John Taber

Developing and Applying a Set of Earth Science Literacy Principles

ABSTRACT The 21st century will be defined by challenges such as understanding and preparing for climate change and ensuring the availability of resources such as water and energy, which are issues deeply rooted in Earth science. Understanding Earth science concepts is critical for humanity to successfully respond to these challenges and thrive in the decades to come. As part of efforts to address this, a new program called the Earth Science Literacy Initiative (ESLI) was formed in 2008 with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Its task was to create a succinct document outlining what citizens should know about Earth science. This document, called the Earth Science Literacy Principles (ESLPs), has applications in both public and private arenas. For example, the ESLPs have been used to define the core ideas of both a middle school textbook program and a new set of K–12 science education standards. The ESLPs, which are founded in a broad representation of the geoscience community, based upon current research, and endorsed by major government, industry, and academic geoscience organizations, represent an effort by the Earth science community to create a coherent and fundamental set of big ideas and supporting concepts that represent our fields.

Posters that Foster Cognition in the Classroom: Multimedia Theory Applied to Educational Posters

Despite a decline in popularity within US society, posters continue to hold a prominent place within middle and high school science classrooms. Teachers’ demand is satisfied by governmental and non-profit science organizations that produce and disseminate posters as tangible products resulting from their research, and instruments to communicate scientific content to teachers and students. In this paper, we examine the design of such posters for their implied, underlying assumptions about learning and their alignment to the unique setting of the classroom. Based on this analysis and research into both cognition and the design of multimedia, we propose a design framework for educational posters that activates students’ attention, catalyzes cognitive processing, provides a framework to guide student’s construction of knowledge and connects to extended learning through live or web-based exploration of phenomenon. Based on this framework, we present a prototype poster and explore implications for poster producers, teachers, and academic researchers.

John Clark Lahr (1944–2009)

![][1] nnJohn Clark Lahr (1944–2009)nnnnJohn Clark Lahr, 64, passed away on 17 March 2009 at his home in Corvallis, Oregon, from malignant brain cancer. John was a curious, resourceful, hands-on seismologist who increased understanding of earthquakes, tectonics, and volcanic processes, particularly in Alaska. He inspired teachers and youngsters to listen to and explore the Earth, and his enthusiasm and generosity touched many lives.nnBorn in 1944 in Indianapolis, John lived most of his school years in Buffalo, New York, where he loved taking things apart to understand how they worked and then how they could be fixed or improved. This quality endured throughout his life. John earned a B.S. degree in physics and math in 1966 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, and then pursued graduate work at Columbia University and Lamont Geological Observatory during the exciting years of the plate tectonics revolution. While earning an M.S. degree, awarded in 1970, he was introduced to Alaskan tectonics and earthquakes through survey campaigns to determine if major strike-slip faults in Alaska were creeping.nnJohn joined the U.S. Geological Survey in 1971 in Menlo Park, California, where he developed software to locate subduction-zone earthquakes recorded by a sparse regional seismograph network. He applied these methods …nn [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif

Rationale for a Permanent Seismic Network in the U.S. Central Plains Utilizing USArray

The eastern two thirds of the coterminous United States (from the Rocky Mountain Front to the east coast) are sparsely equipped with seismic monitoring instruments, with the number of permanent broadband seismic stations per unit area of the order of 5–10% of that in the western U.S. orogenic zone. In this Forum, we use the Central Plains area (CP)—defined here as the four-state area including Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, and Missouri—as an example to argue that a greatly densified permanent seismic network in the stable part of the United States could significantly improve our understanding of the processes that led to the formation and four-dimensional structure of the continental lithosphere. The network would also serve as an excellent facility for long-term earthquake monitoring and for public education and outreach. This issue is timely because a state-of-the-art, uniform network could be established by simply converting a small portion of the portable stations in the ongoing USArray project into permanent ones without affecting the overall progress of the USArray.

Real-time seismic displays in museums appeal to the public

Technology provides people with constant access to the latest news, weather, and entertainment. Not surprisingly the public increasingly demands that the most current information be available for immediate consumption. For museums striving to educate the public and to maintain and expand visitor interest, gone are the days of passively conveying scientific concepts through static displays. n nInstead, science museums must find creative ways to capture the publics interest—successful advocacy for research funding, solutions to environmental problems, even future generations scientific innovation depend on this. To this end, the continuous collection and dissemination of real-time science information by the scientific community offers museums an opportunity to capitalize on visitors data addiction and increase the publics interest in, and understanding of, the Earth system.

Focusing on seismology education

Question: What happens when you lock 50 scientists, educators, and science outreach specialists in a hotel for 3 days? Answer: The birth of an exciting new science education initiative! n nA secluded site in Baltimore was the gathering place for nearly 50 U.S.-based seismologists, K-12 teachers, science education scholars, and science policy leaders with interests in science outreach and education.

Undergraduate engineering students investigate inexpensive seismometer design

Using seismometers as a catalyst for learning, the IRIS Consortium has partnered with the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to intensively expose the 2002 CSM freshman engineering class to geophysics instrument design. These students worked to design inexpensive seismic recording systems for use in educational environments as part of the Engineering Practices Introductory Course Sequence (EPICS). n nThrough the EPICS courses, CSM strives to strengthen the ability of first-year engineering students to resolve open-ended problems in a team environment and learn skills that are vital to their success as engineers. Students learn AutoCAD, technical drawing/drafting skills, prototyping, analysis skills, and communication skills necessary to present and promote engineering design solutions to the professional community. These engineering skills, introduced through coursework, are applied to an open-ended engineering challenge throughout the semester. Although the CSM faculty clearly has skills and expertise in engineering, as well as the pedagogy to deliver this information, the program needs exciting, real-world engineering challenges, technical support to develop the problem, and the human resources and experience to provide students with sufficient content knowledge to attempt the challenge.