Service
As the SEMAPS Project, (Southeastern Maps and Aerial Photographic Systems) headquartered in Clemson University and sponsored by the National Science Foundation, comes to a conclusion, I now seek major grant funding to embark on development of the dedicated State project for Tennessee. This is TENNMAPS for the Future, an earth-systems based approach for teaching Earth Science in the Schools. Materials (maps, remote-sensing imagery, experiments, related exercises and teacher-student manuals) will be developed for sites in Tennessee that will allow students to visualize the geology and physical geography and then relate it to other school disciplines. For example, the exercises include topics such as the history of the area, the culture and land use, natural resources, and environmental concerns. These classroom activities actively involve students in minds-on, interdisciplinary, activities, and are keyed to the national and state science standards. Students work in teams with every team member having an active role in identifying, analyzing, and solving real-world problems posed in the exercises. Student and teacher manuals contain site-specific background information and sets of interdisciplinary classroom activities.
Nearly-completed project activities already include problem-solving exercises from the following areas: The Great Smoky Mountains within and without the National Park, concentrating on environmental issues, historic floods, landslides, and TVA hydroelectric and flood control projects. On the Cumberland Plateau, the Sequatchie Valley study region features a breached anticline, numerous karst features, and the Cumberland Escarpment. The nearby Raccoon Mountain pumped storage project highlights aspects of engineering geology and electric power generation. The Cumberland Gap/Middlesboro Basin study region explores connections among the geology, early European settlement (Daniel Boone and the Wilderness Road), highway tunnel geological engineering and problems of landscape origins. Additional geologic sites for central and west Tennessee will be developed as soon as funding becomes available, so that there will be exercises relevant to the geology, geomorphology, and physical geography for the entire State of Tennessee. Map and remote-sensing activities are being keyed to experiments that can be run in any classroom. For example, the study of karst terrains also includes exercises and demonstrations on the solubility of calcite in natural waters. When published, this product will consist of teacher and student manuals with exercises, and a folio of laminated color maps and imagery that can be used in classrooms in a very flexible manner. For example, parts of individual modules can be taught as standalone projects so that exercises can be custom-fit into the classroom time available. Grant funding will then be sought for publishing costs so that materials for teachers throughout Tennessee can be provided.
Recent individual projects have included conducting an Earth Science Teacher Workshop sponsored by an Eisenhower Professional Development Grant that was shared between The University of Tennessee, Martin and UT Knoxville. And, in academic year 2002-2003, I was awarded a LASER Grant for working with interns in the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences, and did outservice projects with three classes of interns at several Anderson and Knox County, Tennessee, schools. We capped off the academic year with field trip experiences at an educational cave facility in western Knox County.
Speleothem in Cherokee Caverns, a protected educational cave, Knox County, Tennessee.
I also assist in other service activities, including our annual EARTH SCIENCE FAIR, which attracts teachers and their students from a wide area, and the annual events sponsored by the Darwin Day Coalition, and the Knoxville Gem and Mineral Society.
Hands-on, minds-on, terrestrial remote sensing activity with visiting school students at the Third Annual University of Tennessee, Knoxville, EARTH SCIENCE FAIR, Thursday, 10 October 2002.
G. Michael Clark
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
1412 Circle Drive
Knoxville, TN 37996-1410
Phone: (865) 974-6006
Email: clarkgmorph@utk.edu