12
Real and Virtual Field Trips in Earth & Atmospheric Science Courses for Undergraduates SHERRY D. OAKS, Ph.D. FRONT RANGE COMMUNITY COLLEGE SCIENCE DEPARTMENT COLORADO'S CHANGING ENERGY PORTFOLIO UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER 14-15 NOVEMBER 2015

Real and Virtual Field Trips

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Real and Virtual Field Trips

Real and Virtual Field Trips in Earth & Atmospheric Science Courses for Undergraduates

SHERRY D. OAKS, Ph.D.

FRONT RANGE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

COLORADO'S CHANGING ENERGY PORTFOLIO

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER

14-15 NOVEMBER 2015

Page 2: Real and Virtual Field Trips

Real and Virtual Field TripsDownloadable 3-D contentUpdated data sets

NOAA Science on a SphereFiske PlanetariumUniversity of Colorado at Boulder

Page 3: Real and Virtual Field Trips

Real and Virtual Field Trips

NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Forecasting Office (WFO, top)

o Robert Glancy, WFO Warning Coordinating Meteorologist

NOAA/NCAR Cooperative Climate Weather Station (NCAR, right) o Matt Kelsh, Hydrometeorologist, NCAR-COMET

Page 4: Real and Virtual Field Trips

Real and Virtual Field TripsOnline access to real-time data from National Weather Service, NCAR, and NASA

NOAA NWS: www.weather.gov

NASA: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/

Page 5: Real and Virtual Field Trips

Real-Time Imagery and Datawww.weather.gov

Page 6: Real and Virtual Field Trips

NCAR RAL:http://weather.rap.ucar.edu/

Visits to local broadcast weather stations:Marty Coniglio, Meteorologist, KUSA Weather Mike Nelson, Chief Meteorologist, KMGH Weather

Page 7: Real and Virtual Field Trips

Direct students to high quality blog siteso Data rich o Neutral content

o No/minimal political biaso Civil discussion of multiple

data interpretations

Weather Underground: www.wunderground.com

Real Climate:http://realclimate.org/

Climate Central:http://climatecentral.org/news

ENSO blog: https://www.climate.gov/news-features/department/8443/all

Page 8: Real and Virtual Field Trips

High quality blogs have:

o Various bloggers on siteo Diverse viewpoints

o Respected researcherso Experienced analystso Credibility within scientific

community

Page 9: Real and Virtual Field Trips

Help with discernment

Students may have concerns about a blog because:o Some blogs may contain controversial

interpretations of datao Subtle or unconscious biaso Deliberate biaso Lack of collegiality

Page 10: Real and Virtual Field Trips

Citizen Science opportunities

CoCoRaHS:http://www.cocorahs.org/

Old Weather: http://www.oldweather.org/

Page 11: Real and Virtual Field Trips

Discernment with climate science

Engage students with field experienceso Cloud watchingo Storm chasingo Geological evidence

o Pictured: Ash fall from Yellowstone eruptionin arkosic sandstone at NCAR (Boulder, CO)

Analyze observed and virtual data thoughtfullyo Field data o Satellite datao Journal articleso Blog posts

o Assess quality and expertiseo Controversial interpretations of data

Participate in Citizen Science

Page 12: Real and Virtual Field Trips

Questions? Comments?

Contact me at:[email protected]@gmail.com303-579-8900

Sundog over UtahCredit: Stan Schmidt, Western Governors University(with permission)

Image Permissions: o Unless noted otherwise, all photographs by S.D. Oakso All students pictured have signed releases for photographs to be

used for educational presentations

De facto permissions are provided by:o NOAA/UCAR scientists and public outreach/education personnel o Broadcast meteorologists

Please do not use the above images without contacting the author for permission to use.