Abstract
This paper proposes a science and technology education program to teach junior high school students to measure terrain changes by using interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SAR). The objectives of the proposed program are to evaluate and use information technology by performing SAR data processing in order to measure ground deformation, and to incorporate an understanding of Earth sciences by analyzing interferometric SAR processing results. To draft the teaching guidance plan for the developed education program, this study considers both science and technology education. The education program was used in a Japanese junior high school. An educational SAR processor developed by the authors and the customized Delft object-oriented radar interferometric software package were employed. Earthquakes as diastrophism events were chosen as practical teaching materials. The selected events indicate clear ground deformation in differential interferograms with high coherence levels. The learners were able to investigate the ground deformations and disasters caused by the events. They interactively used computers and became skilled at recognizing the knowledge and techniques of information technology, and then they evaluated the technology. Based on the results of pre- and post-questionnaire surveys and self-evaluation by the learners, it was clarified that the proposed program was applicable for junior high school education, and the learners recognized the usefulness of Earth observation technology by using interferometric SAR. The usefulness of the teaching materials in the learning activities was also shown through the practical teaching experience.
Highlights
Spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has been utilized to observe almost the entire surface of the Earth in order to provide dynamic information to a variety of research areas (RSSJ, 2013)
We used Welch’s t-test to analyze the learning effects; the critical region was set to 5%
It seems that the students were able to gain scientific and technological knowledge that they were able to use to learn about topographic changes
Summary
Spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has been utilized to observe almost the entire surface of the Earth in order to provide dynamic information to a variety of research areas (RSSJ, 2013). Such images that show the results of large-scale crustal movements caused by earthquakes, volcanic activities, and landslides are important teaching materials for protecting individuals and society from future disasters. Interferometric SAR technology provides a two-dimensional (2D) image that shows slight changes in the vast surface of the Earth by processing pairs of data observations from before and after a given event (Hanssen, 2001). Since the processing capacity of personal computers and the speed of Internet connections has greatly improved, school computer systems are often able to handle a large quantity of data and to communicate with external servers
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