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This module is part of a growing collection of classroom-tested materials developed by GETSI. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
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Initial Publication Date: December 14, 2015

Colin Amos: Using Imaging Active Tectonics in Active Tectonics Seminar at Western Washington University

About this Course

This seminar course explores the history, effects, and mechanics of earthquake deformation from a geologic and geophysical perspective. Topics covered include ground surface deformation associated with the earthquake cycle, as well as detection and measurement of geologic strain using geodesy and paleoseismology.

7
undergraduate,
6
graduate students
Two 2-hour sessions
per week
Regional, public MS-granting
institution.

Hands-on classroom activities to support topical seminar

I used the Imaging Active Tectonics module as the basis for in-class activities and take-home assignments that complemented a traditional seminar class based on readings from the primary literature and term research projects. The modules provided experience analyzing and manipulating geodetic data in support of readings centered on incorporating geodesy and earthquake-cycle deformation toward an understanding of long-term mountain building. Classroom time typically uses student-centered activities to discuss scientific papers—I shifted some of this time toward implementing and discussing the GETSI modules.

Students were engaged throughout the course, in particular during classroom sessions where we worked on module activities in a department computer lab. A particular success came from an in-class compilation of small, lateral geomorphic offset data from student groups analyzing sections of the Carrizo Plain LiDAR data along the San Andreas fault. Students were able to create a high-quality data set in under an hour that reproduced published findings and also sparked a number of interesting new questions and debates about interpreting data of this sort. Additionally, the interactive, online InSAR modeling tool (through 3point Science) really gave the students a good feel for how models complement geodetic observations for understanding earthquake deformation. This hands-on component was an extremely valuable exercise for demystifying this process for the students.

My Experience Teaching with GETSI Materials

Unit 1: I did not use Google Earth since I did not have access to computer lab for this class meeting. Students used existing files (and infrastructure data sets) for the assignment, rather than researching an additional site.
Unit 2: I did the histogram compilation of Carrizo offsets as a class rather than as part of the homework. Students were not able to get all the kmz files to resolve, so they had to skip the reverse faulting component of the class assignment.
Units 3–5: No modifications.

Relationship of GETSI Materials to my Course

The module was implemented throughout the 10-week quarter, with the units mostly front-loaded and wrapped up with the summative assessment completed by week 6 or so. Please see the attached syllabus.

Assessments

The primary assessment for the module component of the class was the last unit (Unit 5), which forms the summative assessment for the module. This module was confusing in that it seemed to ask them to create a scenario report for a hypothetical earthquake in an area that recently experienced a damaging earthquake rupture. As such, some of the student assignments read more like a basic report on the El Mayor Cucapah event rather than a synthesis or exploration of the provided data. The kmz of LiDAR for this area was also quite small and of insufficient resolution for many of the students to make meaningful measurements from the LiDAR.

Outcomes

I hoped that the students would get more hands-on experience with geodetic data (which they did), although some of this overlapped with assignments in my other classes and was somewhat of a repeat for several of the graduate students. As described in my answers in the faculty reflection, the InSAR modules were fantastic. The units on seismic hazard were harder to get off the ground and were often too vague for the students—particularly Units 1 and 5.

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This module is part of a growing collection of classroom-tested materials developed by GETSI. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
Explore the Collection »