Abstract
AGU disciplines are all fields that evolve rapidly, and it can take
several years for new advances to work their way into college textbooks.
Yet it is important for students to have exposure to these new advances
for a number of reasons. In some cases, new work renders older textbook
knowledge incorrect or incomplete. In some cases, new discoveries make
it possible to emphasize older textbook knowledge in a new way. In all
cases, new advances provide exciting and accessible examples of the
scientific process in action. But press releases rarely provide these
"teachable moments" in either content or format. To bridge the gap
between textbooks and new advances in planetary sciences, we have
developed content on new discoveries for use by undergraduate
instructors. Called 'Discoveries in Planetary Sciences', each new
discovery is summarized in a 3-slide PowerPoint presentation. The first
slide describes the discovery, the second slide discusses the underlying
planetary science concepts, and the third presents the big picture
implications of the discovery. A fourth slide includes links to
associated press releases, images, and primary sources. This effort is
generously sponsored by the Division for Planetary Sciences of the
American Astronomical Society, and the slide sets are available at
http://dps.aas.org/education/dpsdisc/. More than twenty slide sets have
been released so far covering topics spanning all sub-disciplines of
planetary science, with a fall release planned for Spanish translations
In this presentation we will discuss our motivation for this project,
our implementation approach (from choosing topics to creating the slide
sets, to getting them reviewed and released), and give examples of slide
sets. We will present information in the form of web statistics on how
many educators are using the slide sets, and which topics are most
popular. We will also present feedback from educators who have used them
in the classroom. The value and popularity of these slide sets in
planetary science makes an excellent case for expansion to all AGU
disciplines.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2011 |
| Externally published | Yes |