In the Trenches - October 2011

Volume 1, Number 4

In This Issue

On the Cover:

Hide

Seismogram of the magnitude 6.3 earthquake in New Zealand on February 22, 2011, overlaying a photo showing damage on River Road in Christchurch. (Photo by Schwede66, obtained at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:25_ Feb_2011_River_Road.jpg; permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.)

• RoomQuake!: Turn Your Classroom into a Seismic Fault Zone - Debi Kilb, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California; Brenda López Silva, University of Illinois at Chicago; Timothy Halter, Abraham Lincoln Elementary School, Oak Park, Illinois; and Tom Moher, University of Illinois at Chicago
• NAGT NEWS & NOTICES: A Changing of the Guard at Journal of Geoscience Education - Janis Treworgy, Principia College, Elsah, Illinois
• Educational Aftershocks: Engage Students with Rapid-Response Resources - Tammy Bravo, IRIS Consortium; Michael Hubenthal, IRIS Consortium; Michael Wysession, Washing University in St. Louis, Missouri; Robert Butler, University of Portland, Portland Oregon
• Recognizing Top Geoscience Educators: The NAGT and GSA Education Division Awards for 2011
• PolarTREC: To Antarctica in the Name of Research and Teaching! - Lesley Uransky, Rawlins High School, Rawlins, Wyoming
• Practical Lessons from Research on Field Cognition and Behavior - Julie Libarkin, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan; Kathleen Baker, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan; D. Zachary Hambrick, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan; Heather L. Petcovic, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan
• NAGT NEWS & NOTICES: Geo2YC Becomes First NAGT Division

Online Supplements

• Web Features
• News and Advertisements

This site provides web links that supplement the print articles as well as news and web resources. To receive the full edition of In the Trenches join NAGT

Show caption

Hide

Tom Moher, University of Illinois Chicago, explains RoomQuake to Chicago-area high school teachers at CS4HS Chicago 2010. Details

RoomQuake!: Turn Your Classroom into a Seismic Fault Zone

The authors describe an immersive learning experience for teaching seismology. The activity transforms a entire classroom into a working laboratory where students interpret seismograms and determine the location of earthquake epicenters.

• RoomQuake!

A Changing of the Guard at Journal of Geoscience Education

Show caption

Hide

Tsunami debris is piled up inside the Nakano Elementary School in Sendai, Japan, following the magnitude 9.0 Tohoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck northeastern Japan March 11, 2011. Details

Educational Aftershocks: Engage Students with Rapid-Response Resources

IRIS Teachable Moments are rapid response resources to empower educators to respond spontaneously following large, newsworthy earthquakes. 

• IRIS: Recent Earthquake Teachable Moments

Recognizing Top Geoscience Educators: The NAGT and GSA Education Division Awards for 2011

• 2011 James Shea Award Winner - Dr. Naomi Oreskes, University of California San Diego
• 2011 GED Biggs Award Winner - Natalie Bursztyn, Bakersfield College
• 2011 Neil Miner Award Winners - Dr. Marjorie J. McKinney & the late Dr. F. Kenneth McKinney
• 2011 Robert Christman Award Winner - Dr. Bob Ridky, USGS
• 2011 Dorothy LaLonde Stout Professional Development Grant Winners
• 2011 Outstanding Earth Science Teacher Award Winners

Show caption

Hide

Fieldwork near Beardmore Glacier and the Queen Alexandra Range — on Mt. Kyffin at the limit of the last glacial maximum. Details

PolarTREC: To Antarctica in the Name of Research and Teaching!

Author Lesley Urasky describes her trip to Antarctica with the PolarTREC program and how it influenced her teaching by providing her with scientific research experiences in an interdisciplinary environment.

• PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating)

Show caption

Hide

Students prepare to explore the “Whaleback Anticline” to understand the structures exposed in an abandoned strip mine in eastern Pennsylvania. Details

Practical Lessons from Research on Field Cognition and Behavior

Libarkin et al. discuss how research data can provide insight into ways training can be improved, including providing novice students with explicit instructions for how to spend their time in a field and for transferring knowledge onto a map.

Geo2YC Becomes First NAGT Division

Read the full text of this article. (http://nagt.com/nagt/publications/trenches/articles/geo2yc.html)

back to top

Web Features

Teaching About Hazards in Geoscience: Earthquakes
This topical page from the Teaching About Hazards area of On the Cutting Edge provides access to teaching activities, data sources, visualizations, information about individual earthquake events, and ideas for innovative ways of teaching about earthquakes in the geoscience classroom.

Earth and Mind: The Blog
The Earth and Mind blog aims to facilitate discussion and discovery about how humans think and learn about the Earth and environment. Earth & Mind explores the intersection between Geosciences, Education and Cognitive Sciences. The geoscientists who post here are interested in the thinking of expert geoscientists, novices, and everyone in between. They are also interested in how education shapes students' knowledge, understanding, motivations, and actions concerning the Earth.

Visualizing Seismic Waves for Teaching and Research
This topical resource from On the Cutting Edge grew out of a workshop in 2011. Participants and presenters developed teaching activities, topical resources, and presentations on the state of the art in visualizing seismic waves as well as how to incorporate this cutting edge research into the classroom. Related Cutting Edge topics include: Teaching Geophysics in the 21st Century, Understanding the Deep Earth.

DataSheet: Exploring Broadband Seismic Data in the Classroom
This DataSheet aims to help educators navigate and use the data available through the Broadband Seismic Data Collection Center in their courses. There is information about the sources of the data, its relevance, educational uses for it, as well as additional information. DataSheets are a part of the Using Data in the Classroom portal sponsored by NSDL.

Teach the Earth: Seismic Data Teaching Activities
The projects that are available through the Teach the Earth portal have created a large number of teaching activities dealing with aspects of using seismic data. On this page you can browse and search through the collection for ones matching your needs.

back to top

News and Advertisements View Website News Releases

• Opportunity to Serve as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Geoscience Education
• EET Wins SPORE Prize
• Ian D. MacGregor receives William B. Heroy Jr. Award
• National IRB Rules Currently Under Revision: Open Comment Period Now
• NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability (SEES) Fellows
• 2012-2013 AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowships
• 2012 National Conference on Undergraduate Research
• AGI Accepting Applications for 2012 Award for Excellence in Earth Science Teaching

Community Advertisements:

• Visiting Assistant Professor of Geology
• Program/Research Manager, CCAS ADVANCE Initiative
• Freelance Writer Editor/Science

back to top