Geoscience Education in the Mountain State:
CATS Geology Telecourse, Fall 1998,
News and Test Information

Important NEWS: The portfolio mentioned in the syllabus has been canceled. Your overall grade for the course will be determined by your work on the quizzes, test, and unit plan.

Extra Field Trip Information: We are going to have an extra Saturday field trip. It will take place on November 14, 1998 and begins at 10 a.m. The meeting place will be at the West Virginia Wildlife Refuge, south of Buchannon. This trip is totally optional. If you've been to the first three, you don't have to make the extra field trip. We're going to look at the rocks and the topography of the area and specifically the natural bridges in Upshur County. We have two counties in West Virginia where we have natural bridges--Upshur County and we also have natural bridges near Big Bend in Roane County. We will also see some other sites in the greater Buckhannon area. Directions: Take Route 33 to Buckhannon. Take Route 20 south about 10-12 miles to the West Virginia Wildlife Center. Look for signs. Turn onto Alexander Road and go about 1/8 of a mile to the Wildlife Center Gift Shop. We will meet near the Gift Shop at 10 a.m. So, join us Saturday, November 14th, rain or shine! Remember, it is optional. Bring your camera and field notebook!!! Bring warm clothes!!

Test Information: In the original syllabus we talked about two tests. We're not going to do that. We're only going to have one test. It's a take-home test which will be due December 3rd. It will be a mix of some multiple choice and some short answers and the unit described in the next paragraph.

Unit Plan: You are to devise a classroom geology unit for your particular setting--grade, location, the equipment you have, and so forth. It should include a list of materials needed, even if you don't have them. What materials would you want to put together? You also need to address the West Virginia IGO's your unit will satisfy for its intended grade level. You must also include assessment plans and how the assessment would be implemented. The unit will be one week in duration. Assume you're going to have five class days. Some of you have 50 minutes and some might have 90 minutes in a block-type session. You tell us what time you have and what you plan to do. You must choose one of the following as the major theme of your unit:

1. Plate tectonics and how it affected West Virginia (How West Virginia Got Its Mountains)

or

2. The topic of mountains and West Virginia (Is West Virginia the Mountain State?)

These are your topic themes. Choose one for your unit. There is general information on topics in your textbook and in the Earth Revealed videos. In fact these are chapter titles! The West Virginia components relate to some of the geology of West Virginia that we talked about in the earlier live broadcasts. Plate tectonics, mountain making, the folding of rocks, and the faulting of rocks can be incorporated using materials out of the textbook. If you want to run to two weeks, that's fine. But you have to have a minimum of a week within the context of the time you have available. This will be worth 25 points.

Hint: Look at the 1997 course material on this Web site for content that might help answer test questions and activity ideas which you can use in your unit plan.

WVGES Education Specialist, Tom Repine (repine@wvgs.wvnet.edu)

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Page last revised: February 1999

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            West Virginia Geological & Economic Survey
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