Large earthquakes of the twentieth century;
click for full size 		The GEON Integrated Data Viewer - Contents

INTRO                 Introducing the GEON IDV

INSTALL               Download & Run the GEON IDV

LEARN                 How to Use the GEON IDV ... Bundles

DATA                   Data Types, Online Data, and Sample Displays

YOUR DATA         Data Formats for the IDV

EDUCATION         Ideas for using the IDV in Education

CONTACT             UNAVCO

PUBLICATIONS

EDUCATION: Ideas for using the IDV in Education

The GEON IDV can make marvelous displays of Earth science data for educational uses. You can see inside the Earth and the atmosphere.

The IDV was not made for education. It is a data exploration tool for research in the earth sciences. It is not "easy" to use, though it is as easy to use as is possible, given all that it can do. Getting anything out of the IDV requires a little training or practice, and reading the instructions. Once you are familiar with it you can do things no other software can do.

Here are some ways the IDV can be used in education:

1. Lesson Material Preparation: The Skilled Educator / IDV User

A skilled IDV user can prepare displays and movies of earth science data to be incorporated in lesson materials including posters, printed matter, power point documents, web sites, and so on.

You can save IDV displays as images and movies for use in presentations, publications, and educational materials. You can run a GeoWall or other true 3D display systems with the IDV.

This web site shows how to use the IDV and examples of displays you can make, and provides free data sources.

Tha advantage of this approach is that the best possible displays may be made to convey ideas. The down side is there is no 3D interactivity, which is one of the strengths of the IDV.

2. Pre-scripted "Live" Displays

The IDV can capture and replay any sequence of display changes including 3D rotation, time animation, etc., and play it back again. This feature can be used to make standalone demos of earth science, including kiosks or booths in museums.

3. The Skilled Educator / IDV User in the Classroom

In the classroom a fairly skilled IDV user could show live, interactive IDV sessions using a projector. This may also require some skill using the IDV. It would be possible to provide canned lesson plans showing how to use the IDV for a limited purpose in such a way that the classroom teacher need not be a highly-skilled IDV user.

The advantage of this approach is the excitment of live interaction and views of the data. Data choice available may be limited for several reasons, compared to case 1 above which would have more time and resources to carefully select the best data and carefully craft displays.

4. Student Use in the Lab

In principle the IDV could be used by students. However patience and training is required to use the IDV. Unidata IDV training classes take two to four days. The IDV was not designed for pre-college classroom use. It is not nearly so obvious as, say, Google Earth. If Google Earth is a bicycle, the IDV is heavy construction equipment. The more advanced and focused the student; the better this will work. It is excellent for advanced undergraduate geophysics major homework, and high school students have discovered it and learned it on their own at home, but it probably would be simply confusing in many settings.


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