Using Project EDDIE modules in Physical Geology
About this Course
Physical Geology
EDDIE Module Developed
This activity uses real-time data acquired from an active network of GNSS stations for a scaffolded series of investigations to measure and evaluate the rates of ground movement (and earthquake potential due to differential rates of movement) across and adjacent to strike-slip faults and transform plate boundaries.
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Relationship of EDDIE Module(s) to my Course
I most recently used this activity as a summative exercise to synthesize prior units on earthquakes and plate tectonics in my Physical Geology combined lecture/lab course, which generally enrolls between 25-30 students. Students in this course are primarily non-geology majors, although it is required for our geology majors to take as well. Prior to introducing this exercise, I had already given students activities that included real data as a way to explore geologic concepts: as part of the earthquakes unit, I used a portion of the "Living on the Edge" InTeGrate activity assessing earthquake probabilities; students also used Google Earth (both Pro and Chrome versions) and Excel as part of their plate tectonic exercises which immediately preceded this activity in the class schedule.
As an instructor at a community college in Orange County, California, the relationships between earthquake hazards and plate tectonics, and the focus on California datasets, were an instant hook for my students.
Teaching Details
What key suggestions would you give to a colleague before they used the activity in their teaching?
It's important to emphasize the scaffolded nature of the activity, and to be prepared for some students to lack familiarity/confidence with some of the math and spreadsheet applications that are part of the exercise. It would be critical to at least have discussed plate tectonics prior to this activity. If you plan to have students calculate linear equations and statistical parameters (such as R^2) as part of the activity, make sure you know which programs (Excel vs. Google Sheets) and which version(s) students have access to in computer labs on-campus or on their own devices (e.g. Google Sheets does not include R^2 calculations; Excel 365 does not have the same layout as other versions, etc.).
How did you address challenges in teaching with the module?
One challenge that comes up when using this activity is that the types of devices, operating systems, and versions of programs being used is not universal; some commands for modifying chart options in Excel, for example, are not in the same location in different versions of the program. This problem often works itself out in class, with other students using similar OS/versions troubleshooting for each other during group work. I've also linked short videos from YouTube into the course LMS for quick demonstrations.
Time constraints can be an issue for completing all three sections (A, B, C) during the allotted time for the class. To address this, for some classes I have dropped the requirement for students to create their own graphs from the raw station data, and instead allow simple visual inspection of the charts on each station page to calculate the slope of the best-fit line, thus determining the magnitude of the vector components for the rate of motion calculations. Since students still have to make choices about which station(s) to use for the activity and systematically interpret the results, removing the chart generation step does not detract from the overall content learning goals of the exercise.
When I've used this activity set in my asynchronous online classes, I am careful to provide sufficient scaffolding and introduction through short video vignettes and examples, and enforcing waypoints within the activity, such as submitting calculation results for Activity A as a "Quiz" in the LMS, so that students can get immediate feedback and the opportunity for revision/reflection before moving on to more independent work in Activities B and C. I also create introductory videos for Activity C to emphasize the importance of the transect and the rules to follow when creating it and selecting stations.
One of the real advantages to using this activity in my courses is that it is written with flexibility in mind; the changes and adjustments that I've made to use this module in my own courses are largely already "pre-made" in the different versions available on the activity website.
Student Outcomes
The activity improved students' ability to work with and interpret vector components, complete rate calculations, practice unit conversions, and visualize spatial relationships. Connecting positive and negative values in north/east components to cardinal directions did also have seem to have a positive impact on their ability to work with other aspects of quantitative and spatial thinking later in the course. It also helped students connect the concept that small-magnitude rates in the short term can also lead to significant changes over geologic scales of time, a concept that many students struggled with in the past. For some, it was also an opportunity to connect abstract math skills with their real-world application.
These activities, which include practical applications of data manipulation, graph interpretation, and spatial thinking all seemed to improve students' level of confidence with each; activities that included Excel, map-reading, and other similar skillsets later in the course were completed much more smoothly. Since there are errors and excursions in some datasets (due to events such as the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake), this activity provides the opportunity for student-led discussions explaining their causes, impacts on data quality, and how these excursions in the human timescale reflect processes and motions we can observe on a geologic timescale along plate boundaries.