My geoscience education research falls broadly into two categories: research on geologic cognition in the field (outdoors) with an emphasis on understanding how geological "thinking" and problem-solving develops as students progress toward professional geoscientists; and preparation and development of K-12 teachers in the earth sciences, with an emphasis on the role of field experience in geoscience education, alternative conceptions in the earth sciences, and teacher professional knowledge development during action research.

	Project Title	Description
Expert-novice geocognition in the field	Learning across the Expert-Novice Continuum: Cognition in the Geosciences	Investigating the strategies and cognitive processes used by expert (professional) and novice (undergraduate student) geocientists during bedrock geologic mapping
	Development and Evaluation of an Environmental Geochemistry Course (NSF funded)	Investigating novice (undergraduate student) and expert (professional) understanding of complex environmental problems, and approaches to designing and carrying out environmental field work
Teacher development (preservice and inservice)	Geoscience Conceptual Understanding among Preservice Elementary Teachers	Utilizes the Geoscience Concept Inventory (GCI) in order to evaluate whether undergraduate elementary education majors enrolled in an introductory earth science course gain an accurate understanding of key geoscience concepts
	Formative Assessment to Enhance the Preparation of Preservice Elementary Teachers in Earth System Science (MSGC funded)	Examines the effects of formative assessment (Assessment for Learning - AfL) modeled teaching strategies on the motivation and achievement of preservice elementary teachers in an earth science course
	Developing Technology Educator – Educational Researcher Partnerships towards Improving Capacity in Technology Education Research (NSF funded)	Using an action research model to build partnerships between university education researchers and technology educators at community colleges, with the goal of developing technology educators' capacity to conduct their own quality educational research
	Alignment of Secondary Science Teacher Practice and Materials in the Battle Creek Region (MDE funded)	A year-long professional development workshop for inservice secondary teachers using an action research model to improve alignment of teaching with state standards
Other	Comparing Beliefs about Student Work with Faculty Grading Practices	Examining whether faculty's explicitly stated beliefs about what is important for students to show when producing written, quantitative problem solutions match actual grading practices

Learning across the Expert-Novice Continuum: Cognition in the Geosciences (return to top) (to CV)

This ongoing study investigates the strategies and cognitive processes used by experts (professional geoscientists) and novices (undergraduate students) during bedrock geologic mapping. Data collected from project participants include background questionnaires, novelty space data, field maps, and field notes. We also used GPS units to track participant movement across the sites during mapping activities. A subset of participants record verbal commentary during the mapping exercises (audio logs), take photographs to document sites of interest, and participate in a debriefing interview.

Preliminary results suggest that participant strategies, including initial mapping behavior, time-on-task, and observation redundancy, was dependent on both prior field experience and experience in geological research in general. Furthermore, experts display economy of movement during mapping by having simpler movement tracks and less backtracking than novices, and expert mappers spend more time in key areas, such as contact relationships, faults, etc., than do novices. Thematic coding of the audio logs and debriefing interviews suggests three key aspects of cognition for field tasks are: (1) navigation and spatial awareness, (2) identification of key features (e.g., rock type, contacts, and structural features), and (3) synthesis of data to produce testable models. Ongoing research in this project will further refine our preliminary results. Key collaborators: Julie Libarkin, Zach Hambrick, Michigan State Univeristy; Kathleen Baker, Western Michigan University.

This project is funded by a WMU FRACASF grant.

Please contact me to request copies of publications or abstracts, which include:

Petcovic, H.L. , and Libarkin, J.C., 2007, Research in science education: The expert-novice continuum: Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 55, p. 333-339. (Invited column)

Petcovic, H.L. , Libarkin, J.C., and Baker, K.M., 2007, Behavioral cognitive processes of novices and experts during field mapping activities: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, p. 579.

Baker, K.M., Libarkin, J.C., and Petcovic, H.L., 2007, Geologic mapping strategies of novices and experts as evidenced through GPS track and map analysis: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, p. 557.

Geoscience Conceptual Understanding Among Pre-service Elementary Teachers (return to top) (to CV)

This study utilizes the Geoscience Concept Inventory (GCI) in order to evaluate whether undergraduate elementary education majors enrolled in an introductory earth science course gain an accurate understanding of key geoscience concepts during instruction. The GCI was developed by Drs. Julie Libarkin and Steve Anderson, and is a multiple-choice survey instrument designed to assess college students' conceptual understanding of key topics in the geosciences. Data for this study are collected with a number of purposes in mind: to assess the initial understanding of key geoscience concepts among students prior to instruction; to assess the changes in conceptual understanding as a result of instruction, and to identify key concepts that pose a challenge to student learning. Data are being utilized to develop better instructional strategies in earth science courses for the preparation of elementary teachers. Key collaborators: Robert Ruhf, Western Michigan University

Please contact me to request copies of publications or abstracts, which include:

(1) Petcovic, H.L., and Ruhf, R.J., 2008, Geoscience conceptual knowledge among pre-service elementary teachers: Results from the Geoscience Concept Inventory: Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 56, p. 251-260 .

Geology Research (return to top) (to Science Education Research) (to CV)

My geology research program considers feeder dikes to flood basalts of the Columbia River Large Igneous Province through a combined field, analytical, and numerical modeling approach. I have concentrated on dikes hosted in granitoid rocks of the Wallowa and Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon. While the volcanic and petrologic evolution of Columbia River Basalt Group flows are well studied, comparatively little is known about the feeder dike system, which is a critical link between magma generation in the mantle and extrusion of lava at the earth’s surface. One of my current projects involves characterizing the major and trace element composition of several hundred dikes in order to compare and ultimately correlate these dikes to flows. Former projects (see publication list) have considered the interactions between dikes and their wallrock at the outcrop scale in order to understand the thermal history of dike injection and cooling. The thermal imprint that dikes leave on their wallrock yields clues as to how long the dike system was active, and therefore how quickly basalt flows that these dikes fed were emplaced.

Please contact me to request copies of publications, which include:

(1) Petcovic, H.L. , and Dufek, J.D., 2005, Modeling magma flow and cooling in dikes: Implications for the emplacement of Columbia River flood basalts: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 110, no. B10201, DOI 10.1029/2004JB003432.

(2) Martin, B.S., Petcovic, H.L., and Reidel, S.P., 2005, Goldschmidt Conference 2005: Field trip guide to the Columbia River Basalt Group. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA: PNNL-15221, 78 pp.

(3) Petcovic, H.L., and Grunder, A.L., 2003, Textural and thermal history of partial melting in tonalitic wallrock at the margin of a basalt dike, Wallowa Mountains, Oregon: Journal of Petrology, v. 44, p. 2287-2312.

(4) Reidel, S.P., Martin, B.S., and Petcovic, H.L., 2003, The Columbia River flood basalts and the Yakima fold belt, in, Swanson, T.W., ed., Western Cordillera and Adjacent Areas: Geological Society of America Field Guide 4, p. 87-105.

(to Science Education Research) (to Geology Research)