Visual representations of data are widely used for communication and understanding, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). However, despite their importance, many people have difficulty understanding data-based visualizations. This work presents a series of three studies that examine how understanding time-based Earth-science data visualizations are influenced by scale and the different directions time can be represented (e.g., the Geologic Time Scale represents time moving from bottom-to-top, whereas many calendars represent time moving left-to-right). In Study 1, 316 visualizations from two top scholarly geoscience journals were analyzed for how time was represented. These expert-made graphs represented time in a range of ways, with smaller timescales more likely to be represented as moving left-to-right and larger scales more likely to be represented in other directions. In Study 2, 47 STEM novices were recruited from an undergraduate psychology experiment pool and asked to construct four separate graphs representing change over two scales of time (Earth’s history or a single day) and two phenomena (temperature or sea level). Novices overwhelmingly represented time moving from left-to-right, regardless of scale. In Study 3, 40 STEM novices were shown expert-made graphs where the direction of time varied. Novices had difficulty interpreting the expert-made graphs when time was represented moving in directions other than left-to-right. The study highlights the importance of considering representations of time and scale in STEM education and offers insights into how experts and novices approach visualizations. The findings inform the development of educational resources and strategies to improve students’ understanding of scientific concepts where time and space are intrinsically related.

数据的视觉表示广泛用于沟通和理解，特别是在科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 领域。然而，尽管它们很重要，但许多人很难理解基于数据的可视化。这项工作提出了一系列三项研究，研究了理解基于时间的地球科学数据可视化如何受到尺度和时间可以表示的不同方向的影响（例如，地质时间尺度代表从下到上移动的时间，而许多日历表示时间从左到右移动）。在研究 1 中，对来自两个顶级地球科学学术期刊的 316 个可视化结果进行了分析，以了解时间的表示方式。这些专家制作的图表以多种方式表示时间，较小的时间尺度更有可能表示为从左到右移动，较大的时间尺度更有可能表示为其他方向。在研究 2 中，从本科生心理学实验库中招募了 47 名 STEM 新手，并要求他们构建四个独立的图表，代表两个时间尺度（地球历史或一天）和两种现象（温度或海平面）的变化。新手绝大多数代表时间从左到右移动，无论规模如何。在研究 3 中，向 40 名 STEM 新手展示了专家制作的图表，其中时间方向发生了变化。当时间以从左到右以外的方向表示时，新手很难解释专家制作的图表。该研究强调了在 STEM 教育中考虑时间和规模表示的重要性，并提供了专家和新手如何进行可视化的见解。研究结果为教育资源和策略的开发提供了信息，以提高学生对时间和空间本质上相关的科学概念的理解。