SoCal Education

OptIPuter Education and Outreach at Preuss School UCSD and 6th College

Rozeanne Steckler, Ph.D.

Director of Education, SDSC

September 2003

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First Year Goals (SOW)

• Training of Preuss School UCSD Teachers on Visualization of Earth Science Data Sets will Begin– Installation of a GeoWall visualization system

• The UCSD Sixth College’s Curriculum Support Group will Begin Developing Laboratory Exercises for its Undergraduate Course, “Exploring Data” – End Of Fall – Offered First in Fall 2004

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8th grade Preuss UCSD students

Earth Science Data from SIO

3D Real-Time

Visualizations

High-speed Optical Network

New Insights in Earth Science for

the Next Generation and a New Paradigm For Teaching Science

How the OptIPuter is Transforming Education at the Preuss School UCSD

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Creating a GeoWall at UCSD’s Preuss School

PC with Nvidia 900XGL graphics card and Terarecon Volume Pro 1000 card

Dual DLP projectors

Polarizing filters

Polarized glasses

Creating Advanced Visualization for the Preuss School

Designed and assembled by Mike Bailey, Director of Visualization, SDSC

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• 6-Week Unit Aligned to State Standards

• Each Topic Discussed and Highlighted Using Visualizations Developed by SIO and SDSC Scientists

• Material was Presented at the National NSTA Meeting in Philadelphia, Spring 2003

• Multi-media Material is Published for Use in Classrooms Nationally– http://education.sdsc.edu/optiputer

Earth Science Unit

Overview Continental Drift (historical)

Plate Tectonics Earth LayersPlate Movement Ocean Floor DynamicsGeological Events EarthquakesNatural Disasters California Features

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Milestones

• September 02: Collaborations begin with Preuss Teachers for Designing Curriculum

• October 02: Geowall Equipment Ordered• November 02: Outline for 6-Week Module Developed and

Visualization Needs Defined• December 02: First Curriculum Unit Developed• December 15: Installation of PC & Volume Graphics Card • January 15, 03: GeoWall Installed at Preuss• February 5, 03: Dedication of Preuss School UCSD Visualization

Center• February 03: 6-week Pilot Course in Earth Science Begins

at Preuss• April 03: Completion of Pilot Course and Presentation

of Early Units at the National NSTA Meeting• May 03: Meeting with Preuss Science Teachers to

Evaluate use of Visualization Center and Determine Plans for 03-04 School Year

• September 03: Dissemination of Earth Science Curriculum via Website – education.sdsc.edu/optiputer

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Research FindingsOptIPuter Project—Preuss School UCSD

• Real-Time 3D Visualization and Ready, High-Speed Access to Data can have a Significant Impact on Learning in the Earth Sciences. – Teacher Education/Collaboration is Essential for the Success of the

Overall Project

• Having Identical GeoWalls at UCSD/SIO and the Preuss School UCSD Makes it Feasible to Develop Scientific Visualizations that can then be Directly Ported to the Preuss GeoWall System

• This and other Results were Published by SIO Researchers – “The Visualization Center at Scripps Institution of Oceanography:

Education & Outreach” in a Special Education and Outreach Issue of the Journal Seismological Research Letters

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Meetings, Presentations, Conference Participation

• January 25, 2003. CENIC Board Meeting, Sacramento, California. Rozeanne Steckler gave an invited presentation on the OptIPuter education project, describing how educational material being developed for the Preuss School will be made available on the web for all schools. (Quicktime movies will be used in lieu of the GeoWall visualizations for classrooms that do not have state-of-the-art equipment.)

• February 3, 2003. Preuss School UCSD Visualization Center dedication, with presentations by Rozeanne Steckler and Larry Smarr. This is an advanced visualization facility for teaching earth sciences and eventually biomedical imaging, and is the result of OptIPuter funding.

• March 18-21, 2003. NPACI All-hands meeting, San Diego, CA. Rozeanne Steckler and Mike Bailey gave a presentation of the earth science education effort taking place at the UCSD Preuss School as part of the OptIPuter project.

• May 24, 2003. The SIO Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP), US Geological Survey (USGS), Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC), and Birch Aquarium at Scripps (BAS) held an earthquake education workshop at SIO’s Visualization Center for ~40 San Diego K-12 teachers http://www.siovizcenter.ucsd.edu/workshop/index.html.

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SoCal EducationYear Two Goals

• Begin use of the Optical Networking in Partnership with the GeoWall Visualization System to Enhance both Middle School and High School Science Classes at the Preuss School UCSD

• UCSD’s Sixth College will:– Select a Group of Undergraduate Students, from its Distinctive

Honors Students, to Join OptIPuter Application Teams and Work on The OptIPuter Node Located Within the College

– Have its Curriculum Support Group Begin In Fall 03 To Develop Laboratory Exercises for its Junior-Level Undergraduate Course, “Exploring Data” (The Course will be Offered First in Fall ‘04

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Project Participants

• Mike Bailey (SDSC): Hardware and Software Development• Anne Bowen (SDSC): Visualization and Multimedia Programmer• Mark Ellisman (UCSD): Neuroscience• Julie Humphrey (SDSC): Curriculum Specialist• Debi Kilb (SIO): Earth Scientist and SIO Liaison • Jennifer Krummel: Preuss School UCSD Teacher• Indalecio Manzano: Science Department Chair, Preuss UCSD• John Orcutt (SIO): Earth Science • Zack Schumann (SDSC): Web Curriculum Developer• Gabriele Wienhausen: Provost, Sixth College UCSD• Preuss UCSD student interns: Visualization Developers (’03)