Module 4

Essential Question: How do stories of cataclysmic events help inform students about geosciences and cultures?

Explain: Stories associated with cataclysmic events provide students from Hawaii to Alaska a basic understanding of the natural world, particularly those in seismically active regions. The mega tsunami that hit Lituya Bay in 1958 is the story that legends are made of. Although it was a very old story ,by the time I heard it in the early 90's, I was in awe of hearing about a father and his son who were swept over the tops of giant spruce trees and lived to tell about it. Today I learned of the geology of the major fault line that runs through the head of the bay and caused the event. Stories such as these that have been documented provide students with relevance that provide the hook to engage more meaningful learning.

Instrumentation such as seismographs, infrared, and satellite imagery have provided scientists and geologists valuable insight into the science of plate tectonics and vulcanology and have taken earthquake forensics to a whole new level. Mans ability to accurately predict cataclysmic events has significantly improved the quality of life for cultures that exist in seismically active areas.

Extend:

The measurement tool associated with Google Earth will be invaluable in any earth science class and would have helped me answer many student questions over the past 18 years.

The following Google Earth plug in , Real -Time Earthquakes, will make a nice compliment to other TD resources when teaching about earthquakes and relating their relevancy to our local area and our proximity to convergent plate boundary along the Aleutian trench and our placement on the Ring of Fire.

http://www.google.com/gadgets/directory?synd=earth&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fmapfiles%2Fmapplets%2Fearthgallery%2FReal-time_Earthquakes.xml

http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/ean08.sci.ess.earthsys.aktectonic/

This TD resource is one of the best I have seen in regards to making earth science relevant to students who live in Alaska

Evaluate: Goggle Earth continues to amaze me! I spent time exploring the ocean feature associated with this program and find that it will be very useful in many of my lessons. I also spent time flying over my local area and although I haven't found a use, yet , for this feature I found it quite entertaining as did some of my students. The TD resources on the geology of the Hawaiian Archipelago was one of the best short videos of this class, up to this point. I also found the Lituya Bay ,You Tube , clip very good and will be utilizing it in my earth science class as well.

Module III

Review: I grew up on the western slope of Colorado. The sedimentary rock formations were fantastic as they had been eroded and shaped by millions of years of erosion. My small town of Palisade was situated at the base of the Rocky Mountains and my every day view fancied a large Shield volcano called Grand Mesa. Recently, Super Bowl Sunday, I traveled to Nunivak Island in the Bearing Sea to go musk ox hunting. The Island was born from a volcanic nature and has been transformed,flattened, by wind, water and the coast line cut by the grinding sea ice of the Bearing sea.
Explain: Many factors contribute to the formation of landscapes. The TD resource "Tectonic Plate movement in Alaska" the entire Pacific coast of Alaska has been transformed, creating large mountains such as the Wrangell's as the the Pacific plate subducts under the Yakutat block. This same subduction of the pacific plate has also produced many mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes along the the Pacific coast and which are illustrated in the TD resource "Tectonic Plates,Earthquakes and Volcanoes" These geographic features have defined the the cultures that call these places home. The high productivity of coastlines coupled with the fertile glaciated streams that feed these coast lines have sustained the needs of several cultures for generations. From the Haida, Tlingit and Tsimshian to the south to the Dena ina to the north and Aleut to the west, many cultures have not onlly survived but flourished in this abundance of food and resources and is why these cultures have survived here since time immemorial.
Extend: I am having trouble including images to my posts. Although I can take a picture of Google Earth , I can not seem to attach it to this document. I tried looking on YouTube for some tutorials but the problem seems to be with this Bloggeer site. I see that others have done it but I have not been able to figure it out. (Edit: I went back into Google earth and with a little help from a colleague was able to upload my Google Earth screen shots. I was having trouble saving the screen shots as a jpeg. Once I figured this out it was easy.
Evaluate: This module has been good as I needed the extra time to practice with Google Earth. I recently obtained a Smartboard in my classroom and I believe that Google Earth will become integral part of my interactive lessons. The Td resources on plate tectonics were useful and I had already used one last fall with my students. I particularly enjoy all video clips that pertain to Alaska and I plan on incorporating them in to my lessons.

Module 2

Indigenous people and western scientists are connected in that each is based on a system of making and recording repeated observations. While indigenous methods may be recorded in an oral manner the scientific side prescribes more to a written and published version. Both records may be valid or invalid and it would be premature to think only written records hold any truth. In fact, while many scientific discoveries are truly great and have done much to advance mankind, scientists have only been making written recordings for a few hundred years. While many indigenous beliefs have been orally recording for thousands of years. That's a lot of observations, especially from a climate perspective. The advantage of knowing both way lies in the sharing and blending of these two knowledge bases. We are smarter as a whole than we are as pieces. From a teaching perspective I feel that is my responsibility to educate myself as best as I can from as many perspectives as I can in order to better meet the needs and learning styles of all of my students. In the TD resource "Dustin Madden: Science Teacher" science teacher Dustin Madden has blended traditional learning styles and knowledge with western methods and content in a way that will strengthen preserve a cultural belief system that may perhaps be in danger of being lost to future generations.
How do you incorporate indigenous perspectives into your lessons? We all tend to teach the way we were taught, but we also blend our experiences into our teachings. In what ways have your experiences enhanced your teaching?