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Hi Kristie, I love your thinking on how to incorporate the geosciences into the study of this book. Interdisciplinary research studies are where it is at, too. I was just on a call with people from the private sector and graduate schools who said that they need graduates who have done geoscience projects using other disciplines such as economics, business, computer programming, social impact/input, and communication. Poring over paper maps of northern Pakistan and looking at drainage basins and the location of earthquake epicenters could be enriched with articles on water quantity/quality or disaster response issues in that region, and how geology ties into these topics. It could open up a discussion of the ethics involved in working as a geoscientist in a post-disaster area. The geology of the area is fascinating, too. There are crazy high erosion rates (the Indus River carries away tremendous amounts of glacial sediment) that have led to the very rapid geologic uplift of the Nanga Parbat massif, exposing young rock (~1 Ma) compared to the older bedrock ~40 Ma of the surrounding mountains. If you want some names of authors on those topics, let me know. If you feel like digging into it, consider having the students do a small team project, starting with a dive into all sort of geoscience-related information from that area, and then narrowing in on a subject that they investigate. It's possible to do something like this using a short amount of time (spread out or not). We did so with a group of twenty community college students over about six 3-hour sessions, and they had no previous geoscience experience. We first immersed them in information/videos/field excursions about the big flood of 2013 in Boulder, Colorado and an earlier nearby forest fire (2010) and then guided them through identifying projects and doing a simple analysis. They came up with terrific ideas like how the forest fire impacted downstream drinking water quality, and they gave short talks or digital poster presentations at the end of the program. It can be messier than we think - they found the data and did the analyses, and just needed guidance along the way. Barb Tewksbury, I don't know if you are on this list, but maybe you could chime in about the course in which you had students look for gold in South Africa using geological information, and whether you incorporated economic or social issues. Personally, I would love to hear more from others who are running project-based, interdisciplinary courses in the geosciences. Cheers, Val Valerie Sloan, Ph.D. Director of the GEO REU Network SOARS Center for Higher Education NCAR|UCAR P.O. Box 3000 Boulder, CO 80307-3000 [log in to unmask] On Fri, Aug 26, 2016 at 7:49 AM, Kastens, Kim <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > For earthquakes, floods and mass wasting in the developing world vs > developed world a good source would be: > > Mutter, J., 2015, The Disaster Profiteers: How Natural Disasters Make the > Rich Richer and the Poor Even Poorer, St. Martins Press. > http://us.macmillan.com/thedisasterprofiteers/johncmutter > > Good luck with your participation in the common book project; sounds like > fun. > > Kim > > > On Aug 25, 2016, at 8:07 PM, O'Connell, Suzanne <[log in to unmask]> > wrote: > > This is a fantastic idea. I have never thought of “I am Malala” in this > context and love it. What a creative way to explore a popular/important > book. > > If you need/want references/table/charts for the underrepresentation of > women, I can help you there. > > For the rest, I don’t have many resources, but the recent earthquake in > Italy (developed world with old/undeveloped world buildings) compared to > developing world and developing world buildings is fascinating. > > Please keep us/me informed. > > Suzanne > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Suzanne OConnell > Dept. of Earth & Environmental Sciences > Faculty Director McNair Scholars > Wesleyan University > Middletown, CT 06457 > 860 685 2262 > [log in to unmask] > > > From: Julie Libarkin > Reply-To: Julie Libarkin > Date: Thursday, August 25, 2016 at 6:34 PM > To: "[log in to unmask]" > Subject: FWD: Using a common book > > Hi! > > We are piloting a common reading initiative at my college this semester > and I > would like to be part of that initiative. The book we are using is I Am > Malala. Has > anyone ever used a non-geology text in class? I teach physical geology and > I am > looking for ways to include parts of this book in the class. > > Some thoughts I had are: > 1. the persistent underrepresentation of women in STEM fields > 2. how geology can isolate and therefore have influence on society - > example, the > Swat Valley. > 3. Earthquakes in the developing world vs. the developed world > 4. Floods and mass wasting events in the developing world vs. the > developed > world. > > If you have any ideas to add, I would love to hear it! > > Kristie Bradford > Associate Professor of Geology > Lone Star College - Tomball > 30555 Tomball Pkwy > Tomball, TX 77375 > 281-351-3317 > [log in to unmask] > > > -- * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *