Gary Cooper (fygisg@aurora.alaska.edu), Jr. High Science Teacher, Ft. Greely School, Delta Junction, Alaska
Only a few years ago, high-powered graphical computing was limited to research institutions. Over the past few years, however, that computing power has reached many classrooms and opened up exciting new doors for computer use by teachers and students. One of the most exciting uses for this new technology falls under the broad category of image processing. In its simplest sense image processing involves the manipulation and interpretation of images to help teach a variety of concepts to students. These images come from a wide variety of sources, such as biomedicine and planetary, and can help teach a similar wide variety of science topics.
After attending an NSF-sponsored institute several years ago on image processing at the University of Arizona, I began using this technology with my students and saw its potential. There is a large amount of data available from planetary missions and more is becoming available all the time. One of the difficulties is sorting through these data and turning them into meaningful activities that students can use. After using image processing with classes, I became interested in trying to incorporate some of the geographical features of Alaska into activities that my students could use. One of the best sources for images in this area is the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, which is also a SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) facility.
I was able to get funding through the Alaska Space Grant to work with Ken Dean, a remote sensing scientist at the Geophysical Institute, to put together several activities. One of these involves looking at the Mt. Spurr eruption of 1992 and writing an activity for students to calculate the size of the ash cloud, the speed of the ash cloud movement, and the altitude of the cloud. During the summer of 1994 there was a large fire about 15 miles from Delta Junction. I was able to obtain the data credit necessary to generate before-and-after SAR images of the fire area, along with AVHRR images taken during the fire, so students could calculate the size of the fire and differences in its intensity.
Last year the Alaska SAR facility put out a SAR sampler CD-ROM containing a number of different images of glaciers, volcanoes, ice floes, etc., and having the potential for a number of useful student activities.
It has been said that good ideas take up to 20 years to reach the classroom. It's been nearly 5 years since image processing was introducted into schools. My colleagues and I have observed that there is a tremendous interest by teachers in getting the training to use this technology in their classrooms. With so many sources of images becoming available on CD-ROM and on the Internet, it would be great to see them find their way into the hands of students and teachers. That way we can use technology in a meaningful way to help teach science and math concepts.
Caption for above: The image shows DEM (Digital Elevation Model) data of Mt. Edgecumbe near Sitka, Alaska. By doing a surface plot of Mt. Edgecumbe you can get more of a three-dimensional view of the area.
Caption for above: These t wo SAR images show the fire scar from a fire during the summer of 1995 close to milepost 1400 of the Alaska Highway. By using known features on the images you can set the scale, then calculate the area burned. Also notice the two different shades of gray in the fire scar. This corresponds directly to the intensity of the fire in those two areas. In the lighter area it burned to the soil and in the darker area the overburden was left intact.