MAPS AND SATELLITE IMAGES FOR A "GEOLOGY FOR TEACHERS" COURSE IN COSTA RICA

Global digital archives of maps and satellite images provide materials for geology instruction anywhere in the world. As partners in the NASA Earth Observing System Higher Education Alliance (“GeoBrain”), faculty and students at Middle Tennessee State University created hardcopy maps for a "Geology for Teachers" course to be held in Costa Rica during Summer 2007. The investigators used GeoBrain's freeware Multi-Protocol Geoinformation Client (MPGC) to obtain free digital images and maps from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory World Map Service and the Integrated Committee on Earth Observing Satellites European Data Server. In addition, the investigators downloaded a digital geologic map of Costa Rica from a server maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey. Hardcopy maps were created with Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) software. For Costa Rican geology, the most educational images include a topographic image derived from Shuttle Radar Topography Mapping data, a Blue Marble Next Generation image and an image of nighttime illumination. Features visible on images and maps include the geomorphic regions of Costa Rica, the Middle America Trench off Costa Rica's Pacific Coast, faults, active volcanoes and human settlements.