Feel the Heat: An Embodied Approach to the Instruction of the Greenhouse Effect

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 71
  In Roundtable Session: Versatile Teaching Methods and Interventions That Enhance Science Learning

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand students’ perceptual experiences of visual representations of the greenhouse effect. Twenty undergraduate students were interviewed as they engaged with an online visualization intended to leverage their perceptual resources for learning about the greenhouse effect. We found that although all students agreed that climate change is happening, a majority initially held a misconception about how it works. However, upon engaging with the visualization, students made perceptual inferences and formulated causal rules that culminated in an improved understanding of how climate change works. We present a typical case to illustrate how visual experiences support student learning through iterations of observation and revision of their thinking.

Authors

• Ian Thacker, University of Texas, San Antonio

• Gale M. Sinatra, University of Southern California