Dispatches from Sea >>
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| March 2007 |  Laura Preston, educator, UNH/Salem High School, Salem, NH. |
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| April 2007 | |||||||
April 22, 2007
As I said yesterday, this web log has been one component of my work here on the R/V Atlantis. I was invited out to sea by Liz Goehring, Education Outreach Coordinator for the Ridge2000 program (an NSF funded program that you have already learned about during these posts), and Karen Von Damm, a research scientist and professor of Oceanography at the University of New Hampshire. I am working with Liz to help pilot the FLEXE Forum, an interactive web-based program for middle school students, and Karen and I are working together on a grant involving Earth Science principles in NH. I am helping both of them by working to help collect data and be a “watchstander”, review/edit student datasets and responses that come from the schools, and develop and write new curriculum that will be used in the next two years in a similar manner. It has really been an honor to work with these two women, as well as to have the experience along the way. A new friend encouraged me to “enjoy the moment” and I truly have done just that!
Today and tomorrow I will share a bit of what Liz and I have written to the students we are in touch with on this trip. One thing is for sure, writing about technical science to middle school students has been difficult. Trying to bring it to their level has been a challenge, but a couple of weeks ago I had an a-ha! moment. Here’s how I described it to the kids.
Learning the true nature of science.
I am a science teacher, I teach students about our Earth, about
rocks and how they form, and about how we learn new things in science.
Being on this research cruise with a group of geologists exploring
rocks and volcanoes on the ocean floor has given me a new appreciation
for how scientific knowledge actually develops. Make no mistake…
I am also a scientist. I started my career as a geologist working
with the ORYX Energy Company in Dallas, TX, so I KNOW geologic processes.
I studied geology in college because I loved learning about how the
Earth formed in different ways and under different conditions around
the world. And for 11 years, I have been teaching students about
these very processes. But something happened the other day that made
me REALLY understand how scientific knowledge grows. And it was exciting!
I saw these scientists find a type of rock here that I thought only
came from a different type of environment, and then argue and discuss
with each other how that could be. In that moment, I realized that
THAT was how science works. Here, let me explain…
In Earth Science class, we study many topics like plate tectonics,
volcanoes, earthquakes, and rock formation. One important concept we
discuss is plate boundaries. There are three types: convergent, divergent,
and transform boundaries.
 These are examples of convergent plate boundaries. |
 A spreading center. Images courtesy of dept.kent.edu/.../ehlab/tectonics |
As I discuss the boundaries, I also introduce the different types of volcanism associated with these areas and the rock types potentially formed due to the movement of magma through the Earth. Typically, more light colored rocks are found in continental crust, dark colored rocks are found in oceanic crust, and sometimes if an ocean plate is colliding with a continental plate, it is “subducted” under the continental plate (because it’s more dense), and you have a mixing of magma forming an intermediate rock type that is usually an in-between color. Each one of these types is formed partly because of temperature variation. The dark colored rocks, called basalt are formed at much higher temperatures than the light colored rocks, which are called granite. So, the intermediate rocks are formed in temperatures in the middle.
Well, remember how I said that science is dynamic? In the past two weeks during this cruise, we have found intermediate rocks (the mixed kind) in oceanic crust at a divergent plate boundary! This is something I never considered. But then again, why not? I always thought mixed magma only occurs at subduction zones, which are convergent boundaries of different types of plates (continental and oceanic). Here we are at a divergent boundary of two similar plate boundaries, where mostly the highest temperature rock types are found. I suppose that means that somehow the magma is cooling slower and forming the intermediate rock type. Or, maybe somehow the magma is getting stuck as it comes up? Or, maybe it has so much force coming up that it pulls other things into it? The scientists tell me that the melt chamber deepens from North to South and that cracks in the oceanic crust are occurring and allowing the magma to come to the surface, but they don’t really know why the andesites are forming. They intend to have their graduate students research this very thing over the next few years. These are just the few hypotheses that I’ve heard so far, although I’m sure the scientists out here have a few more.
Well, whatever the reason, I now have a different perspective
of how the process of scientific discovery works. You start with
an observation that doesn’t quite fit your understanding of the world
(like andesite on a mid-ocean ridge) and scratch your head to figure
out all the possibilities of how that came to be. Then the real fun
begins as you try to find ways to test your ideas and collect evidence
to support your hypotheses. THAT’S how real science works! Can’t
wait to see what these folks come up with next.
Here I am, a teacher, still learning new stuff. That may be astounding
to you. Life is good!
Stay tuned for more about the FLEXE project tomorrow.
 Look! It’s andesite, not basalt…wonder why? |
 The packing of lab materials begins. |
 Lots of stuff to take home with us! |
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