Scientific visualization in the classroom
Authors: David Emigh, Ilya Zaslavsky
Venue: Proceedings of the 1998 ACM/IEEE conference on Supercomputing (CDROM) (1998)

Scientific visualization techniques offer plenty of opportunities for enhancing learning in the high school and undergraduate classroom. We explore several directions in using scientific visualization approaches in both computational geography and introductory astronomy courses. The techniques include VRML, visualization and statistical analysis of spatial data with geographic information systems (GIS), and visualization and qualitative analysis of flexible image transport system (FITS) astrophysics files. In addition we will look at the collaborative use of graphics over the Internet in distance instruction. The geography courses are part of an experiment conducted by NPACI's Education Center (EC/CSE) while the astronomy courses are part of a NSF grant (DUE #9751569) at Quinebaug Valley Community Technical College in Danielson Connecticut. In the geography experiment at NPACI's Education Center we found that sharing graphics and applications between instructor and students proved to be critically important in our distance teaching from San Diego State University and Western Michigan University using a collaborative Web-based environment. Manipulating VRML representations of several layers of geological information derived from a GIS database, was important in teaching GIS to geology students. We will discuss the setup and outcomes of the experiments, the results of student surveys, and lessons we learned, in both technical and pedagogical areas(See http://www.edcenter.sdsu.edu/training/disted/collabpres.html#3mystuff). At QVCTC downloading FITS files from the Internet and analyzing them is becoming an important part of the introductory astronomy and other general science courses. Manipulating and understanding FITS files in both collaborative and individual projects is becoming critical to teaching students concepts in deep space science. We will discuss the range of projects and the educational outcomes. In addition we will touch on using published abstracts and papers available on the Internet to help students understand some of the features in the data sets used. Scientific visualization was also used to discover and address student misconceptions in astronomy andphysics. Finally we will evaluate a small set of low end (Win95 and WinNT) and high end (UNIX workstation) FITS programs and their strengths and weaknesses (see http://eta-carinae.commnet.edu:2005/fits/). Like many new educational technologies scientific visualization holds great promise for the future. As a tool it will make more complex concepts easier to learn. It will enable to students to discover and learn for themselves many of the scientific ideas that they learned by rote before. Scientific visualization will also change the nature of what is taught in the classroom. The tools used by professionals will increasing become an important part of the curriculum in undergraduate and even high school education as the Internet expands and inexpensive computers become more powerful. This will allow teachers to concentrate on what science is as it is practiced today. The danger is that by concentrating on the tools, science will be lost in the technology. By carefully balancing scientific visualization techniques with content the science classroom can become a much richer environment for learning.