Tectonica Interactive: A Guided Interactive Hypermedia Tutoring System For Plate Tectonics

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Many of the critical problems facing our society, including limited resources, global climate and environmental change, and natural disasters, can only be addressed by leadership and a population that has a good grasp of the fundamental scientific concepts involved, all of which are addressed in an integrated and interdisciplinary manner in geology. Yet geology education is far from what it should be. In this age of increasing technological sophistication, rapidly evolving information, and the need for more global awareness, innovative approaches to teaching geology are needed. We propose to develop a computer-based exploration and learning system which will focus on plate tectonics, the uniting paradigm of geology. The PI's include a geologist with experience publishing interactive multimedia software for geology, and a computer scientist with experience developing intelligent tutorials. The system, which we call "Tectonica Interactive" (TI), will include adaptive ("intelligent") tutorials, guided hypermedia exploration, interactive simulations, and visually rich animations, graphics, and 3-D animation. The content in the program will have two primary per- spectives: locations and phenomena. Locations are actual geographic locations, and Phenomena are geologic principles, processes, and conceptual models. TI's hyperlinks and navigation guid- ance will make it easy for students to explore phenomena associated with a location, and locations which exemplify phenomena. Several learning modes will be available, ranging from more directed tutorials to student-controlled exploration. Because we store a model of student progress and mastery, the program will be able to accommodate users at many levels, from intermediate school earth science students through those in introductory college-level courses, and make intelli- gent decisions regarding hints, explanations, etc. Evaluation will occur at a number of university and high school sites, and distribution of the software will be by CD-ROM and the Worl d Wide Web. We anticipate that TI will be included by textbook publishers along uith the text.