Ring of Fire: Large Earthquakes 1900-1999,
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The GEON Integrated Data Viewer (GIDV) - Contents
INTRO
Introducing the GEON IDV
INSTALL
Download & Run the GEON IDV
LEARN
Tutorial
... How to Use the GEON IDV
... Bundles
YOUR DATA
Data Formats for the IDV
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EDUCATION: Ideas for using the IDV in Education
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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 can do. So getting the most out of the IDV requires a liitle experience. 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 may use the IDV with appropriate data to 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. The obvious use of the IDV in this way is in programs developing educational materials, where one or more person spends the time to learn to use the IDV effectively. The UNAVCO IDV web site has a tutorial and how-tos; see the contents at the top of this page. The Unidata IDV web site (for atmospheric sciences) also has a User's Guide and FAQ-s online, and Unidata offers on-site IDV training in Boulder. The Unidata IDV Training course text is also online as text, as well as course webcasts from Unidata. Tha advantage of this approach is that the best possible displays may be made to convey ideas. The down side is, except for movie capture, there is little of true 3D interactivity that 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 usually required to use the IDV. It is not nearly so obvious as, say, Google Earth. The more advanced and focused the student; the better this will work. It would be excellent for undergraduate geophysics major homework; high school students have learned it on their own outside of school; but it probably would be simply confusing for middle schools. Middle school students, except the dedicated science or computer types, probably would find it a cool way to make some funny pictures for a while, but they might not be able to control it to find answers to questions. We want to hear your experiences Please send a note about your use of the IDV in education to an email in the IDV contacts page.
Stuart Wier July 31, 2008.
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