1. Overview Using GPS Data to Study Crustal Deformation, Earthquakes, and Volcanism: a Workshop for College Faculty Geological Society of America 2008 Cordilleran and Rocky Mountain Section Meeting, March 18, 2008, 1:00 – 5:00 PM Helmut Mayer, Susan Eriksson UNAVCO Corné Kreemer University of Nevada Reno

2. Short Course Content Why we are here today  UNAVCO as a resource  Exciting science  Student learning Concrete, problem-based learning New discoveries Relevance to society  Objectives  Outline of today’s short course Materials are available at:  http://www.unavco.org/cws/learn/shortcourseGSAs2008/ http://www.unavco.org/cws/learn/shortcourseGSAs2008/

3. Some Big Educational Goals Integrating research and education  What is the cutting edge research in crustal deformation  How is it done  What new discoveries are being made Nature of science Engaging students with Earth system data  Quantitative skills  Visualization of data  Models – what are they, how do we develop them  Integration of data Careers in geosciences Integration of research with learning

4. Think About… Students need:  Varied instructional approaches … –Varied learning styles –Varied modes of processing information (verbal, written, visual, kinesthetic, etc)  Doing the same thing everyday is boring! And boredom leads to poor learning… Lecture Lecture w/ Discussion and/or questions (clickers) Guided activitiesInquiry-base learningConstructivist PassiveActive Not to scale Instructional Approaches …

5. Thinking Like a Scientist How do we foster students to think like scientists?  Moving from concrete See: Earth’s internal structure and mysterious physiographic features such as mid-ocean ridges and trenches Hear Touch: grasping extremely large spatial and temporal scale because they are different from every-day life Smell  Toward abstraction of ideas (what does it mean to think like a scientist?)

6. Thinking Like a Scientist How do we foster students to think like scientists?  Progress from knowledge recall to synthesis and evaluation  Using real-world problems  Using real-world data  Concrete examples of geologic phenomena  Incorporating quantitative exercises  Get students excited about geosciences

7. Course Outcomes Participants will have  a greater familiarity with high-precision GPS and its application to plate tectonics, volcanoes, and earthquakes,  the tools to use GPS data in a classroom activity for their own course,  access to resources to support classroom implementation,  a better understanding of the benefits and challenges of using GPS data in classroom settings

8. Outline of today’s short course Presentation Current GPS research, new discoveries Activities  Using visualization tools to explore data  Exploring GPS data through time series plots  Accessing & exploring data online  Using GPS to determine plate motion Teaching Tips & Sources of Error Wrap up