GEODESY AND MASS WASTING IN THE INTRODUCTORY CLASSROOM: THE GETSI PROJECT'S SURFACE PROCESS HAZARDS MODULE

GETSI (GEodesy Tools for Societal Issues), a companion to the InTeGrate project with a focus on geodesy, is a collection of 2-3 week instructional modules for introductory and majors-level geoscience classrooms. GETSI modules are developed by geoscience faculty author teams and feature the use of geodetic data and various active learning strategies to facilitate student learning about societally relevant geoscience problems. This presentation will introduce audience members to GETSI’s Surface Process Hazards module, which was originally developed for introductory-level students and is in the process of being revised to include exercises for majors-level students. The module features a variety of study areas with diverse tectonic, geologic, climatic, and land use characteristics that have experienced recent mass wasting events, including Peru, Italy, Alaska, Utah, Upstate New York, Yosemite Valley, Colorado, and Washington. Students work with topographic, slope, and aspect maps; Lidar hillshade images, digital elevation models, InSAR data, aerial imagery, and precipitation data to analyze mass wasting hazards and consider how anthropogenic factors may contribute to an area’s vulnerability to mass wasting. In this presentation, a brief overview of the module units will be provided, and audience members will have the opportunity to explore unit 2 (Reading the Landscape), which involves the use of remote data sets to identify geomorphic and built landscape features on maps and analysis of a landscape’s slope and aspect to evaluate mass wasting hazards. We will also discuss strategies for implementation in classrooms with various enrollments and physical configurations, as well as formative and summative assessments to make inferences about student learning.