Using Digital Earth Technology in
Sustainable Development Education
Professor Simon Haslett
Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching
University of Wales, Newport
http://celt.newport.ac.uk
Presented at the Higher Education Academy
Annual Conference,
University of Hertfordshire, 22 June 2010
Introduction
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HEA-GEES funded project 2008-2010.
Collaboration between University of Wales, Newport,
and Bath Spa University.
Project aims:
provide an overview of current use of Google Earth in
sustainable development education,
highlight existing cases of best practice,
develop a new blended learning example(s) and
monitor student engagement,
make recommendations for embedding in diverse
curricula, and
suggest further developments for its future use.
Google Earth and ESD
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health (e.g. Boulos, 2005),
planning (Ball, Capanni and Watt, 2007),
tourism (e.g. Cao et al., 2006),
water technology (Imberger, Wood and Marti,
2006),
biodiversity (e.g. Katsarapong et al., 2007),
archaeology (e.g. Parcak, 2007), and
urban development (e.g. Pugnaloni et al., 2007)
geography (a number of examples emerging)
www.rgs.org
Case study development
• GE3012 Climate and Environment
• Honours Level 20 credit team taught module
• Delivered 1 hour lecture + 2 hour prac, plus one
field day
• One semester of 12 weeks
• Assessed by essay and exam (50% each)
• Develop 2 week climate change and sustainable
development lab prac to support exam topic
• i.e. integrating (palaeo)climate change and SD
Exercise brief
• “This practical aims to explore the
links between palaeoclimate
research, present climate change
impacts, and related sustainable
development issues.
• In this practical you will examine a
proxy (geochemical)
palaeoclimate record collected
from an Ocean Drilling Program
core (ODP site 658) taken in the
eastern tropical Atlantic, offshore
Cap Blanc (Mauritania, western
North Africa).
• This will be followed by a
consideration of modern climate
change impacts in the region and
the associated sustainable
development issues.”
Linking research and teaching
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On Minerva [Blackboard], you are
provided with an Excel table of
geochemical data from Haslett
and Davies (2006). Plot the
Aluminium (Al) data against time
and smooth with a 3-point moving
average … If Al deposition at this
site represents dust transported
by aeolian processes offshore
from the Sahara/Sahel:
Interpret the sequence.
Identify any major palaeoclimate
cycles/events present or absent
(i.e. Heinrick Events, LGM, Bond
Cycles, Dansgaard-Oeschger
Events)
Is there any relationship between
palaeoclimate and dust input?
What is the implication of this
palaeoclimate research for
understanding modern climate
change impacts?
Haslett & Davies (2006, TIBG)
Cool sea-surface temperatures in the tropical North Atlantic increases
North African precipitation, vegetation cover, and reduces aridity.
Google Earth Component
Using Google Earth:
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Briefly ‘fly over’ the modern
landscape of Mauritania.
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For Nouakchott, examine
the eastern margin of the
urban environment, and:
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Describe the condition of
the urban-desert margin.
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Interpret the current
dynamic status of the
urban-desert margin.
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Is there a link between the
modern landscape and
climate change?
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Is there any evidence that
measures have been
deployed to enhance the
sustainable development of
the area?
“There is a high frequency of active winds and desert winds may blow
through the city as often as 160 days per year, leading to greatly reduced
visability” (Chenal & Kaufmann, 2008, Cities, 25, 163-175).
Nouakchott: urban – desert margin.
Green Belt of Nouakchott.
Funded by Walloon Regional Finance
(Belgian Government Sustainable
Development initiative 2005-2008).
Each tree is given 200 litres of water.
1270 ha protected in this way, but
already c. 400 ha are threatened by
overgrazing and lack of maintenance.
Prosopis planting
Leptadenia fences
Link sustainable development actions to geomorphology?
Read: Jensen and Hajej (2001, Unasylva, Vol. 52, pp. 31-36) who
review aspects of infrastructure problems (‘Road of Hope’)
associated with climate change impacts in Mauritania.
1. Rainfall reduced by 49% from
1941-1970 towards end of century
(152 mm/yr to 77 mm/yr)
2. Sand inundated 25% of roads over
the period (150/600 km of road)
1988-2008 Environmental
problems: water shortage,
aridification, salinization, etc
Linking back to palaeoclimate:
sea-surface temperature and
climate change relationships
Nouakchott
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1958-1988 major phase
of urban development,
but few problems with
sand inundation
Urban data from Chenal & Kaufmann (2008)
Conclusions
• Student feedback has been collected but not yet
collated or analysed, but anecdotal evidence
suggests Google Earth is a useful and enjoyable
tool to use in a blended learning setting.
• Google Earth offers a powerful potential tool for
investigating the impacts of climate change and
local sustainable development issues anywhere
on earth.
• Applications to many subject areas.
• Further details on http://celt.newport.ac.uk
Project Publications
• Chilcott, M., Haslett, S. K., 2010. Climate change and
sustainable development education through the lens of
Google Earth. Teaching Earth Sciences, 35 (1), 20-23.
• Haslett, S. K., 2009. Prior use of Google Earth by
undergraduate Geography students. Planet (HEA-GEES), No.
22, 43-47.
• Haslett, S. K., Savage, N., 2009. The Sands of Time: A
Google Earth Approach to Climate Change Education.
Newport, University of Wales
[http://idl.newport.ac.uk/celt/sandsoftime/].
• Haslett, S. K., Skellern, A., Chilcott, M., Longman, D., 2010.
Climate change education through a blended learning Google
Earth exercise. In: S. K. Haslett, D. France, S. Gedye (eds)
Pedagogy of Climate Change. HEA-GEES, in press.
• Further details on http://celt.newport.ac.uk