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Imaging Lessons

  1. First Landing on Mars (by Classroom of the Future)
    This is a fairly intense (lots of new tools), creative lesson in image analysis using Viking images of Mars to decide where to land. If I were a middle school teacher I would plan on spending at least five student contact days to do this lesson justice. Of course, that is on top of the week I would suggest for the teacher just starting out using the software (NIH Image).

    This is it! You are aboard the good ship "Low Bid," the first manned spacecraft to orbit Mars. The trip has been long (18 months in a minimum energy orbit, naturally), and tedious, with only you (the Captain), the pilot, and your know-it-all computer, the SAL 9,000,000,000 (Sarcastic, Arrogant, and Loquacious: "I'm 32 billion times smarter than you humans!") aboard to talk to. Finally, it is time to choose a landing site and get off this flying tin can. This is a really cost-effective flight, so you have no big windows or high-powered telescopes aboard, only an internal guidance system controlled by SAL ("Don't worry about it. I can land you anywhere you choose, to an accuracy of a few millimeters!"). Instead, you are relying on old Viking Orbiter images taken 'way back in the '70s to find a good spot to settle down.


  2. Measuring Volcanoes (by David Thomas, Montana State Univ.)
    David does a fantastic job guiding learners using image analysis tools to measure volcanoes. He rates the lesson as Expert Level. I would rate it as beginning for the simple measuring part of the lesson and intermediate for the part requiring calibration of NIH Image.

    Learner Outcomes: By completing these activities, the learner will:

    • Compare before and after pictures of Mt. St. Helens.
    • Describe the locations of currently erupting volcanoes.
    • Use NIH Image to measure the diameter, perimeter, and area of the volcano and its caldera.
    • Use metric units to calibrate NIH Image.
    • Explore Internet resources to gather information about Yellowstone and Mt. St. Helens.

    http://www.math.montana.edu/~nmp/materials/ess/geosphere/expert/activities/volcanoes/index.html activities/volcanoes/

  3. The Mystery Array game.
    This is an imaging lesson aimed at Middle school students. The students form teams and compete with each other to find the mystery array of pixels somewhere on a global image of Mars. The secret is in the secret weapon :-).



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