Rock Blog

The Earth Science Picture of the Day for September 10, 2006 is beautiful. If you ever wanted to explain photosynthesis – and the release of oxygen into the atmosphere that results – look to a photo like this one. Wow!

The Christian Science Monitor article, “Beyond and Below the Blue Horizon“, reviews two exploration areas – space and ocean.

Its always interesting to explore the similarities and differences in approach to exploration. Regardless of desitination, both sites are packed with excellent educaitonal resources and multimedia:

NASA: Project Constellation – http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/constellation_front/index.html
NOAA: Ocean Explorer – http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/.

From a Geoscience perspective, the NOAA site holds more allure…

Each of exploration zone website provides background geology information. I especially like the “Ring of Fire” information. Rich, rich data and information provided.

British Isles, A Naturual History is a good overview site for people interested in UK Geology, and general geology.

http://www.open2.net/naturalhistory/toolkit.html

The Flash Based Toolkit is particularly notable… for the visual leaner…

Plain Geology.

In my EOSC 311 course, I encourage students to get familiar with the terms of geology — all disciplines have their own language, and one of the benefits of taking a course in a technical field is learning new language. This article, written in 1921 by then USGS Director George Otis Smith, is a call for those in the discipline to use more plain language so that those outside the field can understand the importance of our work. Like the intro to the article says, this plea is just as valid today as it was in 1921….

One of my favorite parts of this paper:

It takes years for some geologists to break the fetters of this scholastic habit of using big words for small ideas. Probably every one of us has been guilty of sentences like the following, which appeared in a Survey manuscript. “The argillaceous character of the formation is very prominent in some localities, although it is usually subsidiary to the arenaceous phase.” On being translated this means: At some places the formation includes considerable clay, but generally it is made up chiefly of sand.

I think this writing can be generalized to all technical fields – out language is powerful, but we need to be able to express ourselves in plain language as well! The article also caused me to reflect on my current field — learning technology. When interacting with others, particularly faculty and students, the need for Plain Language — not computer speak is so important. The biggest sin in that field I see is acronym mania — man! “X-M-L R-P-C M-O-U-S-E”…

But I digress…

This article is an easy read, is humourous while making an excellent point that we can all learn from, I think.

Collecting Rocks.

This US Geological Survey General Interest Publication provides a brief overview of how one might collect rocks. In this site, you will find:

– Brief of overview of rock types.
– How to start a collection
– How to Identify Rocks
– Where to find “collectable” rocks
– Equipment one might need.
– How to house a collection.
– Hints on building a collection.

Nice short document. FOr the general interest person the short rock description portion is quite useful.

I wanted to avoid doing two weblogs, but “Michelle’s Online Learning Freakout Party Zone” is just getting too laden with rocks and stuff….So.. here we go.. starting another weblog.

Stephen J. Reynolds

CoML Secretariat Home Page

The Living Edens. Resource site assoicated with PBS’ series “The Living Edens”.

For each of the 12 geographic locations, a set of associated Teachers Resources are included — and they are extensive! I looked at a few of them — I need to go back. The project for Glacier Bay is pretty amazing – intended for 5-10 50 minute sessions, grades 4-8. The lesson plan is very detailed, with linked web resources, an assessment strategy (portfolio based), ties to national Standards….. wow!

“… This study guide appoints students as park rangers. As students role-play Glacier Bay Park Rangers, they become acquainted with the career of a park ranger; and they also experience Glacier Bay as a laboratory for observing, studying, and appreciating this paradise of ocean and ice and its inhabitants. “

Well done….The site includes profiles of the following sites:

Glacier Bay – Alaska’s Wild Coast
Kakadu – Australia’s Ancient Wilderness
Kamchatka – Siberia’s Forbidden Wilderness
Madagascar – A World Apart
Manu – Peru’s Hidden Rainforest
Namib – Africa’s Burning Shore
Ngorongoro – Africa’s Cradle of Life
Palau – Paradise of the Pacific
Patagonia – Life at the End of the Earth
South Georgia Island – Paradise of Ice
Thailand – Jewel of the Orient
Yellowstone – America’s Sacred Wilderness

Doing some digging around in geo-sites as well as looking for three-d matrix software (strange obsession, really). I found this interesting effort: Earth Science Markup Language

This project is also listed on SourceForge.

Not sure what I am going to do with this yet.. but I thought I would store it here.