VSU Applications of Tablet PC in Geosciences
Project Team in Geosciences: Dr. Mark Groszos (structural & physical geology),
Dr. Can Denizman (gepsciences, hydrology, and landforms),
and Dr. Eric Brevik (landforms, surficial processes).
We will use Tablet PCs in the Introduction to Landforms
laboratory courses. In traditional methods of teaching
in these labs, students work with topographic maps and
use 2-D paper maps to visualize/interpret 3-D images or
features of landforms, however, our experience has shown
that these are challenging tasks for some students.
To improve teaching and learning of these courses,
we will set up 3-D images of maps or features on maps
on Tablet PCs. Then the 2-D topographic maps will be
assigned to students for interpretation and analysis,
while the Tablet PCs are also available to them to
simultaneously see the corresponding 3-D views of the
landform. We will use the Tablet PCs in half of the labs,
and teach the class traditionally (maps only) in the other half.
Comparison of the laboratory performance of the classes that employed
Tablet PCs with those taught traditionally will determine the impacts
of Tablet PCs in student learning. We are also working on a project
related to measurements and analyses of soil temperature as a function
of depth, location, and time of the day/month. In this project,
students will learn to interface thermocouples will Tablet PCs for
data acquisition/analyses.
