Selecting a Target

Observational Science &

the Five Skills of Geography

Observational Science

•What it is…•Five key skills of geography

•Link to ISSEarthKAM and good science and geography

Three Types of Science

• Experimental Science– Scientific

method– Manipulating

variables

Three Types of Science

• Theoretical Science – Application

of scientific logic and laws…

Three Types of Science

• Observational Science – Seeing less

than manipulating or applying laws

Purposes• Answer fundamental questions about the

Earth system

One of NASA’s key areas of interest

Military Applications

Earth Science Applications

Homeland Security Applications

Guidelines for Conducting Observational

Science• Select a theme to

study• Select Areas of

Interest (AOIs)– Regions as examples– Regions as anomalies– Regions as analogues

• Limit your study

• Prepare a research plan– See Five Skills of

Geography

• Collect data – Images and supporting

information

• Conduct your analysis• Make your conclusions• Verify

Five Core Skills• Asking geographic questions

– Where?

• Acquiring geographic information– Gathering data

• Organizing geographic information– Maps, reports, and more

• Analyzing geographic information– What does it mean?

• Answering geographic questions– What have I learned?

Why skills are important…• Provide necessary tools and

techniques for thinking spatially• Necessary for making wise

personal, community, governmental, and business decisionsCommunity, government, and business decisions

Life skills

Asking Geographic Questions

• Why things are where they are and how they got there…– Where is it located?– Why is it there?– What else is there, too?– What are the consequences of the location

and associations of things there?– What is being observed?– What are my perceptions of it?

Asking Geographic Questions

Skills… Students identify geographic issues and

themes and/or define problems Students ask geographic questions Students can plan and organize a

geographic research project• Specify a problem• Pose a research question or hypothesis• Identify areas in need of investigation• Test the hypothesis/answer the question

Acquiring Geographic Information

• What is geographic information?• Information about locations, • Human and physical characteristics of locations, • About the geographic activities and conditions of

humans who live there

• Kinds of geographic data?– Primary

– Images, field work, community-based learning

– Secondary– Texts, maps, statistics, photos, multimedia,

computer-based databases, telephone directories

Acquiring Geographic Information

Skills… Locating and collecting data

Images, maps, and a variety of other sources

Observation and systematic recording of information

Interpretation of maps and other graphics

Organizing Geographic Information

• Many ways to organize and present geographic information– Annotated images– Maps– Graphs, tables, spreadsheets, and timelines– Oral and written reports– Multimedia: pictures, maps, graphs,

captions, web pages– Poems, collages, plays, journal writing, and

essays

Analyzing Geographic Information

• Seeking patterns, relationships, and connections within geographic information

Maps/Images spatial patterns

Graphs trends/relationships

Data sequences, correlations, trends

Texts explanations/syntheses

Answering Geographic Questions

• Developing and making generalizations– Key ideas that students should learn at the

culmination of a process of inquiry– Requires that students

• Use the information they have collected, processed & analyzedOR

• Take the evidence they have acquired to make decisions, solve problems, or make judgments on a question, problem, or issue

Answering Geographic Questions

Organizing geographic information

Analyzing geographic information

Answering geographic questions

Askinggeographic questions

Acquiringgeographic information

• Last step in the process of inquiry…

Problem Based LearningFive Skills PBL

Ask geographic questions

Select a problem with a spatial focus and make it a problem.

Acquire geographic information

Collect primary data from observations, field work. Locate existing supporting data.

Organize geographic information

Organize data spatially, explore geographic relationships, annotate

Analyze geographic information

Explore images, analyze, synthesize, explain relationshipps.

Answer geographic questions

Summarize & offer possible solutions to the problem.

Remote Sensing

‘science and art of identifying, observing, and measuring an object without coming into direct contact with it’

--a tool and technique

Remote SensingProcess:

– Detection and measurement of ELECTROMAGENTIC RADIATION at different wavelengths reflected or emitted from distant objects/materials

– Data provides ability to identify Earth features & materials

Remote Sensing• Purpose:

– Identify and categorize by class/type, substance, and spatial distribution

e.g., features in a scene (presented as image) classified into categories or classes

Image-->thematic map e.g., land use, vegetation types, rainfall

– Can also abstract information about an object

Color…

•Objects appear different at different wavelengths and produce different information, •Computers can be used to produce a color image from a black and white remote sensing data set.

Remote Sensing• Methods

PLATFORM e.g., pigeon, balloon, airplane, satellite

Remote sensing instrument e.g., radiometer, radar, spectrometer [AVHRR, MODIS, ETM+]

Object, area, phenomenon viewed by sensor system

Remote SensingPlatform + instrument: Satellite + sensor

Data from Earth orbiting satellites transmitted using radio waves to ground stations-->digital image.

Digital image-->tiny shapes “PIXELS”(represent the energy

reflected or emitted by each pixel)

Remote Sensing• PIXEL = area on ground (& image) that

is a measure of the sensor’s ability to resolve (see) objects of different sizes

15 meters

15 meters

Higher resolution (smaller pixel area)-->able to see smaller objects# of pixels in an image-->calculate area of a scene

Satellites• Human-made spacecraft placed in

space to orbit another body– Crewed e.g., space shuttle, ISS– Uncrewed e.g., TERRA

Satellite Orbits…• Each satellite has a set path above

Earth= orbit • varies with satellite’s purpose

– polar orbit (circular above poles to survey all or portion of Earth as it turns below)

– geosynchronous orbit (above equator at 35,888 km to match and “floating over” a point on equator

– Low Earth orbit e.g., Space shuttle– Elliptical orbit

Why bother?Provide way-cool information…