Computer Simulation of Incomplete-Data Interpretation Exercise

Abstract

A computer simulation was used to help general education students enrolled in a large lecture section of a first course in introductory geology gain experience in the interpretation of incomplete data. Teams of three students each designed a plan for the collection of bathymetric data in a 30 by 20 kilometer area of the ocean. The computer program provided up to 90 Km of bathymetric readings which student teams then combined to form a bathymetric map of the ocean floor. Conflicting interpretations put forth by different teams of students were then discussed in the class.