Transforming Undergraduate Geoscience Education with an Innovative Google Earthbased Curriculum Declan De Paor, ODU Steven Whitmeyer, JMU
NSF-TUES Scaffolding Undergraduate Geoscience Inquiry Using New Log-able Google Earth Explorations NSF-GEO Virtual 4-D Field Education in Google Earth
Hello
www.digitalplanet.org
Contact:
[email protected] Carol Simpson
thank the team.
Vicki Hansen
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Geology (1960s)
long-established core curriculums / canons Mechanics
Atoms
Proteins
Crystallography
Wave Motion
Elements
Lipids
Mineralogy
Electricity
Compounds
DNA
Petrology
Magnetism
Bonds
Cells
Stratigraphy
Optics
Solutions
Metabolism
Paleontology
Atomic Physics
Acids & Bases
Mitosis
Structure
long-established ruling paradigms Standard Model
Quantum Mechanics
Natural Selection
Uniformitarianism
In phys, chem, and bio, there are established core curricula / canons and ruling paradigms. This was true also of 19th century geology, then...
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Geoscience (today)
Mechanics
Atoms
Proteins
All
Wave Motion
Elements
Lipids
sorts
Electricity
Compounds
DNA
of
Magnetism
Bonds
Cells
stuff
Optics
Solutions
Metabolism
Atomic Physics
Acids & Bases
Mitosis
Standard Model
Quantum Mechanics
Natural Selection
New Paradigms Plate Tectonics Chaos Earth Systems Science
...all hell broke loose! New paradigms include plate tectonics, chaos theory, earth systems science, etc.
Geology
Geological Sciences Earth Science(s)
Environmental Science Earth & Environmental Science Geology & Environmental Engineering Geology & Earth & Geological Geophysics Atmospheric Sciences Science Earth & Planetary Geology & Science Geography Ocean, Earth, & Earth & Space Biology & Earth Atmospheric Science Science Science geoscience department directory shows how diverse our names are - reflecting diverse course content / emphasis
Department of accelerator and laser physics Department of enzyme and protein sciences
Department of GIS and argumentative human geographers
not true of other disciplines though they also specialize
Are we being too specific?
Could we hold a naming contest and agree to adopt the winning name?
If we don’t share a common name and canon, how can we claim to be essential? grey just a joke - serious thought in red
Is There a Canon / Core Curriculum for Geoscience?
What should every student know? Where should every student go? just read it
2008 Big ideas that everyone should understand
reference to earth science literacy conference
came up with set of “big ideas” in earth science - basis for a canon?
Ocean
Atmosphere
same thing in ocean / atmospheric science
All fit into one concept:
Geoscience is the study of place through time Four-dimensional place-time! Geoscientists ask basic questions: What place is this? What do I find here? What happened / is happening / will happen here?
most big ideas fit definition of geoscience as the science of place through time. 4D placetime!
The Grand Tour
Undertaken by ladies and gentlemen in 18th -19th century Europe reference to 18/19th century grand tour of Europe
The Less Grand Tour Problem for geoscience: we can’t take our students everywhere we’d like them to see http://www.gps.caltech.edu/uploads/Image/Education/Baja_FieldTrip.jpg
www.okgeosur vey1.gov/level2/visitor.photos/Jun0510.jpg
http://woostergeologists.scotblogs.wooster.edu/files/2011/09/caesarcreeklake091111.jpg
field trips equally important though less grand. But can’t take students everywhere they need to go.
Other issues
diversity -- disability distance education
http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/news/files/fort valleywaterfall08-650.jpg
www.fas.harvard.edu
Rock & Map collections available only in longestablished schools www.whitman.edu/whitman/images/C7116C1F-E2E8-5C39-7EA0D6095DFC832E_def.jpg
furthermore, community colleges don’t have decade-old specimen / map collections, little is done to aid disabled students - distance education precludes most field trips.
Tools for studying places: Global Positioning Systems Geographical Information Systems Google Earth Science
G ES G PS
G IS
on the positive side we have new tools - GPS, GIS, GES...
Land
Leveling the Playing Field! Everyone can study the earth in four dimensions Sea
Air
x-y-z-t or pan - tilt - zoom - play technology such as Google Earth levels the playing field. Makes distance ed possible in geoscience.
Deep Time
Ron Blakey imagery draped on virtual globe and animated as a GE tour. But we need to peer inside....
Google Beyond Earth
Vick Hansen
Equatorial radii: Venus 6,052 km, Earth 6,378 km, Mars 3,397 km, Moon 1,738 km. So we can build “Google Venus” on earth virtual globe. Mars approx=outer core, moon aprrox = inner core.
Brooks, W.D., Dordevic, M.M., and De Paor, D.G. 2010
Places on Planets
political boundaries give a sense of place ... on mars! Extrusion gives sense of scale vs earth
Viewing the subsurface
Custom sliders by Mladen Dordevic
Mars as Earth’s Core by Declan De Paor
www.digitalplanet.org
Google Mars draped in red JPG to represent Earth’s core. Now we can fly though COLLADA model of mantle/crust, ....or use emergent block diagrams to view subsurface.
Current Courses
Physical Geology Structural Geology Stratigraphy, Structure, Tectonics Applied Physical Geology (for engineers) Geology Field Course in Ireland: preview maps draped over terrain, evaluate students' data collected in the field with digital GIS (ArcPAD) Large General Education Classes: Earth, Planets, and Moons
GE used in a variety of course.
Next step: The Grand Virtual GeoTour
what are the places that everyone should know ? where are the places that everyone should ‘go’ ? back to concept of grand tour: where should everyone go?
Students Move Their Avatars Around the Google Earth Surface! complete mega-mapping assignments communicate with each other by text
logging geo-fencing
virtual explorations on GE. Students represented by avatars, communicate by text message, can change scale, are logged and geo-fenced.
Steva why don’t you
One student types here on his computer
Other gets the text message in her balloon
movie shows student avatar interaction.
Google Earth Science Tools gigapans monster clipboard virtual specimens
GE augmented by gigapans, virtual specimens.
First stop: Iceland! Most students know a little already
...but are challenged by spreading - hotspot interaction Everyone should go to Iceland for plate /plume interaction self -drive VFTs. Most students will learn a lot from these models - even some professors!
Other stops in the works: Hawaii Tonga Vredefort Scotland Andes Puerto rico others we are working on. Any other suggestions?
We want contributions from you!
“Dreamweaver for KML”
shameless add for steve’s tools
A Google Earth - based canon has the potential to transform geoscience education through: 1) Hosting universally recognized virtual field experiences - places everyone should ‘go’ 2) Engaging students in active learning emulating the social aspect of geoscience education in real life
Tell us where you want to go! www.digitalplanet.org just read -- thanks, bye
3) Facilitating “megamapping” on scales not conceivable in reality
De Paor, D.G. and Whitmeyer, S. J. 2011. Transforming Undergraduate Geoscience Education with an Innovative Google Earth–based Curriculum. Eos Trans AGU, Fall Meeting, ED23, 1208428
1050h AN: ED52A-03 TI: Transforming Undergraduate Geoscience Education with an Innovative Google Earthbased Curriculum AU: *De Paor, D G EM:
[email protected] AF: Physics, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA AU: Whitmeyer, S J EM:
[email protected] AF: Geology & Environmental Science, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, USA AB: Undergraduate curricula in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology have been developed over centuries and have reached a high level of national and international consistency. No matter where students study as school pupils or undergraduates, they are expected to have taken universally recognized units in electromagnetism or organic chemistry or evolution. In contrast, geoscience curricula vary widely with institution and region. Even the names of geoscience departments (geology, geological sciences, geology and geography, earth science, earth and planetary science, earth and environmental science, geology) reflect the diversity of geoscience curricula. In part, this may result from the relative youth of geoscience as a fundamental science discipline, and in part it may reflect the influence of local field areas and resources. Students in Kansas are likely to be exposed to more stratigraphy and sedimentology and less igneous and metamorphic petrology than students in, say, New Hampshire. Geoscience has been slow to catch on in community colleges and distance learning centers in large part because of the difficulty of teaching a field-based subject without the legacy of specimen and map collections that older geology departments accumulated over the decades. Google Earth has great potential to to "Level the Playing Field" by exposing students to universal geoscientific core concepts on scales from an astronaut’s view of the planet down to outcrop details. We present case studies of Google Earth-based geoscience curricular units suited to introductory courses in diverse institutions. With the aid of virtual COLLADA models of structures, virtual specimens, and deep-zoom Gigapan images, students from diverse backgrounds can share almost real field experiences across the virtual globe. UR: http://www.digitalplanet.org DE: [0820] EDUCATION / Curriculum and laboratory design DE: [0845] EDUCATION / Instructional tools SC: Education (ED) MN: 2011 Fall Meeting
