Ideas for Teaching with Visualizations

Visualizations are used to represent and explain ideas and explore data. These pages incorporate essays, powerpoint presentations and topical resources on the following education themes:

Using Visualizations to Explain Ideas

Geoscience faculty use visualizations of observational and model data to describe various parts of the earth. These are often linked together or animated to develop an understanding of Earth processes with twin goals of understanding the nature of the process and the evidence for its role in the Earth system.

Using Visualizations to Explore and Understand Data

Scientists have long known the power of visualizations in making sense of data and thereby learning about the earth. With new access to on-line data and new technologies for visualizing data, this is becoming an increasingly powerful technique for teaching geoscience.

Powerful Emerging Tools and Technologies for Visualization

New tools are emerging for visualizing and understanding complex systems and for representing complex data.

Research on Using Visualizations in Class

Research tells us what uses of visualizations are most effective. Don't reinvent the wheel; use methods that have been proven effective.