A document by Cheryl L.B. Manning. Click on the document to view its contents.

Topographic maps represent a three-dimensional (3D) surface using a system of symbols in two-dimensions (2D). To facilitate students’ understanding of topographic maps, the Augmented Reality (AR) Sandbox reads the elevation of actual sand and projects the topographic map lines onto the surface of the sand. Although over 600 institutions have built AR Sandboxes to help people interpret topographic maps, classroom studies using the AR Sandbox have not found significant gains on topographic map assessments. The present study is a 2 by 2 design testing the affordances of the AR Sandbox in a laboratory setting. In the first level of the study, participants interacted with the AR sandbox (3D) or a regular computer monitor (2D) to give them feedback on five landforms they constructed in the sand. Participants initially constructed the landforms in the sand with the feedback off (i.e., sand without the overlaid projection or monitor). The feedback was then turned on and participants compared and contrasted their landform to the target topographic map. Participants were then asked to modify their landform with the feedback on (continuous), or the feedback was turned off (discrete) during modification. A mixed-ANOVA revealed significant gains on a modified version of the Topographic Map Assessment (TMA-B) from pre- to post-intervention (F(1, 74) = 80.34, p < .001). A significant interaction revealed that participants in the 2D condition had greater gains (M = 2.91, SD = 2.48) than those in the 3D (M = 1.64, SD = 2.07) condition (F(1, 74) = 6.38, p = .014), although both conditions had significant pre- to post-intervention improvement (2D: t(37) = 7.24, p < .001, d = 1.02; 3D: t(39) = 5.01, p < .001, d = 0.64). On average, the discrete feedback groups spent significantly less intervention time (M = 48.3, SD = 16.9) compared to the continuous groups (M = 58.2, SD = 18.1) (F(1, 76) = 6.20, p = .015). The findings suggest that the AR Sandbox does improve topographic map skill for individual students using our approach, and that the most efficient technique engages students in discrete episodes of feedback using the 2D computer monitor.

Practitioners and researchers in geoscience education embrace ICON (Integrated, Coordinated, Open science, and Networked) principles and have a history of using them to create and share educational resources, to move forward collective priorities, and to learn from one another. Geoscience education brings substantial expertise in social science research and its application to building individual and collective capacity. This can be used to support ICON processes and improve the coproduction of knowledge between geoscientists and diverse communities. Geoscience is an important part of the knowledge needed to advance equity at local to global scales. The geoscience education community has expanded its own ICON capacity through access to and use of shared resources and research findings, enhancing data sharing and publication, and leadership development. We prioritize continued use of ICON principles to develop effective and inclusive communities that increase equity in geoscience education and beyond, that support leadership and full participation of systemically non-dominant groups, and that enable global discussions and collaborations.