Bac-Ho Consulting Project (Near-Surface Geophysics)

Gregory S. Baker

University of Tennessee

This activity has been reviewed by 2 review processes (view details)

This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Reviewed Teaching Collection

This activity has received positive reviews in a peer review process involving five review categories. The five categories included in the process are
- Scientific Accuracy
- Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
- Pedagogic Effectiveness
- Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
- Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page
For more information about the peer review process itself, please see https://serc.carleton.edu/teachearth/activity_review.html.
This activity has benefited from input from faculty educators beyond the author through a review and suggestion process. This review took place as a part of a faculty professional development workshop where groups of faculty reviewed each others' activities and offered feedback and ideas for improvements. To learn more about the process On the Cutting Edge uses for activity review, see http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/review.html.

Initial Publication Date: July 5, 2007 | Reviewed: October 31, 2012 (see revision history: 2 events)

Summary

This objective of the lab is to have students think as much about sampling and survey design as the EM and GPR methods. Their goal of will be to design, execute, and report on a survey-using each technique-based on the fictitious objectives and constraints I outline.

Electromagnetics, Ground Penetrating Radar | College Upper (15-16), Graduate/Professional

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Context

Audience

Upper-level undergraduate/beginning-level graduate students.
Designed for a geophysics course

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

Knowledge of near-surface geophysics survey design and tools (EM and GPR) plus ability to use straight-forward software packages and develop a final report and presentation.

How the activity is situated in the course

Part of a series of exercises to bring the classroom theory to practice.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

Find buried utilities in an efficient and thorough manner plus yield a coherent, clean final report and presentation.

Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity

Synthesis of idealized discussions on survey design, data acquisition, processing, and interpretation into a coherent project.

Other skills goals for this activity

Written and oral presentation of data, including the ability to defend decisions.

Description of the activity/assignment

This objective of the lab is to have students think as much about sampling and survey design as the EM and GPR methods. Students will draw on our discussions in class, and also draw on your own experiences and logic. Their goal of will be to design
a survey-using each technique-based on the fictitious objectives and constraints I outline. Students then present your data and interpretations in a written and oral report, and then create a revised plan based on your experiences in the field.
Addresses student fear of quantitative aspect and/or inadequate quantitative skills
Uses geophysics to solve problems in other fields
Addresses student misconceptions