Geoscience "Data Puzzles" are data-using activities that purposefully present a low barrier-to-entry for teachers and a high ratio of insight-to-effort for students.
For teachers with little experience using data, Geoscience Data Puzzles can serve as a bridge from a data-free teaching style into a mode of teaching in which students use authentic data to solve problems and answer questions.
For teachers who are already comfortable with data, Geoscience Data Puzzles offer the opportunity to permeate the curriculum with data-using opportunities, slipping in fresh data-using opportunities as homework problems, exam questions, or in-class activities.
Development of Data Puzzles is a collaborative project of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and Liberty Science Center.
The
development of Geoscience Data Puzzles has been supported by the National Science
Foundation (NSF) through Grant OCE03-28117 and GEO 06-08057. Any opinions,
findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are
those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.