Understanding geodesy and geoscience processes through interactive demonstrations for the general public
Abstract
Hands-on demonstrations are an effective way for novice learners, whether they are students, public, or museum visitors, to experience geoscience processes. UNAVCO and community members have developed hands-on demonstrations of a variety of geophysical processes highlighting the geodetic techniques used to measure these processes. These demonstrations illustrate how observations of changes at the earth's surface can be quantified and inform us about forces within the earth that we can't see. They also emphasize the societal impact of research related to each earth process. In this presentation, we will provide descriptions of a suite of these demonstrations, major concepts covered, materials needed, instructions for assembly and how to lead the demonstration, sample questions to ask participants, weaknesses inherent in the model, and a list of supporting handouts that augment the demonstration. Some of the demonstrations to be highlighted include: volcanic deformation using flour or an augmented-reality sandbox; isostatic rebound from glacial melt using flubber; compression of the Pacific Northwest using springs; and tsunami early warning using a tub of water and foam buoys. We will also discuss the process of developing interactive demonstrations and provide initial feedback from classroom and science festival events. Write-ups of the demonstrations are freely available on the UNAVCO Education website (search terms: UNAVCO geodetic demonstrations).
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AGUFMED11B0903O
- Keywords:
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- 0805 Elementary and secondary education;
- EDUCATIONDE: 0815 Informal education;
- EDUCATIONDE: 0825 Teaching methods;
- EDUCATIONDE: 0845 Instructional tools;
- EDUCATION