Incorporating Data into Undergraduate Courses Rachel O’Brien, Allegheny College Preparing for an Academic Career in Geosciences Workshop: Summer 2014

Data and assignments can be tailored to reach a broad range of student groups K-12Graduate courses Can be used in one class/lab session or throughout an entire course Data sets are flexible

Majority of online sources are now free Simple, low-cost field and lab work Data sets are cost-effective Data sets are concept-effective Allow for compare/contrast work at a range of spatial & temporal scales Single or multi-concept patterns

Allow students the opportunity to practice science and promote active learning Data sets are engaging Data sets are real Require students to grapple with issues of complexity, uncertainty, and outliers

Ocean Circulation Classic textbook Pacific high latitude Atlantic low latitude a.gov/epic/ewb/ Profiles

Data from new research –Field work and/or lab work in your course –A genuine research experiment Data from published literature –Journal articles, government documents, NGO reports –Recreate/rediscover research results and test hypotheses Data sets are diverse in topic, scope, and format

Online datasets –Site specific, regional, and global databases –“Mine” the site for data that can help you teach particular concepts and/or skills Data sets are diverse in topic, scope, and format

A great place to start index.html

Design how you’ll use data –Identify clear student learning outcomes regarding content, concepts, and/or skills –What steps in the process are most important for your students to practice? (collection and reduction vs. analysis and reporting) –How will you address uncertainty, outliers, etc.? Data sets are not stand alone resources

Logistics –Work through all steps of the process ahead of time –Envision and create “Plan B” Evaluation/assessment Did the use of data help student learning? How will you know? Data sets are not foolproof

Earthquake Data USGS Earthquake Hazards Program &SCEC So. California Earthquake Center

Hydrologic Data USGS Water Resources Division

Satellite Imagery NASA Earth Observatory

Sample Activity: Radiation Budget Learning Outcomes: 1. Construct global and local energy budget from observed longwave and solar radiation. 2. Relate results to spatial and temporal variations in Earth’s temperature. Time: Takes about 3 hours for students in teams, requires familiarity with GIS or MyWorld A complete description of this activity is available at SERC, called Earth’s Energy Budget Earth’s Energy Budget by Dave Dempsey

Sample Activity: Ice Core Analysis Learning Outcomes: 1. Graph profiles of ice core data using Excel 2. Relate changes in profile to past variations in CO 2, temperature, and climate cycles Time: Takes about 4 hours A complete description of this activity, called Vostek Ice Core by Robert MacKay, is available at SERCVostek Ice Core

Exploration activity Choose a course you would like to teach Identify student learning outcomes that result from working with the data Determine the duration of time needed to complete the activity Identify a website with datasets that could be used in the course –OR- identify new datasets that the students can generate –OR- find an existing activity you can use on the SERC website