Earth science with a deformational sandbox (hands-on) -- UMass researchers have collaborated with teachers at seven high-schools for the deaf around the country to develop new curriculum materials addressing deformation of the earth’s crust.  The deformation sandbox presented here was designed by UMass scientists to be easy to construct and versatile for investigating a variety of deformation styles.  Students are able to simulate both the development of mountains with collisional margins of the Earth and the development of fault-bounded basins of extensional regions.  The students’ inquiry parallels that of UMass geoscience researchers, who are investigating such deformation with sophisticated 3D numerical models and with motor driven experimental apparatus.    In the sandbox activity, students record their observations as labeled sketches, measure changing geometry of the sand wedge, interpret the patterns of faulting, analyze the deformation of the sand wedge, and predict future deformation.  The student sketches proved to be an important aid for communication between teachers and students as teachers can readily evaluate gaps in student understanding from their sketches.    The hands-on nature of the experiment engages students with the earth science material while also challenging them to relate the table-top deformation with Earth scale processes.  The students and teachers have had very illustrative discussions of the role and limits of models to understand Earth processes that are too slow and large to observe first-hand.  The sandbox experiments are also rich opportunities for students to develop and test predictions about deformation of the Earth’s crust.  Such utilization of the deformational sandbox meets many state standards for science education.

Contact:
Michele Cooke, University of Massachusetts, http://www.geo.umass.edu/faculty/cooke/

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