0:18
The resources explored current science research going on today in Bangladesh.
And they feature the work of scientists from Columbia
University's[LamontâDoherty Earth Observatory, Dhaka University
in Bangladesh, and Vanderbilt University.
>> 22 degrees to the south.
>> And together, this team of scientists are working to
better understand the dynamics from the rivers, from the seismic risk,
etcetera, of the world's largest river delta.
0:48
We call this suite of resources a teaching
case, and it's broken up into four main parts.
In the first part, we're basically setting the stage.
We're learning about the geologic setting, the actions and the processes of the,
of the rivers, the seismicity that's resulting
from the collision of the two plates.
In the second section, we're actually learning
more about what the scientists are doing.
What kind of data are the collecting to
try to understand the dynamics of this region?
Then in the third section, we're learning about how
are they analyzing the data, how are they interpreting
what they're finding, and, and, and what questions are
they trying to understand the answers to with this data?
And finally, in the fourth section, very
importantly we learn about the broader implication
of the findings that they're, that they're
coming to as they conducting this research.
Teaching cases are broken up into several components.
We have text passages, written articles that provide background information
more detail about what the scientist are doing in each section.
Then we have video segments.
Those are shots in the field, on location with the scientist, and those are
great, because they really communicate in, the
action of what the scientist are doing.
In addition, we have quiz and discussion questions.
So how are we going to do this?
What we're going to do now is that you will go ahead
and read the first text passage, then you'll watch the first video.
You'll respond to the in-video quiz questions,
and then you'll go to the forum and
participate in a discussion in response to a
question we have related to the first section.
Then you'll go back, you'll read the second text passage, watch the
second video, answer the in-video questions,
participate in the forum discussion, etcetera.
As we work our way through all four parts.
2:30
This suite of resources a really powerful way for
you to deepen your own and your students' understanding of
seismicity and seismic risk that can occur at a
collision boundary, such as the one that's affecting Bangla, Bangladesh.
In addition though, because of the way
that resources are created, it's an excellent
tool to use to help your students
deepen their understanding of the practices of science.
If you remember, in the beginning, we talked about the framework
for K-12 science education that was
articulated by the National Academy of Sciences.
And they articulated three different dimensions: the practices of
science, what are scientists actually doing, then the cross
cutting concepts and then the disciplinary core ideas, the
actual content that they're focusing on and thinking about.
In this case, of course the disciplinary core ideas
is around earthquakes and seismicity, plate tectonics, collision boundaries.
it's also about
rivers and their dynamics.
They'll pu, there's many, many cross-cutting concepts
that you can explore with these resources.
But in particular, because of the way the resources
are created with the video showing the scientists in action,
it's a great way for your students to be exposed
to and deepen their understanding of the practices of science.
So, for example, they will see the scientists thinking about their
investigation, what kind of data do they need to obtain in order
to better understand the seismic risk.
So, for example, in this case, they are looking at geologic structures at the
surface, and, and characterizing those structures in
order to infer what's going on below.
That's a very important aspect of how earth scientists work.
Then they'll be interpreting, as I said, interpreting that geologic structure data.
And they'll be constructing explanations for the earthquake history of the region.
And then thinking about what is
that, what this explanation mean in terms of how they would argue for whether or
not another earthquake is going to happen and
what the magnitude of that earthquake might be.
And then really importantly, they thinking
about how they going to communicate this information
to all the different parties, all different
people who need to know about it.
Because it's such a great risk to
this very large population that lives in Bangladesh.
Edmond Mathez, Ph.D.Curator and Professor
Ro Kinzler, Ph.D.Senior Director
