Seafloor Eruptions Offer a Teachable Moment to Help SEAS Students Understand Important Geological and Ecological Processes
Abstract
In education parlance, a teachable moment is an opportunity that arises when students are engaged and primed to learn, typically in response to some memorable event. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, even natural disasters, if meaningful to the student, often serve to catalyze intense learning. Recent eruptions at the East Pacific Rise offer a potential teachable moment for students and teachers involved with SEAS, a Ridge 2000 education outreach program. SEAS uses a combination of web-facilitated and teacher-directed activities to make the remote deep-sea environment and the process of science relevant and meaningful. SEAS is a web-based, inquiry-oriented education program for middle and high school students. It features the science associated with Ridge 2000 research. Since 2003, SEAS has focused on the integrated study site at the East Pacific Rise (EPR) to help students understand geological and ecological processes at mid-ocean ridges and hydrothermal vents. SEAS students study EPR bathymetry maps, images of lava formations, photomosaics of diffuse flow communities, succession in the Bio-Geo Transect, as well as current research conducted during spring cruises. In the Classroom to Sea Lab, students make direct comparisons between shallow-water mussels and vent mussels (from the EPR) to understand differences in feeding strategies. The recent eruptions and loss of seafloor fauna at this site offer the Ridge 2000 program the opportunity to help students better understand the ephemeral and episodic nature of ridge environments, as well as the realities and processes of science (particularly field science). In January 2007, the SEAS program will again sail with a Ridge 2000 research team, and will work with scientists to report findings through the SEAS website. The eruptions at the EPR covered much of the study site, and scientists' instruments and experiments, in fresh lava. We intend to highlight the recency and effect of the eruptions, using the students' anticipated response as a motivator to deepen their understanding of the environment. SEAS depends on the contributions of many scientists within the Ridge 2000 community, and serves as an outreach channel for the whole community. Scientists can help field student questions during the Ask-a- Scientist email forum, serve as Report Reviewers, be featured in Scientist Spotlights, and help develop new Classroom to Sea labs and curricular materials. In the next four years, SEAS will integrate with the international GLOBE education program (www.globe.gov), and help our community reach even more students and teachers, worldwide.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2006
- Bibcode:
- 2006AGUFM.V23B0600G
- Keywords:
-
- 0456 Life in extreme environments;
- 0805 Elementary and secondary education;
- 0845 Instructional tools;
- 8416 Mid-oceanic ridge processes (1032;
- 3614);
- 8424 Hydrothermal systems (0450;
- 1034;
- 3017;
- 3616;
- 4832;
- 8135)