Volcano Investigator is an application designed for 6th-9th grade earth science students. Through doing scientific tests diagnosing whether or not a volcano will erupt and making their case to the mayor, they will learn about the science of volcano prediction, political and social issues about volcano safety, and a fair amount about how a volcano works. In this example, we will follow a fictional 7th grader, Sally, through the program as she gets introduced to the problem at fictional Mt. Andrews, tries to solve the problem, and then makes a decision on the case.
After listening to some dramatic music and watching images of lava flowing (Figure 2.1), Sally hits ``Start.''
She sees a coworker working in a vast field of rocks (Figure 2.2). This co-worker's phone rings, and she says the following:
[Into the phone] ``Hello? We're almost finished gathering the lava samples. What's up?...Wow! Sounds like they need our help ...Who's going to get to go? ...Great choice ... they're right here. [Turns towards the screen] Hey! Boss is on the line for you! He's got a great assignment for you. Wish I were going.''
Then she holds out a phone. Clicking on ``Talk to boss'' lets Sally hear this:
``Good! You're there! We need your help. Mt. Andrews in the Cascades has been acting up. I need you to get down there right away and check it out. There are thousands of residents near the volcano and they're concerned about what to do. We need you to assess the situation and tell them whether or not to evacuate. You need to head out right away. Good luck!''
A button labeled ``Go to Mt. Andrews'' appears. Sally presses it, and she is taken to a screen with a map (Figure 2.3).
In the upper left-hand corner, she sees a video of Mayor Thompson, her new worried ``client.'' He says:
``Hello, I'm Mayor Thompson. Thanks for coming; I really need your help. As you may know, our scientists have noticed some increased activity on Mt. Andrews. Rumors that it might erupt are already circulating. No one is panicking just yet, but people are well aware of the devastation caused by the Mt. St. Helens eruption.
``I need your advice on what to do. Should I immediately evacuate the city? Should I tell everyone to stand by for a possible evacuation? Or do I just tell people there is no immediate danger?
``I've got to run now, but Chris Baker, a local scientist, will be with you shortly. He will serve as your guide while you're here. Good luck with your work. And don't forget; our entire city is counting on you.''
Chris Baker immediately replaces Mayor Thompson in the video box. He says:
``Hi, I'm Chris Baker, and I'll be around to help you during your investigation. Before you start, I'd like to tell you about the different kinds of things you can do here.
``Basically, there are three main areas where you can work. First, you can investigate the different sites of Mt. Andrews by using the map to my left. Secondly you can learn about what causes volcanoes, as well their destructive effects, in the `Research Volcanoes' area. Lastly, when you're ready, you can make a recommendation for the Mayor. To move between any of these three areas, just click on the appropriate button at the bottom of your screen.
``Good luck with your assignment, and remember if you have any questions of any kind, please feel free to ask.''
What to do next? Sally knows very little about volcanoes, so decides she should first try to examine the volcano a little more closely--see if it looks like it might erupt.
Sally clicks on the ``View Crater'' button on the map. She then sees a transitional movie--as she and Chris Baker are driving towards the crater, they are stopped by a resident, ``Old Jeb,'' an old-timer that has been living on the mountain all his life and has never seen any evidence the mountain will erupt (Figure 2.4). He's not likely to leave as he doesn't believe an eruption is likely, and, with a wave of his finger, cautions the student that ``I hope you know what you're doing!'' Baker makes reassuring noises and drives off. We call this movie a ``cut-scene,'' as it is connecting material as the action ``cuts'' from one location to another.
The application then brings Sally to the screen shown in Figure 2.5. A few points appear in her notebook on the lower left hand corner of the screen, reading:
Hmm. How should she interpret this evidence? Fortunately, there is a question available in the stack of questions on the left hand side of the screen, ``What should I be looking for when viewing the crater?'' She ``asks'' this question by clicking on it, and sees the question answered in a video by Dr. Alfred T. Anderson, a real-world expert volcanologist working for Northwestern University. He gives the following answer:
``If you're looking for signs of volcanic activity in the vicinity of the crater, the main things you'll look for are fumaroles and the steam clouds that are coming out of the fumaroles and if you see a lot of that [cut away to a volcanologist working a fumarole], then it's not a good idea to be down in the hole because of the carbon dioxide problem.''
Followup questions to that answer such as ``How dangerous is carbon dioxide?'' as well as the questions that were already there, appear on the left ready for her to ask. Sally asks ``What does the steam coming from the crater indicate?'' and finds out from Dr. Anderson that if there is a ``big change'' in the number of steam bursts coming from the volcano, that might convince a volcanologist to do other tests.
In this case, Sally realizes that to see if there is a change, she needs to compare the current data with data collected up until now. Pressing the ``Review Historical Data'' button brings up a folder of old notes (Figure 2.6).
The button-press also adds points to the notebook. These points read:
Our 7th grader isn't convinced that this volcano is much of a danger yet (two bursts doesn't seem to be a ``big change''), but she heads back to the navigation screen shown in Figure 2.3 by pressing the ``Go To Map'' button in the toolbar at the top of the screen. There, she chooses another button she thinks she understands: ``Check Temperature and Acidity of Lake.''
Again, she sees a cut-scene movie, this time of her guide, Chris Baker talking about how he's been taking acidity and temperature readings of the lake before she arrived. Again, they stop and see a local resident, Sheryl. Sheryl is a local hotel owner worried about the tourist industry. If the experts mistakenly call for evacuation, she could be out of business. She already knows many visitors are thinking about canceling their reservations on the basis of the rumblings heard so far. Baker assures her that they have one of their best people working on the prediction problem. He pulls away and keeps driving to the lake. The lake screen looks like Figure 2.7.
At the top of the screen, the toolbar has two testing controls. Sally clicks on the thermometer and her cursor turns into a one. She clicks on the lake itself and an animation of a thermometer appears in the upper-left-hand corner, eventually settling on 15.2 C, which is also noted in her notebook. Questions relevant to the temperature appear on the left. She is also given the option of reviewing historical data about the lake temperature.
Why does she need this information? She asks ``Why measure the temperature of the lake?'' She goes to a different screen that has a diagram of the volcano on it.
Here, she sees a diagram of a volcano with all the significant parts labeled (Figure 2.8), and a voice-over tells her that lakes near volcanoes can get warmer near to the time of an eruption because magma gets close to the surface beneath a lake and heats it up. New followups appear such as ``What is magma?''
Sally could choose to learn more about how magma works in a volcanic system, but at this point our learner feels she understands enough to go back to the lake. She clicks, ``Explore Mt. Andrews'' at the bottom left hand corner of the screen to return to where she was.
Once back at the lake screen right where she left off, she clicks ``Show historical data'' so that she can compare her current readings with old ones (Figure 2.9. The lake temperature has barely changed; it is only a tenth of a centigrade higher than the average of last year, and a point describing this result appears in her notebook.
Up to now, she has seen no solid evidence that the volcano is near explosion, and the worried residents she's met so far have told her to only call for an evacuation if she's very sure. She clicks on ``Submit Report'' in the lower right hand corner to tell the mayor her suspicions that Mt. Andrews doesn't seem likely to explode.
She is greeted by the screen seen in Figure 2.10.
Chris Baker explains the interface to her in the upper left-hand corner:
``There are two main parts to this report: your recommendation, and the evidence that supports your recommendation. First, simply select the choice that you feel most accurately reflects what's happening at Mt. Andrews. Second, drag in information that supports your decision from the notebook to the evidence area. When you're satisfied with your report, you can submit it to the Mayor by clicking on the `Submit Report' button.''
Following the directions, she clicks on ``I think an eruption is unlikely'' and drags in her evidence from her notebook: the lake has stayed at its normal temperature, there has been no change in visible activity such as steam puffs, and no lava dome has formed.
She clicks ``Submit to mayor'' and she sees two sequential responses in the upper left-hand corner. The first is a video of the Mayor saying:
``Well, this is good news for tourism! But, are you really sure? I need to be concerned about everyone who lives in this town. The signs that our local scientists were getting seemed to indicate that there was really something to be worried about. What happens if I tell everyone that we're going to be all fine, and then this volcano blows? And how will that make me look? I mean, if there's anything left of me!''
The second is a text message from Chris Baker, suggesting that Sally's data isn't quite complete:
``It's difficult to learn much about a particular volcano by only running one or two tests. Volcanologists believe that the more tests you run on a volcano, the better you will understand its behavior. I suggest that you continue to run more tests, and compare the current results with historical data.''
She decides she needs more data. She heads back to the map, but is confused. What should she do now? There is a question next to the map that seems relevant now: ``How do volcanologists determine if a volcano will erupt?'' She asks it, and in a video, an expert explains that they usually depend on scientific tests like gas sampling, seismology, and ground deformation tests. She sees that she has buttons on the map that correspond to these tests, so she chooses ``Sample Gas'' and heads off to learn more about Mt Andrews.
The rest of the program continues in this same vein--a cycle of testing, asking experts questions, submitting a candidate hypothesis and supporting evidence, and getting feedback from Mayor Thompson and Chris Baker. After a few tries, the student realizes that, though on the surface Mt. Andrews is quiet, it is actually dangerously close to erupting. She can see this through the rise in sulfur dioxide coming from the gas vents and more importantly from the clusters of earthquake activity she sees on the seismology readouts.
Along the way, she is frequently exposed to the central model of a volcanic system--magma is forced to the surface through tectonic behavior. She has to spend time asking questions and learning about this model each time she tries to prove her hypothesis, since to strengthen her case sufficiently to convince the mayor and her co-worker she needs to pick the right pieces of evidence from her notebook. Eventually, she makes a supportable diagnosis and sees a wrap-up--the town safely evacuating just before the volcano erupts.
Sally is then given the option to view a report summarizing the case she made for the volcano's eruption, and then asked if she would like to help out at another volcano, and the cycle starts again.