• Corpus ID: 20321444

Timeline and time scale cognition experiments for a geological interpretative exhibit at Grand Canyon

@inproceedings{Semken2009TimelineAT,
  title={Timeline and time scale cognition experiments for a geological interpretative exhibit at Grand Canyon},
  author={Steven Semken and Jeff Dodick and Orna Ben-David and Monica Pineda and Nievita Bueno Watts and Karl E. Karlstrom},
  year={2009}
}

• S. Semken, J. Dodick, +3 authors K. Karlstrom
• Published 2009
• Geology

Linear timelines are analogical models that are frequently used in formal and informal learning settings to teach about geologic time; nonetheless, their effectiveness in such contexts has not been fully assessed. We examined respondents’ abilities to understand and interpret a logarithmically scaled walking timeline: the Million Year Trail (MYT). This is a prototype of a longer version that will soon be part of a major geoscience exhibit, “The Trail of Time”, at Grand Canyon National Park. We asked 70 respondents to find precise points along our model timeline, each representing an event from recent times to 65 million years ago. We also tested their purely mathematical understanding of the timeline and its scale changes. Our results indicate that most Grand Canyon visitors should be able to understand the full-size MYT if each point on the timeline is clearly labeled, and if visitors are enabled to locate a few meaningful, contextualized events (e.g., one’s own birth or a major historical event) along the timeline as they traverse it. Our findings have already informed modifications to MYT design, and the design of on-site cognitive experiments to be conducted on the permanent Trail of Time exhibition at Grand Canyon upon its completion.