“Imaging The World” with Benno Blumenthal (Sep 2001)

by | Jul 24, 2023 | Educational Tools, Using Data Sets


Introductory Presentation by Dr. Michael J. Passow

PowerPoint | HTML

Feel free to use any or all of our resources with your students. They are being organized here for your convenience. We just ask that you cite the source. You can also modify presentations to better accommodate your specific needs.

Earth Science Content

You can find the resources to his talk in the following pages:

Integrating Educational Technologies

The Monster Project – Part I: Drawing Your Monster

Using Office Tools (Paint and Word) to promote collaboration and critical thinking.

We will teach how to do the basic monster project, then supply you with suggestions for classroom use – especially in Science.

Curriculum Idea: Even though the original project proposes drawing a Monster, we propose you have your students relate to today’s topic on Imaging the Earth. Have them draw a map and teach others how to draw that map, and the other student has to guess which country it is just from the written directions! Of course this would be a very rough map, but it would help students realize the difficulties of trying to capture the three dimensional geographical features on paper. And how much more difficult it was for early explorers to try to explain their findings to the kings who had sponsored them! You can tie a good Earth Science Lesson with the History Lesson!

Do you have any other ideas? Please share them with us!

Procedure:

The Monster Project Directions

Click on the link above to see how to develop the project.

Today we will try to do Steps 1 and 2. Depending on the amount of time we have, we will draw the monster and describe it as well. Whatever files you make should be saved to a disk. We will be using these in the next workshop.

Skills:

Ø      Create new files.

Ø      Open existing files.

Ø      Working with images:

o       Resizing

o       Using palettes

o       Saving vs. Save As…

o       Renaming

Ø      Toggling between two Windows (Word and Paint)

Ø      Inserting Images in Word

Ø      Working with Fonts, Colors, Formatting

Ø      Inserting Tables – using tables to create professional layouts (learn to configure borders, cell format, etc.)

Resources

Selected Print Resources about Mapping

The titles of the books have been linked to their reference at amazon.com. This is an optional way of purchasing these items. Earth2Class is not responsible for the services provided by any online bookstore. The links were put here just to make it easier for you to find where to purchase these books if that is your wish.

Harvey, P.D.A., 1980, The History of Topographical Maps. Thames and Hudson.

Nordenshiold, A.E., 1889, Facsimile-Atlas to the Early History of Cartography with Reproductions of the Most Important Maps Printed in the XV and XVI Centuries. (Dover Publication ed. 1973).

Sobel, D., 1995, Longitude: The true story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time. Walker Publishing Co.

U.S. Geological Survey, 1978, “Nature to Be Commanded…” Earth-Science Maps Applied to Land and Water Management. Geological Survey Professional Paper 950. U.S. Government Printing Office.

Winchester, S., 2001, The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the birth of modern geology. Harper Collins.

Woodward, D. (ed.), 1975, Five Centuries of Map Printing. University of Chicago Press.


Internet Resources for “Imaging the Earth”

US Geological Survey  http://www.usgs.gov/

“Digital Backyard” http://mapping.usgs.gov/digitalbackyard/

Terra Web  http://terraweb.wr.usgs.gov/

TopoZone  http://www.topozone.com/

TerraServer http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com/default.asp

National Geographic Society  http://www.ngs.org/

Scientific American article about sea floor mapping http://www.sciam.com/0697issue/0697pratson.html

NASA  http://www.nasa.gov/

NOAA www.noaa.gov

National Weather Service  www.news.noaa.gov

American Meteorological Society Education Program

LDEO Web Sites www.ldeo.columbia.edu


Dr. Benno Blumenthal’s Presentation


Technology Integration Resources

The Monster Project Directions
http://eiffel.ilt.columbia.edu/TEACHERS/cluster_teachers/instr_materials/monster.html

The Monster Project Official Website
http://www.monsterexchange.org/

Other resources related to the Monster Project:

Class Assignments

Curriculum and Technology Integration:

Develop a lesson for the Monster Project. You must put goals, standards they address, tie-in to the Earth Science curriculum and how technology enhanced the activity (added value). Bring this lesson to the next workshop for discussion.

Remember, you can make use of any of the resources shown at the workshop or present in the E2C website.

The lesson can be posted to the E2C website by copying and pasting it to the form below. Make sure all fields are filled in and press the submit button.

Monster Lesson Form


Teacher Lessons:

  • Title: Monster Topo Map
  • Grade: 9
  • ILS: 1. Models of Our Planet
  • Name: R Meyer
  • Email: Prof2277@aol.com

Purpose

To explore basic information on topographic maps

Materials

Paint program, printer, paper and pencil

Procedures

Students use paint program to make a topographic map of their own design. They must include at least 5 contour lines ,one river valley, a steep slope and shallow slope, as well as contour interval. They need to indicate true north and include a longitude and latitude line. After they do the above they print 2 copies with their name on it. One copy they then type or write on explaining their map. Each student has a partner and then takes their partners written explanation and tries to redraw it.

Assessment

Look at both the students original map and the one they try to redraw from their partners information.

E2C_Resources

Mapping


  • Title: Finding what causes crustal movement
  • Grade: 11
  • ILS: 4. Plate Tectonics
  • Name: James Signorelli
  • Email: dmhsscience@hotmail.com

Purpose

To introduce the forces and mechanism of change which is constantly reshaping the crust of the earth.

Materials

1. Computer with Internet access

2. Xerox copies of the “Baseball Seam” world map from “This Dynamic Earth” web site.

Procedures

Web Search: Go to the search engine and type in “Plate Tectonics” Click on “THIS DYNAMIC EARTH” Read each site under the main title. Click on all icons and read the text. Make a hard copy of the world map detailing the plate boundries (Baseball seam map).

Assessment

Set up a 2000 ml beaker of water and corn syrup on top of a hot plate. Place tiny glass “boiling beads” into the beaker. As the mixture heats up, the beads will swirl from the bottom to the top and back down again. These are convection currents. Have the class observe the motion for several minutes. Q1. How does the crust crack, tear, and pull apart? Q2. How does the crust compress and push into neighboring plates. Using your observations of the beads (convection currents) answer these questions.

E2C_Resources

Create a WebQuest for this general topic. Class can subdivide the major topic into smaller “research areas”. Each area is then presented as a research topic in a class presentation. This satisfies the NJ Core requirement for public speaking.