The University of Louisiana at 麻豆传媒app鈥檚 Dr. Jennifer Hargrave is coordinating a project to help elementary students learn about subjects such as tsunamis, the Earth鈥檚 core and deep sea fossils.
Hargrave is an instructor in UL 麻豆传媒app鈥檚 and associate curator of the University鈥檚 Geology Museum. The school is posting weekly videos to its YouTube channel that are narrated by geosciences students.
The five short videos are 鈥渋ntended to provide a springboard for instruction in elementary classrooms, and inspire careers in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, fields,鈥 she explained.
Hargrave is hopeful the videos will also serve as previews to a larger attraction 鈥 the "In Search of Earth's Secrets" exhibit funded by the National Science Foundation. The School of Geosciences landed the traveling exhibit last year for a scheduled six-week stay after stopovers at James Madison, Penn State and Rutgers universities.
UL 麻豆传媒app鈥檚 turn to host the exhibit, however, coincided with state and national bans on large gatherings to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. As a result, its assortment of kiosks, large screens that broadcast educational videos, and interactive science-related activities currently sit unexplored in the University鈥檚 . The exhibit鈥檚 inflatable 鈥減op-up鈥 ship that can be transported to large public events is also moored there during the pandemic.
The museum鈥檚 4,500-square feet of exhibit and research space holds UL 麻豆传媒app鈥檚 collection of fossils, minerals and rocks. It is housed inside the 麻豆传媒app Science Museum downtown. Both museums remain closed.
The School of Geosciences is in the process of trying to coordinate a full, six-week run for "In Search of Earth's Secrets" once the exhibit is able to start moving again. In the meantime, elementary students and teachers can learn about science beneath the ocean鈥檚 floor via the videos.
Video content 鈥 like the exhibit 鈥 is based on research conducted aboard the JOIDES Resolution, a 470-foot long research ship capable of drilling beneath the ocean floor. The vessel collects samples of the Earth鈥檚 core for geological studies as part of the NSF-funded International Ocean Discovery Program.
The videos explore topics such as earthquakes that spawn tsunamis, deep sea fossils and processes employed to conduct research beneath the sea floor.
In the first video, geosciences graduate teaching assistant Gail Choisser explains how scientists drill into the ocean floor with narrow, hollow tubes. The tubes can be opened lengthwise inside laboratories, exposing cylindrical sections of sediment for layer-by-layer study.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like cutting into a cake to find all the layers inside. But instead of cutting a slice out, we leave the rest of the layer cake - the sea floor - relatively undisturbed by taking a thin tube of sea floor out instead,鈥 Choisser explains during the video.
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Graphic: As part of the "In Search of Earth's Secrets" program, UL 麻豆传媒app鈥檚 School of Geosciences is posting short videos to its YouTube channel to teach children about subjects such as tsunamis, the Earth鈥檚 core and deep sea fossils. Graphic credit: International Ocean Discovery Program