DeBari creates teaching module as part of NSF grant

Susan DeBari, a professor of geology at Western Washington University, has worked with colleagues at the University of Iowa and California State University-Chico to develop a two-week teaching module focused on water and its importance to humans as part of the Interdisciplinary Teaching about Earth for a Sustainable Future STEP Center grant from the National Science Foundation.

In the "Interactions between Water, Earth's Surface, and Human Activity" module, students see that river systems change shape over time, are influenced by climate and by human activity and affect human activity, for example through flooding. Students develop their understanding while working in small groups, through interaction with simplified physical models of complicated systems, with Google Earth images of stream profiles in different climates, and with real river flooding data sets.

This module is part of a growing collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the Earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. Prior to publication, this module was successfully used in three different courses at three different institutions. Full materials for faculty support, adoption, and individual notes/stories from pre-publication classroom practice are available to illustrate a full range of teaching environments.

The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.

Through the development of these modules, InTeGrate strives to infuse Earth literacy across disciplines, engage younger students in the geosciences, and develop a new vision for how geoscience is positioned in higher education. For more information on InTeGrate, please see our website at http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/index.html