Plate Tectonics and People: Foundations of Solid Earth Science

Catalog description

Solid Earth geophysics and geological hazards presented within the grand unifying theory of plate tectonics. EARTH 520 Plate Tectonics and People: Foundations of Solid Earth Science (3)This course will cover current areas of research in solid Earth geophysics, especially focusing on the human population's interaction with the solid Earth system. Students will be introduced to a variety of current topics of active research within the field of solid Earth geophysics. They will learn the appropriate state of the art scientific content relevant to each topic by performing basic data analysis (e.g. collection, interpretation and assessment) using publicly available data in order to complete the activities in each lesson. They will finally construct a plan to teach a selected topic to the audience of their choice. Students will learn scientific content by completing activities in each of nine lessons that will span either the 12-week or 15-week semester. These activities will be in the form of background reading that outlines a current scientific problem or debate, the collection and manipulation of appropriate data, and the assessment of the results of this work. By doing this, students will simultaneously become familiar with the content as well as the practice of science. Students will also participate in online discussions about how to teach this content to specific secondary school audiences. They will complete a capstone project in which they will construct a teaching plan based on the topic of their choice.