Conceptions of geological time among primary teacher trainees, with reference to their engagement with geoscience, history, and science

Abstract

People's grasp of geological time is under-researched, despite attention being devoted to the philosophy of time. Research carried out with 179 pre-service primary teachers suggests they perceive events in Earth's geological past as falling into three distinct clusters: extremely ancient, less ancient and geologically recent. Respondents' grasp of relative time is more secure than their grasp of absolute time and instruments which address absolute time generate less conclusive evidence than do those requiring simple sequencing. Trainee teachers vary in their geoscience interests and classroom experiences and are more comfortable and imaginative with their teaching of history than with their geology, despite the parallels. In order to render more secure people's learning of geoscience concepts and processes, a deep time framework is needed for each learner, individualized to accommodate learner characteristics and local geoscience features.