HR: 1340h
AN: ED23A-0964    [Abstracts]
TI: Engaging non-Majors: Teaching From the Eye of Hurricane Katrina and the Pacific Ocean
AU: * Sarmiento, S E
EM: sergio.e.sarmiento@nhmccd.edu
AF: Cy-Fair College, 9191 Barker Cypress Road Technology Building room 200T, Cypress, TX 77433, United States
AU: * Sarmiento, S E
EM: sergio.e.sarmiento@nhmccd.edu
AF: University of Houston, Department of Geosciences 312 Science and Research Bldg 1, Houston, TX 77204, United States
AB: Engaging non-majors to become interested in the geosciences college courses they take for a science requirement represents a challenge. These courses are most likely the only exposure they will ever have to a formal earth science curriculum. Experience shows a general lack of motivation and the need to find effective teaching methods to raise their interest. In the beginning of the fall 2005 semester, I participated in a research project to measure water vapor contents on the ground of the eye of hurricane Katrina in Slidell, Louisiana. Sharing this experience with my physical and environmental geology students made a significant difference (25 percentage final grade improvement) on their interest and course performance over previous semesters. Class presentations with data collected in Katrina contributed to build a general trust in the instructor and in the way, students viewed the role of geosciences in the mitigation of natural hazardous processes. The use of travel blogs and internet enhanced courses allows teaching real time from almost anywhere as it was recently done from the east pacific (360 miles NW from Guam). An interactive portfolio of the faculty field experiences presented at the beginning of the semester has the potential to build student interest and their trust on the faculty experience and passion for the subject.
DE: 0805 Elementary and secondary education
DE: 0815 Informal education
DE: 0830 Teacher training
DE: 1622 Earth system modeling (1225)
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting