We are recruiting Earth and planetary scientists for a study examining how robots can team with human scientists to support data collection decisions. You will be asked to complete a simulated scientific data collection scenario. In the scenario you will be provided with an initial hypothesis and asked to sample data until you are confident enough to accept or reject the hypothesis. A simulated robot will assist you in making decisions about where to collect data to evaluate the hypothesis.

• The study is web-based and can be accessed by clicking this link.

• Participation takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

• You must be at least 18 years of age and have a Bachelor's degree in an Earth or planetary science related field to participate .

• The University of Southern California's Institutional Review Board has reviewed and approved this study for human subject participation.

Our research team has created sets of slides to help students understand uncertainty during field-based science investigation. The slides provide an introduction to uncertainty in data and uncertainty in models. The slides contain embedded videos of geologists discussing how uncertainty influences their interpretation. Transcriptions of the videos are included in the notes section of relevant slides.

If you decide to provide the slides to your students, we would appreciate you also asking them to complete a pre-test and post-test; developed to assess the effectiveness of the materials at improving students understanding of the role of uncertainty in field science decision making.

If you have specific feedback about how the slides could be updated to improve student learning of this critically important topic, please contact Dr. Cristina Wilson.

Coming Soon

If you are a student at Oregon State and would like to participate in our research to fulfill a class requirement, please click the link below and you will be directed to the Psychology Department Subject Pool.

Sign up to participate!