An overview of DataSheets and Earth Exploration

Toolbook chapters

LuAnn Dahlman, DLESE Data Services Team, TERC

Using data in education

Welcome to Arizona!

Strategies for Increasing the Use of Data in Education

• DataSheets• Chapters in the Earth

Exploration Toolbook

A story from the pharmaceutical industry …

Every drug advertisement also has a page of “fine print”

Has anyone here ever actually read these?

Who is the target audience for this information?

Vocabulary indicatesthe intended audience…

• By providing some relatively simple end-user education, more people are aware of the potential benefits of a product

• Many data sites target scientific researchers

• DataSheets provide a way to broaden the audience

The product didn’t change, but the audience was broadened

DataSheets

• Data descriptions designed specifically to assist folks who are trying to teach with or learn from data

• Rich descriptions of datasets including info on how they are used in science as well as education

Existing DataSheets

TOXMAP data Reef Environmental

Ed. Foundation Data USGS Peak Streamflow Data Mote Marine Lab Oceanography Data Coral Radioisotope Data Vostok Ice Core Data Global Drifter Program Data USGS Earthquake Hazards Program Data

DataSheets

• Semantically rich metadata that can be catalogued into digital libraries as pointers to the data themselves

• The Data Access Working Group (DAWG) has recommended that DataSheets be developed and catalogued for a broad range of datasets

Info covered in DataSheets

Data description Graphic representation of data Use and relevance Type(s) of data available How to access data How to generate data visualizations Tools that can work with the data

Info covered in DataSheets

Data collection methods Sources of error Research articles about the data Topics and skills that the data can be

used for in education Existing educational and pedagogic

resources

An example DataSheet:

Exploring Paleoclimatology using Vostok Ice Core Data

The Data SetThe Vostok research station is located near the center of the Antarctic ice sheet (78°S 106°E). Ice core samples taken at the Vostok station are used to collect data on historical carbon dioxide levels. The data consist of measurements of the percentage of atmospheric gasses, such as CO2 in fossil air bubbles that have been trapped in snow flakes and compressed into ice over 400,000 years old. Data is archived at NOAA's World Data Center for Paleoclimatology and represents geochemical data spanning 3,623 meters and over 400,000 years.

An example DataSheet:

Exploring Paleoclimatology using Vostok Ice Core Data

Use and Relevance

The Vostok station represents a collaboration among Russian,US, and French scientists. Ice cores taken from the Vostock station contain a record of atmospheric gas composition. Measurements of 'fossil' air trapped in bubbles in ice cores allow scientists to reconstruct historical fluctuations in green house gasses, such as CO2…

An example DataSheet:

Exploring Paleoclimatology using Vostok Ice Core Data

Use and Relevance (cont.)Measurements made on ice cores taken from the Vostok station provide a pre-historical record of CO2 variations, providing a natural baseline that can be compared to current CO2 levels (380 ppm) that are influenced by human activity. Studies of ice cores also provide a history of glacial cycles and changes in atmospheric gas composition, with CO2 levels ranging from 180 ppm during periods of lower temperatures to 280 ppm during warmer periods. Measurements of isotopes, such as deuterium, are also used as a proxy for temperature.

An example DataSheet:

Exploring Paleoclimatology using Vostok Ice Core Data

Use in Education These data can be used for learning…

Topics ･ Methods for reconstructing historical climate records

･ Ice ages and glacial cycles ･ The use of isotopic data as a proxy for temperature or age

･ Global warming

An example DataSheet:

Exploring Paleoclimatology using Vostok Ice Core Data

Use in Education (cont.)

Skills ･ Using data to make graphs illustrating atmospheric changes

over time ･ Processing of data sets to determine relationships between

temperature and CO2 levels ･ Comparing data from independent experiments to evaluate the

relationship between carbon dioxide levels and temperature ･ Using proxy data to create visual representations of glacial

cycles･ Show Related Teaching Activity

An example DataSheet:

Exploring Paleoclimatology using Vostok Ice Core Data

Exploring the Data

Data type and presentationRaw data are available in HTML tabular format for Vostok Ice core samples over a 400,000 year period. Available data include deuterium concentrations, oxygen isotope compositions, isotopic composition of O2 and N2, N20 levels and isotopic composition, sodium ion concentrations, CO2 and methane levels, and 14C concentrations.

Accessing the dataUsers can choose the data of interest (such as methane levels) and download data in HTML tabular format (often from several different scientific sources).

An example DataSheet:

Exploring Paleoclimatology using Vostok Ice Core Data

Manipulating data and creating visualizations One way that students can process this data is to import raw data

into a spreadsheet application such as Excel. Graphs could be generated to examine temporal changes in CO2 concentrations. Calculations can also be made to estimate temperature using deuterium concentrations, as described in the Starting Point Vostok Ice Core Activity.

Linear regression analyses could be performed to determine whether there is a statistically significant relationship between CO2 levels and temperature.

The Ice Core Gateway has a web-based browse and visualization tool, WebMapper, that can be used to create graphs.

An example DataSheet:

Exploring Paleoclimatology using Vostok Ice Core Data

About the dataCollection methods

Ice core samples are obtained by drilling a long cylinder of ice (approximately 5 inches in diameter). The core is separated into 5 meter long segments and stored for further analyses. Electrical measurements are performed and stratigraphy is analyzed. Ice from the core is melted to measure the percentage of CO2 and various chemical techniques such as mass spectrometry and gas chromatography are used to analyze isotopic composition.

An example DataSheet:

Exploring Paleoclimatology using Vostok Ice Core Data

About the data (cont)Limitations and sources of error

Sources of error in reconstructing climate history using ice core data include determining age of the ice and correcting for gas exchange in snow prior to trapping of gas within bubbles enclosed in the compressed ice. Given the current understanding of glacial cycles, dating determined by techniques such as flow and compression modeling or using deuterium as a proxy for age yield robust measurements.

An example DataSheet:

Exploring Paleoclimatology using Vostok Ice Core Data

References and resourcesScientific references that use this data Climate and atmospheric history of the past 420,000 year

s from the Vostok ice core,Antarctica. Petit et al. 1999. Nature: 429-436.

Vostok ice core provides 160,000-year record of atmospheric CO

2. Barnola et al. 1987. Nature: 408-414.

Ice Core Records of Atmospheric CO2

Around the Last Three Glacial Terminations. Fischer et al. 1999. Science: 1712-1714.

An example DataSheet:

Exploring Paleoclimatology using Vostok Ice Core Data

References and resources (cont.)Education resources that use this data• Starting Point describes an activity that uses

Vostok Ice core data to recreate temperature from deuterium data.

• The WDC for Paleoclimatology maintains an education and outreach page with information on paleoclimatology, including an interactive Climate TimeLine Information Tool.

Questions about DataSheets?

Each team will be compiling information into a DataSheet template for one or more datasets

Our friends who run the Using Data Portal (SERC at Carleton College) will turn these into live DataSheets

Chapters in theEarth Exploration Toolbook

Step-by-step activities that provide concrete guidance for educators who want their students to learn Earth system science by working with data

The Earth Exploration Toolbook (EET)

A series of independent chapters (activities) that address the use of a particular dataset and tool, embedded in a valid data-use scenario

Designed primarily for Educators, but useable by students as well

The Earth Exploration Toolbook (EET)

Unlike cooking, the main value for working through a chapter of the EET is not in the product itself: the value lies in learning and practicing data analysis strategies.

Go to the EET

Not a secret…

Toolbook is a euphemism for cookbook!