ED51C-01 INVITED
Developing Marine Science Instructional Materials Using Integrated Scientist-Educator Collaborative Design Teams: A Discussion of Challenges and Success Developing Real Time Data Projects for the COOL Classroom
Current reforms in science education place increasing demands on teachers and students to engage not only with scientific content but also to develop an understanding of the nature of scientific inquiry (AAAS, 1993; NRC, 1996). Teachers are expected to engage students with authentic scientific practices including posing questions, conducting observations, analyzing data, developing explanations and arguing about them using evidence. This charge is challenging for many reasons most notably the difficulty in obtaining meaningful data about complex scientific phenomena that can be used to address relevant scientific questions that are interesting and understandable to K-12 students. We believe that ocean sciences provide an excellent context for fostering scientific inquiry in the classroom. Of particular interest are the technological and scientific advances of Ocean Observing Systems, which allow scientists to continuously interact with instruments, facilities, and other scientists to explore the earth-ocean- atmosphere system remotely. Oceanographers are making long-term measurements that can also resolve episodic oceanic processes on a wide range of spatial and temporal scales crucial to resolving scientific questions related to Earth's climate, geodynamics, and marine ecosystems. The availability of a diverse array of large data sets that are easily accessible provides a unique opportunity to develop inquiry-based learning environments in which students can explore many important questions that reflect current research trends in ocean sciences. In addition, due to the interdisciplinary nature of the ocean sciences these data sets can be used to examine ocean phenomena from a chemical, physical, or biological perspective; making them particularly useful for science teaching across the disciplines. In this session we will describe some of the efforts of the Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence- Mid Atlantic (COSEE MA) to develop instructional materials, in which students use real-time-data (RTD) to generate explanations about important ocean phenomena. We will discuss our use of an Instructional Design Model (Gauge 1987) to: 1) assess our audience need, 2) develop an effective collaborative design team, 3) develop and evaluate the instructional product, and 4) implement professional development designed to familiarize teachers with oceans sciences as a context for scientific inquiry. http://www.coolclassroom.org
ED51C-02
Case-History Explorations of Scientifically Significant Earth-System Events
We are developing case histories of recent and ancient natural disasters to provide students a means of learning fundamental earth system science and applying their new understanding to mitigating disasters in the future. We distinguish case histories from case studies in that they investigate real problems that are likely to recur, as opposed to hypothetical but realistic problem scenarios. Students explore the scientific and societal conditions that caused or fueled a disaster; investigate whether the outcome might have been different under different conditions; explore how the disaster has shaped our scientific and societal understanding of such events; and propose appropriate responses and preparation measures for future events. Each case history allows for multiple directions of investigation by individuals or teams. The case histories incorporate actual datasets used by scientists to analyze the event, in addition to analysis tools such as GIS, Excel, and Google Earth. These classroom resources are appropriate for undergraduate earth system majors from first year to third year. We have completed and are field testing case histories for the 1994 M6.7 Northridge earthquake and the Super Tornado Outbreak of 1974, as well as other notable tornado outbreaks. Additionally, we are developing case histories for the 1700 Cascadia mega-tsunami and the 2005 Hurricane Katrina. Research studies of each of these events have resulted in significant changes to our understanding of the earth processes that caused them, and have spawned renewed interest in hazard mitigation. Each case history also incorporates the human element, presented from both a scientific and eyewitness perspective. Field testing includes evaluation of scientific accuracy, usability and pedagogical effectiveness, as described in the DLESE peer-review-system criteria (www.dlese-project.org/review_criteria.html) by field testers and external technical experts.
ED51C-03
Conceptualizing ¬the Abstractions of Earthquakes Through an Instructional Sequence Using SeisMac and the Rapid Earthquake Viewer
Newsworthy earthquakes provide an engaging hook for students in Earth science classes, particularly when discussing their effects on people and the landscape. However, engaging students in an analysis of earthquakes that extends beyond death and damage, is frequently hampered by the abstraction of recorded ground motion data in the form of raw seismograms and the inability of most students to personally relate to ground accelerations. To overcome these challenges, an educational sequence has been developed using two software tools: SeisMac by Daniel Griscom, and the Rapid Earthquake Viewer (REV) developed by the University of South Carolina in collaboration with IRIS and DLESE. This sequence presents a unique opportunity for Earth Science teachers to "create" foundational experiences for students as they construction a framework of understanding of abstract concepts. The first activity is designed to introduce the concept of a three-component seismogram and to directly address the very abstract nature of seismograms through a kinesthetic experience. Students first learn to take the pulse of their classroom through a guided exploration of SeisMac, which displays the output of the laptop's built-in Sudden Motion Sensor (a 3-component accelerometer). This exploration allows students to view a 3-component seismogram as they move or tap the laptop and encourages them to propose and carry out experiments to explain the meaning of the 3-component seismogram. Once completed students are then asked to apply this new knowledge to a real 3-component seismogram printed from REV. Next the activity guides students through the process of identifying P and S waves and using SeisMac to connect the physical motion of the laptop to the "wiggles" they see on the SeisMac display and then comparing those to the "wiggles" they see on their seismogram. At this point students are more fully prepared to engage in an S-P location exercise such as those included in many state standards because they have a physical sense of what the wiggles indicate. As a result students are better positioned to identify S and P arrivals within the complexity of real data available through REV rather than using the canned or artificial data normally associated with a location exercise. REV provides easy access to recent and noteworthy earthquake data via a simple Web interface. Earthquake locations and near-real time ground motion data are accessed via the IRIS Data Management System, and data are automatically processed and selected so that only events with "good" data are presented within REV. Once students have completed the learning sequence using SeisMac, they will be better able to relate the trace of a seismogram to the physical motion of the ground. This can then lead to better understanding of more advanced exercises including detecting the core and finding the Moho. Building on an understanding of the basics of a seismogram, SeisMac can next be used to help student further understand earthquakes by provide a kinesthetic experience to model how hard the Earth shakes during earthquakes. Through another guided exploration students discover that the SeisMac display is calibrated in units of acceleration and can be related to the Modified Mercalli scale. They then compare shaking during an earthquake via video clips and ground shaking maps from the USGS "Did you feel it" Web site to the shaking of personal objects and the laptop. http://www.iris.edu/edu/lessons.htm
ED51C-04
Coring Into Earth's Past with Real Scientific Data
The session takes participants on a journey through Earth's past using sediment core data from decades of seafloor drilling. The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program includes a database of field reports and data for thousands of miles of sediment cores drilled from the seafloor of Earth's oceans. An array of scientists are mastering an integrated approach to studying these cores, including climatologists, paleontologists, seismologists, paleomagnetists, sedimentologists, microbiologists, physicists, and chemists. An overview of the science behind the core will be blended with inquiry activities designed to enhance student understanding of this new realm of scientific research that is answering many questions about Earth's past and future. Information and activities presented in this session are based on ARMADA Teacher at Sea experiences aboard a Canadian Research Vessel as scientists completed seismic analyses and piston core sampling in the Labrador Sea and on experiences with the Joint Oceanographic Institute's School of Rock 2007 held at the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program's Gulf Coast Repository in College Station, Texas.
ED51C-05
The Earth Exploration Toolbook: Scaffolding Access and Use of Earth Science Data to Promote Effective Inquiry Investigations by Students
The Earth Exploration Toolbook (EET, http://serc.carleton.edu/eet) is an online collection of computer-based Earth science activities. Each activity, or chapter, introduces one or more data sets and an analysis tool that enables users to explore some aspect of the Earth system. Series of step-by-step instructions show users how to 1) access the data and analysis tool and install it if necessary, 2) examine, visualize, and interpret the data, and 3) conduct a data-based investigation using the data and analysis tool. Step-by-step instructions walk users through valid scientific inquiries of the data to produce a map, graph, or other data product. The implicit goal of each chapter though, is to build the skills and confidence of teachers and students to enable them to learn and teach with data. When educators become familiar enough with data and analysis tools, they can adapt the use of data to match their curriculum and their students" abilities. This enables educators to promote a greater use of inquiry into students learning of scientific concepts. EET chapters are rich launching points for inquiry. Embedded open-ended questions ask users to consider various aspects of the data. These questions can begin the process of guided inquiry. The "Going Further" section of each EET chapter provides ideas for independent investigations, using another dataset or employing the same analysis strategy with a different analysis tool. At least one chapter inspired an award-winning high school science fair project. In this session we will examine the components of EET chapters that promote inquiry, describe the use of EET chapters in our teacher professional development programs, and give examples of how these programs have impacted participating teachers" use of data, analysis tools, and inquiry in their teaching. http://serc.carleton.edu/eet
ED51C-06
Virtual Ballooning and Graphing Sea Ice Extent on Windows to the Universe
We will describe and demonstrate elements of two activities (available on the Windows to the Universe web site, www.windows.ucar.edu) that help students learn about Earth science topics by working with actual data. The two activities are titled "Virtual Ballooning" and "Graphing Sea Ice Extent". In the sea ice extent graphing activity, students first predict (and sketch in their prediction) the variation of sea ice extent in the Arctic on a monthly basis over a three-year period. Next, students plot actual data and compare their predictions with reality. This opening exercise reinforces the notion of seasonal variation, time lags (maximum sea ice extent is not in January as some students predict) associated with the "thermal inertia" of ocean water, and critical thinking skills associated with making predictions. Next, students predict and then graph actual monthly variations in sea ice extent in the Antarctic for the same three-year span. This portion of the activity is especially useful in reinforcing the fact that the seasons are opposite in the Northern vs. Southern Hemisphere. Finally, students graph the annual values of maximum and minimum sea ice extent in each hemisphere at five- year intervals over a 25-year span. They study these trends to learn about interannual variation in sea ice and long-term trends associated with global climate change. After student complete the prediction and graphing portions of the activity, they can view animated maps of sea ice extent in each polar region that graphically and dynamically present the same data they just investigated numerically. They can also access an interactive map viewer that allows them to compare, side-by-side, two maps of sea ice extent in different months or years. Finally, the activity write-up invites students to extend their investigations by seeking out further data (for example, values for more recent time periods later than the date on which the activity was written) online. In the "virtual ballooning" activity, students explore basic features of the atmosphere by "launching" a virtual weather balloon in a web-based interactive animation. Students choose the instruments to attach to their balloons (such as temperature and pressure sensors), decide at what altitude to begin collecting data, and determine the sampling frequency for data collection. Students then launch their balloons, which report and graph the data they collect as they rise through Earth's atmosphere. In this fashion students discover for themselves key atmospheric features, such as the exponential decrease in pressure with altitude or the existence of the tropopause via the peculiar change in the temperature vs. altitude trend at that height. After learning about the "standard atmosphere" via a series of virtual balloon launches, students can explore a number of other scenarios. They can choose between daytime and nighttime atmospheric profiles, data for a range of latitudes between the equator and the poles, and even special cases such as inversions. http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/teacher_resources/agu_ed05_dec_2007.html
ED51C-07
S'COOL: Leveraging Information Technology Advances to Present K-12 Students with Specifically Relevant Satellite Data
The Students' Cloud Observations On-Line (S'COOL) Project began in 1997 as a way to connect K-12 classrooms directly with ongoing NASA Earth Science research. Through the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) project, students as young as kindergarten have been involved for more than 10 years in providing ground truth observations of cloud cover and type. NASA scientists use these observations as part of the validation effort for understanding cloud effects on the Earth's energy budget. In addition, since the beginning, the project has also focused on students doing their own data analysis. However, not very many S'COOL participants actually performed much data analysis in the first years of the project. Over the last year and a half, the S'COOL team has worked to provide additional scaffolding for student data analysis, by leveraging emerging information technology developments to select and present specifically relevant satellite data to the students. In addition to the simple, standard visualization of the ground and satellite cloud information, we have provided a direct link to the specific 5-minute MODIS image, through the MODIS Rapid Response website. Over the summer, we added tutorials explaining how students can also bring in the atmospheric profiles from CALIPSO and/or CloudSat, when there is a near overhead pass of these satellites. In addition to the direct links to satellite imagery and data, we have also implemented a web-based classification and comment system. S'COOL participants can provide additional comments on the ground to satellite correspondence, after the satellite data are processed by FLASHFlux about a week after the student ground observation. Comments are emailed to the S'COOL team and enable additional interaction with the participants. Finally, new data analysis tools focusing on commonly-used spreadsheet software were developed over the summer by a team of college student interns. The addition of all these new resources and tools has resulted in a large increase in the level of interaction between S'COOL participants and the NASA team. With the posting of the new Excel tools, we anticipate a large increase in active data analysis by our K-12 teachers and students. http://asd- www.larc.nasa.gov/SCOOL/usedata.html
ED51C-08
Creating Classroom Activities About Ocean Drilling Geophysics Through Scientist-Teacher Collaboration
How can examples of geophysical data used in research be effectively taught to middle and high school students with only general science knowledge? Logging data, or logs, are continuous measurements of physical properties made in situ and at high resolution by lowering instruments into boreholes after completion of coring. As part of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) "School of Rock 2007" (http://www.joilearning.org/schoolofrock2007), we created a classroom activity to introduce pre-college students to representative logging data collected by the R/V JOIDES Resolution during expeditions of the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) and the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP). The synergistic model for curriculum development involving a research scientist (Guerin) and classroom teacher (Passow) provides an efficient strategy to disseminate technical research methods and results more widely with students and teachers. The "School of Rock 2007" brought 18 educators and 12 scientists together at the Texas A and M IODP Gulf Coast Observatory for a week in July to learn about techniques in sea floor exploration and advances in understanding the Earth's climate using geophysics, biostratigraphy, geomagnetics, and more. Teachers and researchers then collaborated to produce classroom activities that will add to the existing collection of educational resources available through JOI Learning (http://www.joiscience.org/learning). The activity we developed introduces students to general concepts of downhole logging, then presents sample data from three sites. Using guiding information provided, students engage in simplified interpretation of the data to identify such features as sedimentary layers, igneous rocks, or gas hydrate-bearing formations. Activities include questions about geography, identifying patterns within the data, recognizing distinctive features in gamma ray, resistivity, density and porosity logs. The curriculum materials will be tested with students and teachers in various setting during Fall 2007, including as part of the Earth2Class Workshops for Teachers (http://www.earth2class.org) and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Open House (http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu.)