Mini short course: Teaching about Eyes on the Hydrosphere: Tracking Water Resources
Wednesday April 14, 2021
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10 am-12 pm PT | 11 am-1 pm MT | 12-2 pm CT | 1-3 pm ET | 5-7 pm UTC
Capacity Reached. Registration closed.
This course is part of the GETSI Virtual Mini Short Course Series.
Instructors
Becca Walker (Mt San Antonio College)
Beth Pratt-Sitaula (UNAVCO)
Mini-course Description
This mini-course gives instructors a chance to learn about the Eyes on the Hydrosphere: Tracking Water Resources intro-level GETSI module and ideas for teaching virtually and in-person. It will include interactive opportunities for instructors to actually work through parts of student exercises, discuss ideas with peers, and work on implementation planning. A great opportunity to learn a range of geodetic methods used in water resource monitoring such as vertical GPS, reflection GPS, and gravity (GRACE satellite). $50 stipend* for completion of the course and short implementation plan. All module units are online-adaptable.
This module introduces students to the basics of the hydrologic cycle but in a way that engages them with both societal challenges related to water and methods for measuring the water system. The data used in the module includes both traditional (ex. stream gages) and geodetic methods (ex. gravity satellites). Students also use real data to identify trends and extremes in precipitation and water storage. It is intended to require ~2-3 weeks of class to use in its entirety. It includes individual and group work, reading, reflection, and working with data on the computer. In the final exercise, students are able to investigate water resources a region of interest to them.
Mini-course elements
- Watch ~7 minute video (MP4 Video 10.4MB Oct20 20) prior to the first mini-course you attend.
- Participate in the full 2-hour session.
(If you are unable to attend the mini-course at its scheduled time, we recommend watching the recorded webinar related to teaching the same module: Teaching About the Water Cycle with Data-rich Water Resources Activities.) - Complete an Implementation Planning Form by the end of Sunday following the mini-course (expected time ~20-30 minutes; you will have some time near the end of the 2-hour session but may need to take a bit of additional time to complete your plan and feedback)
- $50 stipend* for participants who complete the Implementation Planning Form by the deadline (Sunday April 18) . Must be US citizen or permanent resident to receive a stipend; however, others are welcome to participate without compensation.
Audience
The mini-courses are intended for undergraduate instructors: college and university faculty (including adjunct), post-docs expecting to teach soon, and graduate students with teaching or TAing responsibilities. Secondary K-12 teachers are also welcome; the introductory level modules have been successfully adapted to K-12. You may attend multiple mini-courses and receive the $50 stipend for each. Maximum of 50 registrants per mini-course so please only sign up if you intend to attend.
If you attended the GETSI short course during GSA 2019 (Preparing Undergraduates -- Data-Rich Introductory Teaching Modules and Connecting Content to Geoscience Careers), you have already been introduced to this module.
Goals
Participants will:
- Learn about geodetic methods related to monitoring water resources
- Access online teaching resources presented in the short course
- Practice using teaching resources
- Start implementation plan for use of teaching resources
Files for the course
All needed files are available in the Eyes on the Hydrosphere: Tracking Water Resources module. However, we have bundled the specific files that we are using during the course here for simplicity.
- hydrosphere-mini-course-file-bundle.zip (Zip Archive 18.1MB Apr12 21) - bundle of files specifically being referred to in the mini-course. We recommend downloading this zipped file for easy access during the course
- Two more short videos to watch: Unless you are already familiar with GRACE satellite and vertical GPS data applications for water resources, we strongly recommend watching these two short videos prior to the start of the mini-course (this is in addition to the ~7 minute video that one should watch prior to the first mini-course you attend).
- YouTube Video: GRACE: Tracking Water From Space (7 minutes)
- YouTube Video: Measuring Drought: A GPS Network Offers A New Perspective (4.5 minutes)
- Eyes on the Hydrosphere mini-course presentation (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 89.6MB Apr14 21) - these slides were largely drawn from instructor presentations and other content already included in the module resources
- Hydrosphere mini-course saved_chat (Text File 10kB Apr14 21)
Questions
Beth Pratt-Sitaula - prattsitaula AT unavco.org
*Must be US citizen or permanent resident to receive a stipend; however others are welcome to participate without compensation.
You may attend multiple mini-courses. Stipends will be compiled and sent out after the end of the term during which the mini-course was held.