Developing hypotheses using GeoMapApp

Ann Cook, Ohio State University
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This material is replicated on a number of sites as part of the SERC Pedagogic Service Project
Initial Publication Date: July 6, 2017

Summary

This ~hour long lab uses a number of different geologic and geophysical data sets from the free and downloadable program, GeoMapApp. After trying a few things out in the program, the students are asked to focus in on the Gulf of Aden in Africa and develop a hypothesis about what geologic environment is occurring in the Gulf of Aden based on the geological and geophysics datasets available in GeoMapApp.

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Learning Goals

The goals of this lab is to 1) familiarize students with GeoMapApp 2) expose them to geologic and geophysical datasets and 3) develop a hypothesis about an area of the world that most students are unfamiliar with. The lab requires critical thinking, data analysis and synthesis of data.

Context for Use

This lab is used as the first, introductory lab in an upper level Earth Science majors course on Applied Geophysics. It assumes some basic knowledge of geology. The lab is written for students who have never used GeoMapApp before, so it should be relatively easy for novice users to try.

Description and Teaching Materials

The lab is included in an attached file. The answer key may be obtained by directly emailing cook.1129@osu.edu with a note about who you are and where you are teaching. GeoMapApp Lab (Acrobat (PDF) 58kB Feb7 17)




Teaching Notes and Tips

Most students realize that they can Google what is happening geologically in the Gulf of Aden -- keep them from doing this until the end of the lab. The point of the lab is to inspect datasets and form hypothesis, not to jump to the final answer.

Assessment

Students are assessed not based on if they get the correct answer at the end, but if they entertain several hypotheses and explain why or why not the data they observe supports or contradicts their hypothesis.

References and Resources

GeoMapApp was created by the Marine Geoscience Data System at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. GeoMapApp is free and downloadable for Mac, PC and Unix/Linux platforms at: http://www.geomapapp.org