 |
| Prior
to the IRIS Workshop, seismologists learned exercises and activities
for teacher workshops, including participating in a contest in which
they designed earthquake-resistant buildings. |
The IRIS
Education and Outreach program held a one-day workshop in Yosemite aimed
at helping seismologists prepare to run a workshop at their home institution
for local K12 teachers. The workshop goals were to (1) involve participants
in hands-on and inquiry-based activities that can be used to teach seismology
and related Earth Science, (2) provide background on current issues in
K12 science education and on the K12 classroom environment,
and (3) provide information on the logistics of running a teacher workshop.
The workshop, organized by Larry Braile (Purdue University), Sheryl Braile
(Happy Hollow Elementary School), Rob Mellors (San Diego State University),
and Catherine Johnson (IRIS), was attended by 14 people from a variety
of colleges and universities.
An introductory
quiz on K12 education statistics got everyone on their feet and
temporarily away from the coffee and donuts. (What percentage of K12
teachers are female? answer at the bottom of the page). The rest of the
day focussed on activities to use in a teacher workshop. Participants
made slices and 3-D models of the Earth (activities designed to teach
about internal structure), and simulated the construction of travel-time
curves and earthquake location through a walk-minus-run-time activity
carried out under beautiful clear Yosemite skies. Other activities included
demonstrations of an epicenter plotting exercise, a plate tectonics flip-book
(home-grown substitute for computer simulations of plate motions), and
a plate tectonics CDROM. In IRIS-run K12 teacher workshops, we also
spend some time in a lecture/demonstration mode to provide participants
with background information and materials on plate tectonics and earthquakes.
A brief synopsis of this lecture material was given. The final activity
was a contest in which participants designed earthquake-resistant buildings.
Testing of the structures on a shake table revealed that our group of
experts would provide sound advice to a building safety commission!
In addition,
Larry Braile gave a presentation on the status of US education. We hear
many, often conflicting, reports on the television and in the newspapers
about the state of US education, in particular science and math education.
Much of the information and the way in which it is presented can be misleading.
Larry discussed some of the current controversial issues and the data
sets on which broad political statements are based.
|
| Follow-up
will involve each participant running a 1day workshop for teachers
in their local area during the next academic year. IRIS Education and Outreach
provides support and materials for these workshops. Jeff Barker who attended
a similar workshop in 1997 has since run two teacher workshops and provided
encouraging "testimony". Taking our science (and where possible
our own individual research) beyond our university and peers is our responsibility
as scientists. Short, teacher workshops are effective, do not demand excessive
time, and last but not least are extremely rewarding. We encourage all IRIS
members to participate in the workshop program. |
|
Workshop Participants
|
|
John
Craddock
Kazuya Fujita
Katrin Hafner
Alan Kafka
John Lahr
Tim Long
Elizabeth Meyers
Jim O'Donnell
Wayne Pennington
Gerry Simila
Gregory van der Vink
Frank Vernon
Lisa Wald
|
Macalester
College
Michigan State University
California Institute of Technology
Boston College
US Geological Survey
Georgia Institute of Technology
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Michigan Technological University
California State University, Northridge
IRIS
University of California, San Diego
US Geological Survey
|
75% of
K-12 teachers are female, 85% of elementary school teachers are female.
|
