Nifty ESS Resources used in UNC Earth Science Courses

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Nifty ESS Resources used in UNC Earth Science
Courses

• Mike Taber, Mike Urban, Cindy Shellito
• University of Northern Colorado
• Susan Buhr
• Cooperative Institute for Research in
  Environmental Sciences (CIRES)

Funded by USRA - ESSE21
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Earth Science Department

• 150 undergraduates in five emphasis areas
• Meteorology (25)
• Geology (10
• General earth science (10)
• Environmental (10)
• Secondary teaching (25)
• Graduate MA program in Earth Science (many are
  current or former teachers)
• Offer new online courses in global change and
  meteorology
• Seeking to incorporate data-driven approach to
  teaching in a number of courses

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Global Change Course(developed by Mike Taber)

• Graduate course - satisfies MA Nat. Sci. req. for
  k-12 teachers
• STRUCTURE
• Topics are data-driven. Students generate visual
  displays, analyze data, build concept maps.
• Students apply new knowledge in formal reports
  and electronic discussion.

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TOOLS
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MyWorld - A Java Based Data Visualization and
Analysis Tool
www.worldwatcher.org
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MyWorld Highlights

• Visualize to point, polygon, and grid files
• Live data access via Thematic Real time
  Environmental Data Distributed Servers (THREDDS)
  - Client server approach rather than web browser
  approach to obtaining data
• Interface designed for the learner in mind,
  absent the insider information required to use
  ArcGIS.

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MyWorld Data Analysis

• Temporal and spatial data selection
• Mathematical ad statistical operations
  ,-,,/,mean, median, min, max, standard
  deviation
• Graph scatter plot relationships and vertical
  profiles
• Create grids from point data

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What have students said about MyWorld?From the
Global Change Class this summer

• Learning MyWorld was quick and easy.
• I enjoyed looking at Earth temperatures from
  yesterday. I quickly decided to look for the
  coldest temperatures. (Student went beyond the
  required task.)
• I like being able to change projection easily,
  as compared with ArcView.
• I want to use MyWorld with my students. Having
  students visualize data and perform easy, but
  meaningful analysis will be very motivating for
  the student. They will want to learn more about
  the Earth.

http//esci.unco.edu/faculty/taber/projects/ESSE21
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Other resources

• UNEPs Java-based climate model

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PMIP model data archives

• Allows a comparison of climate between present,
  6kya, and 21kya
• Also allows direct comparison between different
  models for these time periods

http//www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/modelvis.html
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Come see our poster pick up a trial copy of
MyWorld