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Tours, Educational Inservices, and Classroom Workshops
Author: Joseph Kerski Geographer Box 25046 - MS 507 Denver CO 80225-0046 USA Tel 303 202 4315 This
working list of classroom exercises, teacher inservice topics, and tours
has been developed by the staff of the US Geological Survey's Rocky
Mountain Mapping Center in Denver, Colorado.
The mission of the US Geological Survey is "Science for a
Changing World.” As part
of that mission, the mapping employees provide tours of their working
facility, and have developed classroom exercises suitable and teacher
inservice topics for all grade levels and backgrounds.
These exercises are conducted in the student's school.
The inservices could be conducted at the USGS mapping facility in
Denver, Colorado, or at the teachers’ school.
This document describes these classroom exercises, teacher
inservice (workshop) topics, and tours.
To
set up a tour, educational
inservice,
or in-class workshop, or for more information: Contact: Staff
Cartographer US Geological Survey Box 25046 - MS 508 Denver CO 80225-0046 USA (303)
202-4113 FAX
(303) 202-4020 I.
Tours http://rockyweb.cr.usgs.gov/public/outreach/tours.html The
USGS Rocky Mountain Mapping Center, located in building 810 on the
Denver Federal Center, is a facility where 350 professionals use
geographic information systems and image processing packages to create
computerized and paper maps and other representations of the earth's
terrain, serve as the distribution center for over 60 million maps and
publications, and serve customers by distributing map data, aerial
photographs, satellite imagery, and a wide variety of other data used in
making decisions about the earth.
These decisions range from choosing a hiking trail, planning for
and mitigating natural disasters, locating a business, to ensuring a
safe water supply for our nation. Tours
are given for Grade 6 and higher, should be scheduled several months in
advance, and may include some or all of the following areas: Digital
Collection Production site where digital mapping and terrain data is collected, verified, and made available to the public on a variety of computer equipment. This includes land use/land cover data, national hydrography data, digital elevation models, and digital orthophotoquadrangles. Digital
Revision Production
site where digital mapping data is revised in a monoscopic or
stereoscopic mode from digital aerial photographs, and paper maps are
produced from the digital files. Earth
Science Information Center Customer
service area where USGS staffpersons answer questions and assist data
users with aerial photographs, maps, satellite imagery, computer
programs, and other products. Map Distribution and Storage Facility Over
50 million maps, books, open files, and other publications are stored
under a single roof in a 17-acre building, representing the largest map
storage and distribution facility in the world. Research Facility
where computerized spatial data and geographic information systems are
used for research projects such as energy exploration, seismic studies,
development of new mapping techniques, and land use change analysis. Other
facilities within the building for which tours are available: National
Ice Core Laboratory The
National Ice Core Laboratory is the only storage and curatorial facility
of its kind in North America. It provides scientists with the
capability to conduct examinations and measurements of ice cores and it
preserves the integrity of these samples in a long-term repository for
present and future scientific investigations.
Polar glacier ice from Antarctica and Greenland is an excellent
recorder of climate history, and is the only continuous, direct recorder
of paleoatmospheric composition known.
Work conducted on these cores has provided detailed annual
records of climate and weather variations for the past 250,000 years.
Public concern about global climate change resulting from natural
and human causes can be addressed by analyses of ice cores.
Tours include an explanation of the facility where 30,000 feet of
ice cores are stored. Rock
Core Research Center Over
1.4 million linear feet of rock core are stored and held in this world's
largest rock library. Preservation
of rock cores and drill samples represents an enormously valuable
resource for the entire earth sciences community.
Up to 2,000 scientists per year from around the world access the
collection per year. The
facility's holdings are valued at a replacement cost of $10 billion.
Tours of the Core Research Center include a section of the
library, the educational rock room, the thin sample room where 15,000
sections are stored, and the rock cutting machines. Tours
of the Center are subject to the availability of the staff, and are
generally restricted to middle school and older students.
Tour groups must go through a secure checkpoint upon entering the
Denver Federal Center. Tour
groups must be accompanied by a USGS employee.
Some sections of the mapping center are not available for tours.
Tours require between 1 and 3 hours, depending on the areas of
the mapping center that the tour group wishes to view. II.
Teacher Inservices USGS
education outreach staff have been working with the educational
community for many years. USGS resources are used by educators in
the following subjects: environmental studies, geology, biology,
hydrology, geography, history, and mathematics. The following list
represents a sample of the types of inservices that the staff has
conducted over the past several years: The
Use of USGS Resources in Social and Physical Science Education The
USGS education program provides a means of connecting science and social
studies teachers with the nation's largest scientific agency. This
program includes real-time scientific data on the Internet, sets of
teacher lessons on a variety of science topics, and a wide variety of
topographic and thematic maps, posters, and other publications.
Through this hands-on inservice, teachers will understand the extent of
the available resources and how to connect with the education program.
They will work through standards-based educational lessons and will
receive a number of samples of USGS educational materials. The
primary subjects covered will be geography, mathematics, earth science,
and life science, but can be tailored to the needs of the participating
school districts. The
Implementation of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing,
and Global Positioning Systems in Social and Physical Science Education Coincident
with renewed interest in geographic education are a number of social and
educational trends that encourage the application of GIS technology and
methods to primary and secondary teaching. Constructivism,
interdisciplinary studies, authentic practice and assessment,
school-to-work programs, performance standards, project-based learning,
and an emphasis on inquiry-based methods are encouraging educators to
adopt GIS into geography, history, and science instruction. This
inservice introduces the capabilities of the technology, and how the
technology can be used in education, including results from USGS and
other GIS work with middle and high schools. III.
In-Class Exercises and Presentations All
USGS presentations are modular in nature and can be expanded,
contracted, simplified, or made more complex depending on the time
available for the presentation, requirements of the teacher, and the
education level of the students. The presentations cover the
following subjects: Career
Planning in the Geosciences Cartography Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) Geography Geology Global
Positioning Systems (GPS) Internet
Tools and Technology Mineralogy Paleontology Photogrammetry Population
Remote
Sensing of the Environment All
presentations have a dual emphasis: 1
- hands-on activities. 2
- the relevance of geoscience to solving real-world problems. The
number of modules included can be varied to make the total length of
workshop anywhere between 45 minutes and 3 hours. The presenter
will leave the teacher with: 1)
USGS sample educational pamphlets, circulars, posters, and maps; for
example, on earthquakes, volcanoes, mapping techniques, collecting
rocks, Denver's geologic setting, gold, minerals, historical maps and
photographs, satellite imagery, geographic information systems, water
quality, water resources, energy gases, natural aggregate, deserts, and
“Elevations and Distances in the United States.” 2) Classroom
exercise packets that the teacher can make use of for future
instruction.
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