Effective Use of Interactive Computer Visualizations in Geoscience Education
KIRKBY, Kent C.,kirkby@umn.edu; MORIN, Paul L. and SLAWINSKI, Dirk, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455
Recently, a NSF-funded program was initiated at the University of Minnesota to design three- and four-dimensional visualizations of large data sets and mathematical models that allow these materials to be effectively integrated into geoscience education. These visualizations run on relatively low-end personal computers and can be used as classroom illustrations or set into interactive self-guided student tutorials. Almost any quantitative database, such as earthquake locations, elevation, temperature, precipitation or organic productivity can be selected and rendered as virtual three- and four-dimensional images that can manipulated by the viewer. These visualizations allow educators and students to use and explore data that have previously only been available in a research setting.
Students in introductory geology courses at the University of Minnesota use a Geodynamics module to investigate the distribution of earthquakes and heat flow within the Earth; and an Ice Age module that combines lithosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere and biosphere components into a systems-based study of the most recent glacial retreat. Computer maps are also rendered with a virtual three-dimensional quality and interactive nature that increases students' understanding of the map content and can help improve their visualization skills. One can tell students that melting the Earth's glaciers would raise sea level by seventy to eighty meters, but the impact of the message is much more memorable when students raise sea level by eighty meters and investigate for themselves the resulting impact on the world's coastlines. Dissemination by CD-ROM allows students to take control of the course's visual elements and use the material in settings that lack Internet access. This simple change in pedagogy greatly increases the program's effectiveness.
Computers can be remarkably powerful tools in geoscience education, but are not always the most effective means of communicating a concept. A technology-enhanced learning initiative is more likely to be successful if it is based on a sizeable core of materials that use animations or visualizations to present concepts and data that can not be as effectively presented by traditional teaching materials.
BACK