Instructor Workshop: Teaching Near-surface Geophysics to Undergraduates from Intro to Majors

Tuesday-Thursday July 29-31, 2025
Colorado School of Mines campus, Golden, CO

Overview

Geophysics methods can be applied to a wide range of societally important topics, from natural hazards to groundwater resources to forensics and provide a powerful way to engage students in Earth science and allied fields.

This workshop provides the foundation for Earth science instructors to integrate near-surface geophysics instrumentation and methods into their undergraduate courses -- from introductory to majors-level. Featured methods are ground penetrating radar (GPR), seismic refraction, electrical resistivity, and real-time kinematic GPS/GNSS surveying. Participants will all learn the basics of GPS/GNSS and focus more heavily on one of the other three methods (and have a lighter introduction to the other two).

The workshop combines field-based hands-on time and classroom time. Participants will gain experience with the GETSI (GEophysics Tools for Societal Issues) teaching modules and plan for implementing the resources into their own teaching.

These types of geophysical instruments are available for loan through the EarthScope Geophysics Field Education program, so participants have the opportunity to borrow equipment for use with students after learning how to use them.

Attendees

This workshop is for instructors interested in incorporating one or more near-surface geophysics instrumentation methods into their undergraduate course/s. Community college and introductory-level instructors, as well as majors-level instructors, are all encouraged to apply. Later-stage graduate students with significant teaching responsibilities are also eligible.

Participants of the 2022 -2024 near-surface geophysics teaching workshops (ex. 2024 workshop) have already learned this content. Please contact the email below if you have questions.

Travel and Costs

Colorado School of Mines is located in Golden, CO on the western side of the Denver metropolitan area. The workshop will provide hotel accommodation and food during the workshop and up to $750* reimbursement towards travel expenses** (flights and ground transportation).

*Travel support must go to US citizens/permanent residents or people at US institutions. If you do not qualify for travel support but are interested in attending and can pay your own way, please contact the email below.

**If the workshop is canceled for reasons outside EarthScope's control ("force majeure"), expenses already incurred cannot be reimbursed.

Expectations

Participants in the workshop are expected to:

Adhere to the EarthScope Code of Conduct
Attend a preparatory virtual meeting (1-1.5 hours) in mid-July (although real-time attendance is preferable, this will be recorded for anyone unable to attend at the time)
Attend the entire in-person workshop (8:00 am Tuesday July 29 - 5:30pm Thursday July 31)

Goals

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Workshop participants learn how to conduct an active seismic refraction survey.
Provenance: Beth Pratt-Sitaula, EarthScope
Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.

Participants will:

Be able to design and conduct a geophysics survey using two or more near-surface methods (ground penetrating radar, seismic refraction, electrical resistivity, GPS/GNSS)
Be able to process the resulting geophysics data
Be able to articulate how the method/s can be used to address societally-relevant geoscience research questions
Practice teaching a geophysics method to others
Make implementation plans for teaching the method/s in their own course/s