Category: Global Systems Science
Online curriculum books for high school science pertinent to key societal issues
DEW2.4. How to Take the Best Digital Photos
{ Digital Earth Watch Contents } { All GSS Books } You need appreciation of art, technology, and science to be able to capture images with a digital camera to maximize the accuracy and minimize the uncertainty of the measurements. To improve how to use a camera to take digital images for scientific measurement, it […]
DEW3.3. Changes in Mt. St. Helens
{ Digital Earth Watch Contents } { All GSS Books } Use VegetationAnalysis software to observe and measure changes in Mt. St. Helens before and after the great eruption of 1980, AnalyzingDigitalImages software 3 images of Mt. St. Helens:MtStHelens_1973.jpegMtStHelens_1983.jpegMtStHelens_1996.jpeg The Tools 1. Launch the AnalyzingDigitalImages software and open the 3 images of Mt. St. Helens as time series. Calibration procedure […]
DEW3.2. What Has Been in Your Backyard?
{ Digital Earth Watch Contents } { All GSS Books } This investigation was developed by Becca Kranz and John Pickle. Materials and Preparation To do this activity you will need Access to the Internet or download all materials over the Internet first, Familiarity with AnalyzingDigitalImages software and spreadsheet software, Images of pollen maps in order to […]
DEW3.1. Observe Changing Vegetation
{ Digital Earth Watch Contents } { All GSS Books } Leaves and flowers have a dynamic life – if you have time to watch. Taking photographs over a period of time and making a time-lapse movie is one way to begin to appreciate the stages leaves and flowers pass through. Adopt a Leaf: Make […]
DEW2.3. Color in Surface Features
{ Digital Earth Watch Contents } { All GSS Books } Materials DigitalImageBasics software and computer Part 1: Representative Color Since digital sensors in satellites can capture wavelengths of radiation beyond those that we can see, we are faced with the problem of how to represent that data in a digital image. We must choose […]
DEW2.2. Spatial Analysis: Area
{ Digital Earth Watch Contents } { All GSS Books } Materials AnalyzingDigitalImages software Image: Plant Leaf with Ruler (or any image including an object of known size such as a ruler to determine scale). Open the Plant Leaf image the same way as done in Investigation 2.1. Method 1: Rectangle Tool In the tools dropdown […]
DEW1.5. Dueling Beams of Light
{ Digital Earth Watch Contents } { All GSS Books } The computer-based color explorations allow millions of colors to be viewed efficiently, but do you really believe it? Make and mix your own beams of colored light to see what happens. Materials Two overhead projectors, or two slide projectors, or one of eachIf using […]
DEW Sources of Equipment
{ Digital Earth Watch Contents } { All GSS Books } The following sources are not endorsements of any particular product or supplier, but since one of the goals of this project is to develop and integrate low-cost equipment to support scientific exploration and learning, we did need to post our sources. Aerial Photography: Purpose–valuable way to collect useful […]
DEW1.6. Resolution and Pixel Color
{ Digital Earth Watch Contents } { All GSS Books } The number of pixels in an image tells you the picture’s resolution. More pixels means a higher resolution, allowing you to distinguish more details in the picture. The Pixels button of the software DigitalImageBasics can increase and decrease the resolution of the image, so that you […]
DEW1.2. LEDs As Light Sensors
{ Digital Earth Watch Contents } { All GSS Books } It is now possible with inexpensive technology to measure the intensity of specific wavelengths of light. Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) were invented in the 1960s. An LED is a device in which electrical energy is converted into light in a very narrow range of […]