HR: 0800h
AN: ED31A-0090    [Abstracts]
TI: The dry-erase cube: an educational tool in structural geology for making three-dimensional visualization easy
AU: * Kuiper, Y D
EM: kuipery@bc.edu
AF: Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, MA 02135, United States
AB: Many students are challenged by the three-dimensional problems they have to solve in geoscience courses such as structural geology and geological mapping. A simple cube constructed from white dry- (or wet-) erase material provides a solution to these problems. Maps, cross sections and block diagrams can be drawn and seen in three dimensions, before the students construct the two-dimensional projections. An individual dry-erase cube can be used as a three-dimensional model for a block diagram. One concept that appears to confuse students is that of apparent dips, which are essential in the construction of cross sections and block diagrams. Plotting these angles on block diagrams is especially difficult, because angles in block diagrams are distorted by their projections. The dry-erase cube provides an intermediate step. Students can first draw the actual apparent dip on the cube and subsequently think about how to construct the same angle on the projection of the block on paper. This can be made especially easy if the edges of the cube have the same length as the edges of an isometric block diagram on paper, so that the edges of the cube can simply be lined up with the edges of the block diagram. Multiple dry-erase cubes can serve as a three-dimensional model for showing the relationship between maps and their associated cross sections. Furthermore, multiple levels of maps, and parallel and perpendicular cross sections can be constructed. The cubes are also an aid in the understanding of stereographic projections, because structural data can be made visible as real planes and lines before they are plotted. Besides application in geoscience courses, the dry-erase cubes would also be a useful tool for anyone teaching or dealing with geometries and block diagrams, e.g. engineering and math departments, engineering companies, the petroleum industry, mining companies, hydrologists and K-12 teachers.
DE: 0800 EDUCATION
DE: 0825 Teaching methods
DE: 0845 Instructional tools
DE: 8000 STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY
DE: 8094 Instruments and techniques
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting