Using Wind and Ocean Ecosystems in Environmental Statistics
About this Course
Environmental Statistics
EDDIE Module Developed
This module exposes students to a variety of data, plots, and visualizations that they are not often exposed to, and therein, encourages them to develop their higher order thinking skills in the context of oceanography. Students also get excited about the prospect of manipulating satellite data.
Jump to: Course Context | Teaching Details | Student Outcomes
Relationship of EDDIE Module(s) to my Course
As a data analysis course, this module was used in class about two-thirds of the way through the semester, after students had already completed several data analysis and statistical assignments using authentic environmental data. However, the type of data and plots (choropleth and wind rose) were different from anything the students had seen prior in the course. The learning objectives of this course focus on developing student skills in quantitative data analysis and interpretation in environmental settings. So, this module fit well within the course.
Teaching Details
What key suggestions would you give to a colleague before they used the activity in their teaching?
As wind roses are very different from most plots and charts students come into contact with, it takes them longer to learn to read the wind roses correctly. Be sure to check in the with students often to make sure that they are reading the wind roses correctly.
How did you address challenges in teaching with the module?
As a small class, I asked each student when they finished their wind roses to flag me down. Then I asked them to explain the wind rose data to me.
Student Outcomes
This module increased students' abilities to read and interpret map-based and directional data.
The students became more comfortable cleaning/processing and sorting data. At the end of the module, they were also able to specifically process and work with coordinate/directional data.