HR: 11:05h
AN: ED42A-04    [Abstracts]
TI: Undergraduate Earth System Science Education: Project-Based Learning, Land-Atmosphere Interaction, and a Newly Established Student Weather Station
AU: * Baker, D
EM: dbaker@austincollege.edu
AF: Austin College, Physics Department, 900 North Grand Avenue, Sherman, TX 75090 United States
AB: Undergraduate students conducted a semester-long research project as part of a special topics course that launched the Austin College Weather Station in spring 2001. The weather station is located on restored prairie roughly 100 km north of Dallas, Texas. In addition to standard meteorological observations, the Austin College Weather Station measures surface quantities such as soil moisture, soil temperature, solar radiation, infrared radiation, and soil heat flux. These additional quantities are used to calculate the surface energy balance using the Bowen ratio method. Thus, the Austin College Weather Station provides valuable information on land-atmosphere interaction in a prairie environment. This project provided a remarkable learning experience for the students. Each student supervised two instruments on the weather station. Students skillfully learned instrumentation details and the physical phenomena measured by the instruments. Team meetings were held each week to discuss issues such as station location, power requirements, telecommunication options, and data acquisition. Students made important decisions during the meetings. They would then work collaboratively on specific tasks that needed to be accomplished before the next meeting. Students also assessed the validity of their measurements after the weather station came on-line. With this approach, students became the experts. They utilized the scientific method to think critically and to solve problems. For at least a semester, students became Earth system scientists.
UR: http://weather.austincollege.edu
DE: 3322 Land/atmosphere interactions
DE: 3394 Instruments and techniques
DE: 1833 Hydroclimatology
DE: 0820 Curriculum and laboratory design
DE: 0825 Teaching methods
SC: Education and Human Resourcese [ED]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting