ABSTRACT In order to address the most important Earth science questions, field scientists must incorporate new cyberinfrastructure (CI) technologies into their workflow and replace some of the traditional, analog methodologies that still prevail today (e.g., notebook, pen, and transit compass). Geologic field data collected via analog methods are far less likely to be fully digitized and integrated with other datasets. Cyberinfrastructure allows data longevity beyond the original investigator. Digital platforms that facilitate data sharing will help break down the artificial barriers between subfields within the Earth sciences and allow researchers to ask new types of questions and provide the means to contend with those that were previously unanswerable. Close communication and coordination between field-based geologists and computer scientists will facilitate the best cyberinfrastructure and data management for the future. Through a National Science Foundation (NSF)/EarthCube–funded project, discussions between these two groups of scientists were undertaken in a field setting so that computer scientists could better understand the type of data geologists collect and how those geoscientists desire to integrate various types of data into their workflow. Similarly, geologists gained a better understanding of how computer scientists can represent, manipulate, and archive complex data in data management systems, with potential solutions to field data challenges. These discussions centered on the unique issues faced by the geological community regarding the collection, storage, manipulation, representation, and integration of field-based data.

Learning in the field has traditionally been one of the fundamental components of the geoscience curriculum. In light of the historical value that has been ascribed to field instruction, there is a surprising paucity of scholarly studies that provide the direct evidence to support these claims. The preponderance of literature is descriptive and anecdotal, but in aggregate, these reports reveal a communal experience, which we recognize as “practitioners' wisdom,” that places a high value on field instruction in the training of geoscientists. We initially review the attributes of learning in the field environment, instructional goals for field instruction, the place of field instruction in the modern geoscience curriculum, and the value that has been ascribed to learning in the field in terms of cognitive and meta-cognitive gains, aspects of the affective domain, impacts on learning through immersion in nature, and the role of field instruction in providing the foundation for development of skills and expertise in the geosciences. The theory and practice of the cognitive, learning, and social sciences provide further insights into thinking and learning in the field setting in three important domains: (1) embodiment, how body and mind are integrated through interactions within the natural and social environments in which geoscientists work; (2) creation and use of inscriptions (i.e., constructed representations of natural phenomena such as maps, sketches, and diagrams) to explain, confirm, rationalize, and externalize our understanding of Earth; and (3) initiation into the community of practice that has established accepted norms and practices related to language and discourse, selection and use of tools, ethics and values, and a common understanding of the assumptions, limitations, and uncertainties inherent in the discipline. These insights on how people learn in the field have important implications for what and how we teach in the geoscience curriculum, and they provide a framework to guide future research. Our initial findings indicate that learning in the field results in cognitive and metacognitive gains for students; produces affective responses that have a positive impact on student learning; affords types of learning that cannot be easily achieved in other, more controlled environments; facilitates creation and use of representations of nature (inscriptions) in learning; helps initiate novices into the community of geoscience practice; and provides a solid foundation for development of geoscience expertise.

Abstract In teaching structural geology, I have found it useful to design cartoon metaphors intended to quicken the grasp of meaning of terms, processes, and concepts. Structural geology places strong emphasis on deducing three-dimensional (3-D) forms and how they evolve. Visual metaphors ease students from the ordinary and familiar to the more abstract and unfamiliar. Cartoons can convey understanding in seconds. Analysis of the 67 visual metaphors in Structural Geology of Rocks and Regions shows that they are classified into a hierarchy of types, from simple literal metaphors to higher-order kinematic and dynamic metaphors. Most of these occur in chapters that present fundamentals; these chapters contain the least descriptive, most abstract materials. The visual metaphors aid student learning in unfamiliar territory. The basis for how this works is illuminated by theories of certain cognitive scientists, linguists, and psychologists who increasingly emphasize that conceptual metaphors are fundamental modes of thought, not just modes of language. Our minds continuously integrate vital relations from diverse scenarios, and this is what allows us to see connections between the familiar and the unfamiliar. The most powerful metaphors are analogical comparisons of relationships between objects, not simply literal comparisons of attributes of objects. In this study, the kinematic metaphors appear to be the most effective in grounding 3-D visualization. They express incremental movement and change. When kinematics of development of 3-D forms is grasped, it becomes easier to visualize the complete 3-D forms, even when only small bits of the final forms can be observed.

Summary In this chapter I start a critical investigation about the complexity of linguistic communication in the geosciences. After a brief overview about the main theories of language, I start a preliminary investigation about how knowledge, creativity and innovation are continuously developed in the field of the Earth disciplines. The motivation of this chapter is that a critical analysis of the language used in geology, geophysics and in other related disciplines can contribute to remove subtle obstacles for the cultural growth of the geo-scientific community. Fundamental concepts like data, truth, falsity and verification are revisited in the light of the ideas developed in the previous chapters. A preliminary analysis of how communication happens in the domain of the geosciences is attempted in the second part of the chapter. Simple tests of ‘communication efficiency’ performed during international conferences of geophysics are synthetically discussed.

Despite the still-reigning concept of science proceeding by a monolithic “scientific method,” philosophers and historians of science are increasingly recognizing that the scientific methodologies of the historical sciences (e.g., geology, paleontology) differ fundamentally from those of the experimental sciences (e.g., physics, chemistry). This new understanding promises to aid education, where currently, students are usually limited to the dominant paradigm of the experimental sciences, with little chance to experience the unique retrospective logic of the historical sciences. A clear understanding of these methodological differences and how they are expressed in the practice of the earth sciences is thus essential to developing effective educational curricula that cover the diversity of scientific methods. This chapter reviews the question of historical scientific methodology (focusing on geology), as it has been addressed by historians, philosophers, science educators, and working scientists. We present results of a novel linguistic analysis of scientific texts, which shows that such posited methodological differences are indeed reflected in scientific language use. Characteristic features of historical scientists' language can be directly connected to aspects of historical scientific methodology, as explicated by philosophers and historians of science. This shows that the same methodological concerns are reflected in working scientists' conceptualizations of their discipline. These results give guidance to science educators, in the light of the recent emphasis on teaching language skills, such as “Writing across the Curriculum,” in order to focus on teaching and evaluating language and discourse skills within the methodological conceptual framework of the historical sciences.

Abstract Joseph Lucas joined the Geological Survey in 1867 and spent almost 9 years mapping in Yorkshire. Forced to resign in ignominious circumstances, for the rest of his life he earned his living advising on groundwater supplies. In 1874 he was the first to use the term hydrogeology in its modern context and defined this new subject in a series of papers in the 1870s. He drew the first British maps showing groundwater contours and described how to carry out a hydrogeological survey. For many years he lobbied for such a survey to be carried out over the whole country and for it to be used as a basis for water resource planning. He was an accomplished linguist, translating material from a variety of European languages, and wrote books on natural history and genealogy. He and his family lived at Tooting, in south London, where he is buried in the Churchyard of Saint Nicholas.

Abstract This paper describes a fuzzy expert system for identification of minerals in thin section. Linguistic variables and hedges, as well as fuzzy numbers, are employed to perform approximate modes of reasoning in arriving at approximate answers from an input set of incomplete and imprecise optical data obtained from minerals in thin section. The output consists of a ranked list of possible minerals. The knowledge base of this expert system, XMIN-F, consists of the optical properties of 142 minerals. The list can be expanded easily by the user through the use of a built-in editor. The program is coded in Turbo Pascal, and a user friendly environment is provided by way of numerous windows and menus.