Title: Mental models and social media personas: a case of amateur palaeontologists

Authors: Lisa Lundgren; Kent J. Crippen; Eleanor E. Gardner; Victor J. Perez; Ronny Maik Leder

Addresses: College of Education, School of Teaching and Learning, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA ' College of Education, School of Teaching and Learning, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA ' Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA ' Department of Geological Sciences, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA ' Natural History Museum, Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Abstract: This study explores social palaeontology - an inclusive and collaborative form of science occurring across digital habitats. The purpose was to: 1) examine conceptualisations of amateurs via expressed mental models and 2) use the unified media-user typology (MUT) to explore any relationship between these models and social media persona. Data collection involved a survey, modelling task and interview. Findings reveal that persona was demonstrated in subtle ways, offering limited evidence for a relationship between persona and mental model. Sequential models were most common, but more so for advanced personas. Expertise development was expressed through the number of conventions used during modelling. However, the degree of inaccuracy suggests a lack of metacognitive awareness, implying that any increase in expertise with persona was not conveyed as such. The results bolster the capacity to design community-centred social spaces and inform understanding of science learning and the utility of MUT as a predictive tool.

Keywords: palaeontology; user typology; informal education; mental models; social media personas.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMILE.2018.092374

International Journal of Social Media and Interactive Learning Environments, 2018 Vol.6 No.1, pp.44 - 69

Received: 02 Oct 2017
Accepted: 21 Feb 2018
Published online: 16 Jun 2018 *

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