Innovative use of environmental measurements in undergraduate geographic education

当学生通过提出假设、设计实验、收集和分析数据以及解释结果来积极参与时，地理教育是最有效的。我们利用部署在沿海平原、朝南斜坡、东西走向范围的顶峰、朝北斜坡和雨影处的微气象站对环境数据进行采样以供学习。固定站点测量降水、温度、湿度、风速和风向、辐射、土壤温度和含水量。这些数据使学生能够计算综合变量，如蒸散发和土壤水分平衡，同时观察这些变量是如何随季节、海拔、海岸距离和方向变化的。实时数据通过遥测技术传输，并通过网络提供给教师、助教和学生。现有低年级班级的课程、实验和内容正在进行修订，以纳入这些数据。我们也正在开发新的高年级本科课程，学生将在课堂上学习气象概念，然后在实验室接触测量，最后参与实地部署。其中几座塔楼配备了网络摄像头，这样学生在分析实时数据时就能看到正在发生的事情。智力优势：该项目为各种课程提供数据，并通过探究性学习提高学生的理解力。本科生大量参与数据收集和分析，并将发表几个本科生项目。让低年级课程的本科生接触科学实践、测量和数据解释，可以提高对课程主题的理解，更好地为高年级课程做好准备，并增加他们对科学和工程职业的兴趣。更广泛的影响：该项目对地理教育产生了巨大影响，并在时空数据的收集、分析和解释方面为教育树立了典范。通过基于网络的数据访问，圣巴巴拉城市学院和东洛杉矶学院（一个少数族裔服务机构）可以访问数据。

Geology (42)Geographic education is most effective when students actively participate by developing hypotheses, designing experiments, collecting and analyzing data and interpreting results. We are sampling environmental data for learning with micrometeorological stations deployed in a coastal plain, a south-facing slope, the crest of an east-west trending range, a north-facing slope, and a rain shadow. Fixed stations measure precipitation, temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, radiation, and soil temperature and water content. These data are enabling students to calculate integrated variables such as evapotranspiration and soil water balance, while observing how these change seasonally and with elevation, coastal proximity, and aspect. Real-time data are transmitted via telemetry and made web-accessible to instructors, teaching assistants, and students. Lessons, laboratories and content for existing lower-division classes are being revised to incorporate these data. We are also developing new upper-division undergraduate courses, in which students will learn meteorological concepts in lectures, then be exposed to measurements in the lab, and finally participate in field deployment. Several of the towers are equipped with webcams so that students can visualize what is happening while analyzing real-time data. Intellectual Merit: This project is producing data for a wide array of classes and is improving student understanding through inquiry-based learning. Undergraduates are heavily involved in data collection and analysis, and several undergraduate projects will be published. Exposing undergraduate students in lower-division courses to scientific practice, measurements and data interpretation, improves understanding of course topics, better prepares students for upper-division classes, and increases their interest in science and engineering careers. Broader Impacts: This project is dramatically affecting Geographic education and serves as a model for education in spatial-temporal data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Through web-based data access, data are accessible to Santa Barbara City College and East Los Angeles College, a minority-serving institution.