SC08 Education Program

Austin, Texas, November 15-21, 2008

Jeff Sale

San Diego Supercomputer Center, UCSD

Discovering Data in the Classroom

Session Time: 10:30am-12:00pm, Room 10B

Session presenters: Diane Baxter, Jeff Sale

Launch the Discover Data Portal at http://education.sdsc.edu/discoverdata/.

Finding real scientific data that can be used easily and effectively in the classroom can be difficult. The Discover Data Portal is an educational resource that builds lessons around real scientific data from a variety of scientific disciplines to make it easier for teachers to introduce their students to the wonders of science anchored in a real-world approach to learning. Join us for this introductory workshop where you will have access to a series of lessons built around scientific data sets within a pedagogically constructivist environment using the Moodle course management system. Each participant will be given a permanent account on the portal, and you will be introduced to lessons based on data sets drawn from marine science, bioinformatics, seismology, and astronomy. You will also be introduced to a prototype interactive data mapping tool which will allow you and your students to upload and share data collected from any source in your environment. Be the first to provide feedback on how this tool might be useful to you in your classroom.

Mashup Madness!!

Session Time: 1:30pm-3:00pm, Room 10B

Session presenters: Stephanie Stevenson, Tim Hardt, Jeff Sale

Workshop url: http://education.sdsc.edu/sc08/mashups/

This session will introduce mashups--defined by Google as "a Web site that combines content data from more than one source to create a new user experience"--to K-12 educators. This introduction will focus on incorporating a variety of scientific data into shared maps, an area of mashups accessible to most K-12 teachers and their students. More sophisticated mashups and mashup authoring tools will also be introduced, and a link to a fuller introduction to these tools will be provided. Two examples of mashups being used in K-12 classrooms will be presented and discussed.

The term “Mashup” describes a web application made with data and applications from more than one source. Digital maps are increasingly being used by non-geographers to create interactive web sites that provide valuable geo-referenced attributes to the services they provide. In this session, participants will first be introduced to the technology underlying Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) devices. They will then get a hands-on introduction to two of the leading ‘pseudo-GIS’ map mashup tools; Google Maps and the Flash/Yahoo Maps API. They will also have a chance to create their own map mashup using data and images acquired at the conference. Other popular map mashup software will also be demonstrated including Google Mashup Editor, and Microsoft PopFly.

Participants will attain a basic understanding of mashup development technologies, examples of mashups useful in educaiton, and they will be provided with an account on the SDSC Discover Data Portal to continue their mashup explorations following the workshop.

Create your own Google Maps Mashup

Mashup Resources: http://education.sdsc.edu/sc08/mashups/mashupresources.html