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Images and Inquiry-based Learning

Images of Earth are especially powerful tools to help your students become familiar with other parts of the world, learn about some of the basic processes of geological change on both local and planetary scales, and recognize the human presence and impact on Earth. Perhaps most importantly, your students can see the drama of the Earth as an integrated system, with the ground, water and atmosphere interacting in very visible and comprehensible ways.

However, for most students, and even for many adults, looking at images requires new skills. The images show unique parts of the world, often from an unfamiliar perspective. Although they have photographic clarity, we are not used to the distance scale or colors of the images.

In this chapter we provide some guidance on how to approach the images –– how to find images that are especially interesting, how to get oriented on their scale and location, and how to pursue investigations stimulated by the images.

We emphasize investigations and inquiry-based learning because we have found that students often learn best when they are personally engaged –– when they have questions they are pursuing and a genuine interest in the images. Each image has a story to tell (or several inter-woven stories), and through the investigations these stories unfold. This focus on investigations also mirrors how scientists typically explore and make use of images in their own research. 

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