Using internet-based problem-solving activities to enhance students' understanding of 3-dimensional spatial relationships

Figures & data

Figure 1 A question taken from the test for spatial awareness used in the project.

Table 1 Comparison of the spatial awareness test scores (pre- and post-EOSC 111 module) for the study population (N=19).

	Pre-EOSC 111 Module	Post-EOSC 111 Module
Mean Test Score	69.2	69.0
Standard Deviation	10.8	8.8

Table 2 Comparison of final module examination scores and test scores for spatial awareness for the cohort of students following the EOSC 111 module (N=23).

	EOSC 136	EOSC 139	SAS Spatial awareness score	(EOSC136-SAS)^2	(EOSC139-SAS)^2
Mean	73.26	64.17	69.044	0.005	0.008
Variance	177.5	125.7	103.4
Average	0.007

Table 3 Comparison of final module examination scores and test scores for spatial awareness for the cohort of students not following the EOSC 111 module (N=27).

	EOSC 136	EOSC 139	SAS Spatial awareness score	(EOSC136-SAS)^2	(EOSC139-SAS)^2
Mean	64.609	60.074	62.407	0.017	0.020
Variance	196.9	72.2	92.6
Average	0.019

Table 4 Comparison of final module examination scores and test scores for spatial awareness for students studying geophysics and in the cohort not following the EOSC 111 module (N=14).

	EOSC 136	EOSC 139	SAS Spatial awareness score	(EOSC136-SAS)^2	(EOSC139-SAS)^2
Mean	63.786	59.214	63.929	0.021	0.022
Variance	191.4	78.3	94.4
Average	0.022

Table 5 Comparison of final module examination scores and test scores for spatial awareness for students studying geology and physical geography or oceanography and in the cohort not following the EOSC 111 module (N=13).

	EOSC 136	EOSC 139	SAS Spatial awareness score	(EOSC136-SAS)^2	(EOSC139-SAS)^2
Mean	65.889	61.000	60.769	0.012	0.014
Variance	227.4	69.7	92.7
Average	0.013

Figure 2 Screen grab showing the internal structure of the Earth. Taken from: http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=internal+structure+of+the+earth&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title Please note that the adaptation of a screen grab, shown in Figure 2 (below) is an illustration taken from a Wiley publication: The Blue Planet, 2nd Edition. (Skinner et al., 1999)

Table 6 Other useful web-based resources identified by students (accessed 1 December 2010)

Resource	Student comment on usefulness
http://learn.arc.nasa.gov/	Worldwind: similar to Google Earth
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/	NOAA satellite and information service National Geophysics Data Center. Bathymetry and global relief in particular
http://learn.arc.nasa.gov/vlab/index.html	NASA learning technologies
http://learn.arc.nasa.gov/planets/index.html	-virtual lab - a virtual scanning electron microscope
	- planets
www.minweb.co.uk	Similar to 3Dchem.com (Used for a homework)
http://ncgmp.usgs.gov	US Geological Survey mapping program. Info and examples on mapping
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/search/mostrecent.Html	This links to NASA's Scientific Visualisation Studio (SVS) and shows the most recently released animations produced by the SVS
http://quest.nasa.gov/vft/	This is a link to the Virtual Field Trip: is a multimedia application developed to support student exploration of areas on Earth that have been identified as analogue sites to regions on Mars