ILLINOIS EARTHSCOPE I, A PILOT TEACHER WORKSHOP

Illinois EarthScope is a three-year Math-Science-Technology teacher workshop to introduce EarthScope to teachers in Illinois before the USArray arrives in the state in 2011. The workshop is funded by the Illinois State Board of Education using stimulus money from the U.S. Department of Education. In the pilot workshop, July 27-August 7, 2009, the teachers' grade levels were evenly divided with 6 primary, 6 middle school and 6 high school teachers. The workshop focused on how the teachers can bring EarthScope and geology into their classrooms. There were three workshop field trips including a visit to ANSS Backbone Station HDIL, located 23 km west of campus. Other field trips gave the teachers an appreciation of the geology of Illinois and the complexity of the Sandwich Fault Zone. In the workshop, teachers had opportunities to examine and try teaching materials available from IRIS. Some materials such as EQmachine Lite were upgraded during the workshop. New teaching materials using online seismic data from IRIS and high resolution GPS data from UNAVCO were developed and tested. Each teacher was given criteria to evaluate their school ground for suitability to host a transportable seismic station and teachers were asked to locate their school relative to the USArray nodes. As part of assessment of Illinois EarthScope, an assessment specialist will visit the teacher's class rooms to see how Illinois EarthScope is used. Feedback from the pilot workshop is being used to plan the full scale Illinois EarthScope Teacher Workshop next July.