OUR HAZARDOUS PLANET: A NEW ENTRY-LEVEL GEOHAZARDS COURSE AT EDINBORO UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Our Hazardous Planet is a new entry-level, non-majors geohazards course offered at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. The primary objective of this course is to demonstrate the effects of extreme geological phenomena operating as part of the Earth system on humans. It focuses on causative geologic processes and conditions – especially those related to tectonics, factors and effects that make these events hazardous, measurement and quantification of hazard attributes, modern and historical case studies, mitigation strategies, and prediction of various hazards.

In the course, Reese gives PowerPoint based lectures that introduce students to pertinent terminology, processes, implications, and applications, with in-class discussions focusing on historical and current events. The course outline follows that of Hyndmans' Natural Hazards and Disasters text. It focuses on earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, landslides, floods, hurricanes, and bolide impacts, with particular emphasis on such notable events as the 1906 San Francisco and 2005 Pakistan earthquakes, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Pinatubo eruptions, 1993 Mississippi River flood, and Hurricane Katrina. As an integral part of the course, we designed six internet based homework exercises that solidify concepts, demonstrate processes, show effects of various hazards on humans, and illustrate ways geoscientists monitor and predict these hazards. Throughout the semester, we also show seven, hour-long NOVA videos that vividly portray the human element of various natural hazards. A carefully constructed question set accompanies each video. Discussions ensue.

Students are assessed based on their performance on homework exercises, question sets, and four comprehensive, writing-intensive examinations. Upon completion of the course, students can elucidate components of the Earth system that constitute natural hazards, processes and conditions that cause natural disasters, the roles humans play in making geologic phenomena hazardous, and factors and effects of various hazard types. Students should also be able to comprehend and/or apply techniques used to monitor and predict natural threats, ways to assess conditions that affect an area's risk to various hazards, and relationships between past disasters and future events.