Plate Tectonics and Tectonic Hazards
John Creasy
, jcreasy@bates.edu
Bates College
a Private four-year institution, primarily undergraduate
.Summary
This is a topical course covering plate tectonics and associated hazards such as eartquakes, volcanic activity, and secondary hazards such as tsunami, landslides, etc. A companion topical course covers surficial processes and global change. together these two courses cover most topics found in a physical geology course.
31-70
Course Context:
This is an entry-level geology course that servess as a general education course (90% of students) and as a gateway course to the geology major (10% of students). The course has a required weekly three hour laboratory.
Course Goals:
Students should be able to synthesize the modern plate tectonic setting of any locale using earthquakes, volcanic activity and physiography or tectonic and geologic maps.
Students should be able to assess the tectonic hazards facing the population of any major global city.
Students should be able to critique the representation of tectonic hazards in the popular media.
Students should be able to assess the tectonic hazards facing the population of any major global city.
Students should be able to critique the representation of tectonic hazards in the popular media.
How course activities and course structure help students achieve these goals:
The course is organized around various plate boundaries, beginning with simple transform boundary and ending with continental collisional boundary. Course activities and class room interactions develop content and context for each boundary. The content/activities address the geologic and tectonic processes relevent to each boundary, the hazards and risks associated with each boundary. Real world data and specific examples are used to frame the general process concepts
Skills Goals
working in groups
quantitative abilities
quantitative abilities
How course activities and course structure help students achieve these goals:
Students engage in group learning settings such as jigsaw activities, gallery walk, and online discussion. Most of the activities incorporate use, analysis, or computations using quantitative data. Concept diagrams and discussion of videos are also used.
Assessment
exams and quizzes, classroom response systems, grading rubrics for homework assignments, group activities and written responses, including laboratory activities.
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