Spatial Thinking: Spatial thinking is the mental manipulation of spatial information: “shapes, locations, paths, relations among entities and relations between entities and frames of reference” (Newcombe & Shipley, 2015, p. 180). Reasoning about science is often spatial in nature (NRC, 2006; Newcombe, 2016). My research extends our understanding of the role spatial thinking plays in learning astronomy and provides insight into the type of instructional design needed to improve PreK-12 astronomy education. I have focused on how children learn to use perspective taking, which denotes the ability to imagine an array of objects from a different/alternative viewpoint, given the relevance of this skill in PreK-12 astronomy curricula. I have used the broader construct of perspective taking to describe how, in astronomy education, students should first learn apparent patterns of celestial motion (one’s own Earth-based perspective) and then explain these observations using a space-based reference frame (another perspective). One study provides evidence that perspective taking skill correlates with children’s accurate explanations for astronomical phenomena (Plummer, Bower, & Liben, 2016). Across several studies in classroom and planetarium learning environments, my research suggests that aligning spatial properties of astronomical phenomena with embodied design features and visualizations shows potential for supporting students as they apply perspective taking to learn astronomy (Plummer, 2009, 2014; Plummer, Wasko, & Slagle, 2011; Plummer, Kocareli, & Slagle, 2014; Plummer & Small, 2018). For example, I found that elementary students who participated in experiences integrating planetarium, which emphasized the Earth-based perspective, and classroom instruction, which emphasized connections to the space-based perspective, made greater gains in their explanations for the day/night cycle than students in the classroom or planetarium alone (Plummer et al., 2014).
Stories and Science Learning: Stories can help children understand science phenomena and make connections to that world (Norris et al., 2005). Stories can be used as tools for learning, by providing structure and problematizing science for learners (Murmann & Avraamidou, 2013). Stories produce a narrative effect that can generate interest, help learners remember, and improve understanding (Glaser, Garsoffsky, & Schwan, 2009; Norris et al., 2005). In collaboration with the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, I investigated the design of informal learning environments that support preschool-age children’s development of science practices (NSF #1217441, My Sky Tonight: Early Childhood Pathways to Astronomy). My graduate students and I have investigated ways of successfully integrating storybook narrative into programming that fosters children’s engagement in science practices (Plummer & Cho, 2020; Plummer & Ricketts, 2018). Our research extends to using spatially-rich stories to support preschool-age children’s spatial sensemaking in science (Plummer, Cho, & Botch, in review).
Learning Progressions: Learning progressions (LP) are descriptions of how students may develop increasingly sophisticated reasoning around big ideas in science when guided by appropriate instruction. My research groups have been developing LPs is on celestial motion (observational astronomy phenomena explained by the relative motion and position of celestial objects in the Solar System and beyond) and the Solar System and its formation. Developing learning progressions requires empirical support through research studies that examine how children learn to make connections across multiple astronomical phenomena and how they develop these ideas over many years of study. I have used my spatial thinking research to develop a learning progression for celestial motion phenomena (Plummer, 2009; Plummer & Krajcik, 2010). I established the role that perspective taking plays across several inter-related astronomical phenomena (Plummer, 2010, 2012; Plummer et al., 2011, 2014; Plummer & Maynard, 2014) and made the argument for spatial thinking as the element which progresses in the celestial motion learning progression (Plummer, 2014). I also led an interdisciplinary team of astronomers, science education researchers, and teachers to define a second astronomy learning progression describing the multiple dimensions of the current Solar System and its formation (Plummer et al., 2015, 2020). Our findings provide insight into how learning progressions can be linked or sequenced to support middle school students’ physics knowledge as they learn to explain Solar System phenomena.