Dr. Julie Libarkin, professor, Geocognition and Tectonics, heads the Geocognition Research Lab, which focuses on questions related to how people perceive, understand, and make decisions about the planet, using Geoscience Education Research and Geocognition Research.
Geocognition is an umbrella term that encompasses research that considers the affective, behavioral, and cognitive domains of learning that intersect Earth System Science. This field considers how people perceive, understand, and make decisions about the Earth in diverse settings from museums to classrooms to everyday life. Alternatively, geoscience education research focuses solely on learning in established settings. Discipline-Based Education Research (DBER) in geoscience focuses most closely on college settings (see the DBER report) although some scholars expand their work to consider K-12 and informal settings. Geoscience education research sits under the umbrella of geocognition.
