TEACHING ABOUT LANDSCAPES USING 3-D PRINTING AND NUMERICAL MODELS: AN EXAMPLE FROM THE MARIANA TRENCH

Recent increased wide-spread availability of large geologic data sets means that these data are available to educators at all levels to provide cutting-edge Earth Science opportunities for their students. Using open-source software, we aim to create functional tools to increase the accessibility and participation of underrepresented minorities and low-income populations in Geoscience research and education.

Using data provided from NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), in conjunction with the Landlab Earth Science Modeling Ecosystem, we will create a coupled computational simulation of source-to-sink sediment transport to the Mariana Trench. The program will be created within the Jupyter Notebooks computing platform for ease of access for both educators and students, providing them with the opportunity to gain valuable coding skills and modeling experiences applicable to the Geosciences and related fields.

We have developed Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) through QGIS for 3-D printing, and we present a workflow to share with educators to create a hands-on tool for in-classroom use. This combination of a tangible physical model with numerical modeling is consistent with Universal Design for Learning. Our plan is to bring these products to public schools in the Northern Kentucky area to offer teachers additional tools to increase student engagement and improve learning outcomes.