AFGE: Seismology and Verifying Nuclear Test Ban Treaties -- An Initiative to Link Geosciences and Public Policy in Undergraduate Education

9809570

Nyblade

An initiative in undergraduate education is proposed linking the geoscience of seismology with the public policy issue of verifying nuclear test ban treaties. This initiative consists of designing two new undergraduate courses, modifying two existing graduate courses, modifying two existing graduate courses, and creating a universally available Web resource at Penn State University. The Web resource will consist of learning modules, simulation software, and a database that will facilitate hands-on, discovery-based learning in the courses and information for the national and international public. Course development includes a general education course, 'Seismology and Monitoring Nuclear Test Ban Treaties' that will expose students to concepts in geology, geophysics, and international policy centered about the Comprehensive Ban Treaty (CTBT). 'Forensic Seismology' will be an upper level geosciences majors course based on the same principles of discovery-based learning that will cover technical material in greater depth. Both undergraduate courses will also expose students to actual seismic data collection through hands-on work with an inexpensive broadband observatory and field deployments of 5 refraction seismographs. The Web resource that will form the core of these courses will be freely available to other institutions to disseminate these courses elsewhere. The Web resource will also be an educational instrument for the general public in the important area of the role of geosciences in nuclear non-proliferation and verification of the CTBT. The development, implementation, and assessment of the undergraduate courses will be formally accomplished with the expertise of Penn State's Schreyer Institute for Innovation and Learning.