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By Matt Morris, GK-12 Fellowship.

Abstract:
Over the past 9 months, three learning "modules" were assembled that each contain multiple activities geared toward the high-school science student. These modules have all been field tested in the classroom, and subsequent revisions have been made per the teachers’ suggestions. Additionally, a web site is now online that serves as a distribution point for teachers to download activities, and as a forum for GK-12 affiliates to share data.

The three modules that were completed this year include a seismic and gravity exercise used to explore the Chicxulub impact crater; a hurricane tracking simulation using recent National Hurricane Center data; and a computer-based plate tectonics exercise, based on UTIG’s PLATES project. Additionally, two existing activities were also revised in order to bring them up to par with the new activities.

Although the web page is still under construction, large strives have been made in providing a consistent layout, a navigable interface, accessible content, and reasonably secure administration functions. In it’s current incarnation, the site is written in vanilla .html and .php with a few dependencies on external functions for FTP and mail.

In the coming months, we hope to create a richer web site, with more multimedia content, and to finish formatting the existing activities for web access. As the academic semester winds down, UTIG’s arm of the GK-12 program looks to be on track for a strong second year.