lehigh'edu

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(No Transcript)
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CONTEXT
4 colleges, 40 departments, 70
undergraduate programs, 4,500 undergraduates
35 M.S. or Ph.D. programs, 2,000 graduate
students, 400 faculty Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania, 1 hour from NYC and Philadelphia in
east central, PA
lehigh.edu
B.A., Minor, Earth Environmental
Sciences 13 faculty B.S.,
Environmental Sciences, Ecology, Geological
Sciences
ees.lehigh.edu
EI ei.lehigh.edu
B.A., Minor, Environmental Studies 12 new
faculty B.S., Environmental Engineering University
-wide environmental initiative to strengthen
research and curriculum
Virtual observatory and data management structure
focusing on the relationship between
environmental systems and society Partnerships
with NGOs, regional environmental education
centers, and K-12 outreach activities Undergrad
uate interns and environmental data management
leo.lehigh.edu
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PROJECT GOALS

• To enhance student understanding of the global
  carbon cycle as a key component of earth system
  and global change science.
• To enhance the practice of scientific inquiry in
  introductory earth system science courses.
• To support and facilitate scientific inquiry with
  online technologies
• To provide course instructors with materials to
  implement inquiry-based, technology-supported,
  and instructionally sound teaching approaches
  that blend materials, activities, and assessments
  to produce more positive learner outcomes.

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Web-based Inquiry for Learning Science (WBI)

• Contains the essential features of inquiry (NSES)
• Leaner-centered
• Web-based takes advantage of Web-based features
  to deliver instruction
• Evidence is of the same type that a scientist
  would use
• Conclusions/explanations must involve reasoning

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WBI 1. Where is carbon located and how did it
get there?

• WHERE?- geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere,
  atmosphere
• WHAT FORM? - inorganic/organic components
• BY WHAT PROCESS? photosynthesis, respiration,
  precipitation, diffusion
• AT WHAT RATE? residence times, turnover

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WBI 2. How are humans impacting the carbon cycle?

• What pools do humans impact?
• What fluxes do humans impact?

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CARBON FLUX
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WBI 3. How does land cover change over time?

• NASA data (1970-)
• Historic maps, aerial photographs (1920-)
• Field surveys (1790-)

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CURRENT LEHIGH WATERSHED LAND COVER
1100,000 Land Use/Land Cover 1998-2000
http//edc.usgs.gov/geodata/
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LAND USE/LAND COVER CHANGES
1947
1964
1971
1993
1999
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WBI 4. What patterns of land cover exist
globally?

• Analysis of current landcover at global scale
• (NASA dataset)
• Analysis of past landcover at global scale
• (NASA dataset)

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Collaborative Environmental Monitoring and
Research Initiative Pilot Study,
Delaware River Basin Multi-agency effort to
develop an environmental monitoring
framework USGS, FS, NPS, NASA, State and Local
partners Dr. Richard Birdsey, Program Manager,
Northern Global Change Research Program
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• Comparison of land cover classification from 3
  sources
• MODIS/AVHRR
• Forest type/AVHRR
• NLCD92/TM

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WBI 5. What is happening to carbon in the Lehigh
Valley today?

• Local case-study (spatial analysis of NPP,
  watershed DOC, fossil fuel emissions)
• Student-collected data (joint-lab field trips for
  water, soil and vegetation samples)
• LEO data base (use of previously collected data)
• Use of CEMRI data scaling of forest carbon from
  plots to region

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WBI 6. How representative is the Lehigh Valley
of regional and global patterns?

• Comparison of temporal patterns
• Comparison with other populated regions
• NASA data (1975-)
• Comparison with historical information in LEO
  database

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PROJECT EVALUATION

• Growth in the Practice of Scientific Inquiry
• Prepare and validate a scoring rubric for student
  presentations
• Student Knowledge of Inquiry in Earth System
  Science
• Pretest/Posttest
• Instructor Reflection on Implementation and
  Inquiry
• Reflective survey on how well project materials
  fit course instructors teaching needs,
  curriculum plan, and the needs of their students

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Where is the Missing Carbon? Multidisciplinary WB
I Modules for ESS Instruction
DISCUSSION
Anastasio, Bodzin, and Windham

• Marketing of ESS degrees,
• Career paths
• Metrics to measure success at
• the program level
• Maximizing portability given our geographic
  case-study
• Studies of carbon flux-land transformations
• Global land coverage data

RESOURCES