HR: 0800h
AN: ED51B-0414    [Abstracts]
TI: Development of a Visualization Rain Table: A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
AU: Kirkby, K J
EM: kirkby@umn.edu
AF: Dept. of Geology and Geophysics University of Minnesota, 310 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, MN 55104, United States
AU: Svistula, D
EM: svistula@gmail.com
AF: Electronic Visualization Lab University of Illinois - Chicago, Dept. of Computer Science (MC 152) Room 1120 SEO University of Illinois at Chicago 851 S. Morgan St., Chicago, IL 60607-7053, United States
AU: Currier, R M
EM: rcurrie5@jhu.edu
AF: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Johns Hopkins University, 301 Olin Hall 3400 N. Charles Street, Balitimore, MD 21218, United States
AU: * Morin, P J
EM: lpaul@umn.edu
AF: National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics, St. Anthony Falls Lab University of Minnesota 2 Third Avenue SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414, United States
AU: * Morin, P J
EM: lpaul@umn.edu
AF: Dept. of Geology and Geophysics University of Minnesota, 310 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, MN 55104, United States
AU: Campbell, K
EM: kmc@umn.edu
AF: National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics, St. Anthony Falls Lab University of Minnesota 2 Third Avenue SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414, United States
AU: Leigh, J
EM: spiff@evl.uic.edu
AF: Electronic Visualization Lab University of Illinois - Chicago, Dept. of Computer Science (MC 152) Room 1120 SEO University of Illinois at Chicago 851 S. Morgan St., Chicago, IL 60607-7053, United States
AU: Johnson, A
EM: lenzman@mac.com
AF: Electronic Visualization Lab University of Illinois - Chicago, Dept. of Computer Science (MC 152) Room 1120 SEO University of Illinois at Chicago 851 S. Morgan St., Chicago, IL 60607-7053, United States
AB: At first glance, water flow seems like such a deceptively simple concept. Water flows downhill, so what could be easier to understand? But the movement of water across the Earth's surface is among the most misunderstood and underestimated concepts in earth science. A host of misconceptions bound concerning water flow, from rivers always flowing south or curving due to the Earth's spin, to deeply held ideas about rivers" immutable nature. The one consistent aspect is that students almost always underestimate the complexity of water flow. The movement of water across the Earth is the integrating connection between its physical and biological systems. Combine these misconceptions with the realization that water use issues will be among the most crucial and complex social and political issues facing the next generation and it is difficult to overstate the importance of being able to teach a good understanding of natural water flow. Without a doubt, the best way to understand water flow is to watch the movement of water across the Earth's surface, but this has not been possible in past classroom settings. Physical models help, but are a poor substitute for the complexities of real world flow. In addition, it can be extraordinarily difficult for students to scale up from small physical models to real life stream flow. Rain Table is a tiled display system that uses six 30" flat panel monitors to display a large image of a region of the Earth's surface. This large image is co-registered with digital elevation data, so as students generate rainfall, the water will "flow" across the area, following the topography of the visualized region. Students move small disc-shaped devices across the panel surface to determine where rain should fall. The rain is displayed as small blue dots that flow down across the surface in accordance with the digital elevation data. Mathematical algorithms determine the water flow velocity based on the slope of the visualized surface and from the velocity, the extent of sediment transport (displayed as small brown dots). Since any portion of the Earth's surface can be displayed, students can investigate water flow any where, including their own home area. With Rain Table, students can interactively explore flow of water across the Earth's surface, investigate sediment transport and discover the concepts of watersheds, floods and the interconnectivity of river systems and the Earth's topography. Multiple pucks allow each student to generate water flow independently of one another so small groups work together interactively, eliminating passive viewing and equalizing students" control of the visualization model. Past studies of computer visualization technology have demonstrated that the student who controls the mouse learns the most. With Rain Table, all members of the group control the mice, providing an egalitarian approach to the study of stream processes.
UR: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNGXG9xS2Sg
DE: 0810 Post-secondary education
DE: 0815 Informal education
DE: 0820 Curriculum and laboratory design
DE: 0845 Instructional tools
DE: 1805 Computational hydrology
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting