Abstract: Relative Age Dating Courseware

Kurt Donaldson, Padma Medury, Joe Donovan

Multimedia courseware entitled Geohistory incorporates sound, animated illustrations, and a high degree of interactivity to explain and review basic relative age dating concepts, and then tests the user's knowledge with four comprehensive exercises. The topic relative age dating was chosen because it is an important component of instruction for introductory geologic classes. The relative age dating courseware Geohistory is an excellent educational tool for explaining dynamic geological processes that otherwise would not be possible from reading a textbook. Currently Geohistory has eighty-six illustrated animations, seven colored photographs, four colored schematics, and twelve sound files to help students learn how the rocks of the earth are created, def rmed, and eroded. Unlike other geologic courseware packages, Geohistory juxtaposes animated illustrations with photographs so that students can better visualize how specific geological principles evolved. Because Geohistory concentrates on explaining one subject thoroughly, the courseware can be completed by most students during their class period. This software is unique in that students can choose different levels of difficulty for the exercise portion of Geohistory to evaluate effectively their knowledge of relative age dating concepts. With this approach, both beginning and advanced students are challenged during their learning process. Another strong point for using Geohistory is that because it covers basic geologic principles, anyone wanting to earn something about geology for the first time can enjoy using this educational courseware. Just as important, this multimedia software has a variety of applications, from supplemental courseware for earth science labs, or multimedia presentations by teachers during their lectures, to students who need additional instruction outside the classroom.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90950©1996 AAPG GCAGS 46th Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Texas