15-20 in the class, lots of instructor time. Students are attracted to the Earth. Standard term papers are often a disaster, since there is no opportunity for revision. Students need an opportunity for critique and revision. Objective of the paper is to understand a region, its crustal structure and tectonics, as revealed by geophysical observation.
Teams choos subtopics, collect, synthesize and presnt info as poster to the class.
Oral presentation, class viewing, class evaluation and group grade. Engages students, develops skills, but is time consuming. Students are not usually very critical of their peers. The media is most peoples' primary source of their knowledge about earthquakes, but many have fundamental misunderstandings. Students choose a study, design a survey, organize, interpret, conclude and report, providing an end to end field experience.