be used as assessment measures. Our evaluation instruments simply have not kept pace with changing technology. Instead of questions such as "How high?" or "How steep?", we need to ask "How come?, How did the present landscape come to be?". These types of questions used to be considered a higher level of understanding that wasn't addressed by traditional assessment of map reading skills, but with anaglyph maps these questions move to the foreground. We are continuing to work on developing better assessment instruments to measure the impact of anaglyph maps on student learning, but even in the pilot studies completed, one thing is clear. Anaglyph maps are dramatically more effective at engaging students and improving their attitude about working with maps, and in secondary classrooms and general requirement undergraduate courses, these are pivotal steps. This work is sponsored in part by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education and the STC program of the National Science Foundation via the National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics under the agreement Number EAR- 0120914.
DE: 0805 Elementary and secondary education
DE: 0810 Post-secondary education
DE: 0825 Teaching methods
DE: 0840 Evaluation and assessment
DE: 0850 Geoscience education research
SC: Education and Human Resourcese [ED]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting