USING GOOGLE EARTH TO INCREASE STUDENT INPUT AND ENTHUSIASM IN INTRODUCTORY GEOLOGY COURSES BY FOCUSING ON LOCAL FEATURES

As part of the introductory geology courses at Colby College, students are exposed to a variety of famous and historical geological features on a global scale. At private liberal arts colleges, many students have visited them, can recognize them and are aware of their magnitude as tourist venues both esthetically and economically. However, most students are unaware of features in their backyards or in local areas. To alleviate this, a Google Earth exercise was developed as part of the curriculum.

The assignment requires each student to select three geologic features in their home town, county or state and submit them to the instructor. Along with the features, they are asked to describe the feature briefly and indicate why each is important to them. If they live in a city, the feature could be a monument or the facing on a building or fossils within. They are also provided with resources on reserve in the library, such as Roadside Geology and DeLorme Atlas’ to help them select their sites of interest.

Once the instructor approves, the students are provided with a template and instructions on how to develop placemarks to illustrate the sites on Google Earth. The template requires them to include: longitude and latitude coordinates; town, county and state; location; the age of the rock unit or feature; a description; illustrations; and references. The students are then given time to generate and submit their first placemark. These are graded based on the rubric and they then complete the remaining two placemarks, producing 150 for the class. Once the three placemarks are graded for each student, we select the 10 best and use one class period for discussion.

Using this technique creates a great deal of discussion and ownership of the course. All the students realize that there is something that they can share and geologic features are everywhere and aren’t restricted to a national park. It also brings a lot more enthusiasm to these large introductory courses.