Encounter Earth: Interactive Geoscience Explorations

Developed by the author, this new, interactive workbook for introductory geoscience classes uses the free and easily mastered Google Earth™ mapping service platform to fly your students to field sites around the country to study Earth processes and the landforms they produce. The workbook includes printed exercises and access to twenty downloadable KML "chapters" that cover topics ranging from topographic and geologic map interpretation at the Grand Canyon and on the Colorado Front Range, to global plate tectonics, volcanism in Oregon and Hawaii, glaciation in New York and Alaska, mass wasting, natural hazards on the California coast, impact structures, and more. Many chapters are illustrated with photographs, line drawings, overlays and maps, and links to more detailed information at external websites, and the printed manual guides students to observe, measure carefully, and calculate. More open-ended questions encourage speculation on the significance of students' findings and can create a focus for classroom lessons and discussion. The workbook, published by Pearson Prentice Hall, is designed to stand alone or as a supplement available with any of Prentice Hall's introductory geoscience texts.