Sneider and Pulos (1983)
This study assessed whether Nussbaum’s Earth Notions Classification Scheme (1979) was applicable to students in the San Francisco Bay area of California. The students chosen had not yet received formal education in this area of astronomy in order to map which students held which notions and how these notions change over time. The research was carried out by university-based researchers in California.
Learners’ ideas
- The Earth is flat.
- The Earth is shaped like a ball surrounded by space. We live on the flat part inside the ball.
- The Earth is shaped like a ball surrounded by space. We live on top of the ball.
- The Earth is shaped like a ball surrounded by space. People live all around the ball. Things fall to the surface of the Earth rather than towards its centre.
Evidence-based suggestions
- Mature concepts about the Earth’s shape and gravity are acquired gradually through a series of distinct levels. This culminates for most (but not all) children by 12-14 years of age. Additionally, this study has shown that through ages 10-11 grade, very few children realize that the spherical Earth concept implies that people must live down beneath their feet, on the other side of the world.
- The general ability to use a spatial reference system may be required to advance to the higher notions of Earth's shape and gravity.
- Individual differences in verbal ability were correlated with performance on the Earth concept interview. Many children may fail to understand a lesson on this topic because teachers and other sources of information use words they do not understand, or because the children have difficulty conceiving their ideas verbally.
- The children’s range of alternative frameworks, or their “notions of the Earth’s shape and gravity” that results is a function both of their developmental maturity and the cultural information they have acquired, e.g. from books, TV speaking to adults etc.
Study Structure
Aims
- Assess Nussbaum’s (1979) developmental model to see if it adequately describes the data from a new sample of subjects with no special instruction in these concepts.
- Identify the distribution of notions among some Californian school children ages 8-14.
- Compare the distribution of notions at each age level with those found in the studies reported above.
- Further explore the role of individual differences in the attainment of the spherical Earth and gravity concepts.
Evidence collection
Evidence was collected via a structured interview with six questions/scenarios, with four using props. This included six structured questions regarding Earth’s shape and Earth’s gravity. They took written notes of interview responses.
The evidence collection also included four psychological tasks to determine the student's ability to use a spatial reference system, cognitive style, verbal ability and interest in the topics.
Interview notes were scored against concept scales for Earth’s shape and Earth’s gravity by the researcher, not the interviewer. They then performed a chi-squared analysis of the question scores and a comparison of concept development with age using a frequency profile matrix.
Details of the sample
A sample of 159 boys and girls (aged 8-14 years). This consisted of 30 8- to 9-year-olds, 25 9- to 10-year-olds, 25 10- to 11-year-olds, 25 11- to 12-year-olds, 26 12- to 13-year-olds and 28 13- to 14-year-olds from state schools.