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Welcome to the Dynamic Digital Mars software homepage! Chris Condit’s
Dynamic Digital Map Home Page These free downloads are
standalone programs that run without other software. Computers with less than 512 MB of
free RAM will run these programs very slowly at best. These downloads require the
internet to run. When
the welcome screen appears, click “web access”. For a CD version that does not require internet access,
please email Selby Cull at cull@jyi.org. ° DDM-Mars Beta for Windows (Win98, 2000, XP, Vista): 24 MB (15 Aug 2005 version updated 05 Dec 2007 for Vista, sent as 16.6 MB Zip file). ° DDM-Mars Beta for Mac OSX: 27 MB (15 Aug 2005 version updated 05 Dec 2007 as Universal Binary for OSX, sent as 17.6 MB Zip file) ° DDM-Mars Beta for Macintosh Classic: 34 MB (15 August 2005 version) Download a description of the DDM-Mars. A Dynamic
Digital Map (DDM) is a fully interactive software program incorporating maps,
images, movies, data, articles, interviews, animations, and class activities
[1,2,3]. DDMs are designed to
serve many purposes, including teaching tools and data presentation. For a more detailed discussion on
using DDMs interactively in large geology classes, see [4]. The DDM-Mars
program incorporates over 220 maps of the Martian surface, hundreds of
images, and dozens of articles with interactive tours of Mars and exercises
for undergraduate geology classes.
Upon opening the program, the user is given a home screen with many
options. From this home screen,
the user may access any other part of the DDM, including the sections:
Missions to Mars, History of Mars Exploration, Regions of Mars, Minerals
& Surface Compositions, Meteorites from Mars, Volcanoes on Mars, Water on
Mars, Tours, and Exercises. A
set of fast-reference lists of maps, images, and articles makes finding a
specific material easy. The DDM-Mars
is designed as a teaching tool that can be used both in lectures and
labs. For lectures, the DDM
includes a template that allows instructors to design and write a slide show
for a class. The instructor may
choose the images, the order of the images, the length of the slide show, and
may either write the captions or choose the DDM’s captions. For labs, the DDM includes several
interactive exercises designed for undergraduates. The exercises are designed to emphasize the process of
thought needed to study Mars as opposed to right and wrong answers. For example, one of the exercises
gives the students information about a fictitious mineral, then asks them to
identify places where a rover might search for that mineral on Mars. The students are given interactive
maps, images, topographic profiles, and spectral data to determine where
deposits of the mineral might be found.
Another exercise asks the students to design a human mission to
Mars. They must choose a
schedule for launch, select their crew members, determine what science needs
to be done on the surface, choose vehicles and equipment, select a landing
site, balance risk against public and scientific value, and make sure the
whole mission comes in under budget.
Then they must walk their crew through the mission itself, assigning
them tasks and handling problems.
All of the DDM-Mars the material is written for an undergraduate
science audience; however, much of it may be appropriate for high school or
non-science audiences as well. References:
[1] Condit CD (1999) Computers & Geoscience 25. [2] Condit CD and TM
Boundy (2002) Geol. Soc. Am. Abst. With Prog. v34 no.6. [3] Condit CD (2000)
Univ. Mass. Dept. Geoscience Contribution No. 72. [4] Condit CD (2001) Geol.
Soc. Am. Abst. With Prog. v.33 no. 6. Acknowledgements:
The DDM Mars software program was developed using Christopher Condit’s DDM
Template, a project sponsored by an NSF Grant from the Department of
Undergraduate Education and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The DDM-Mars
is currently in development. You
are downloading a beta version.
If you find bugs, please write to Selby Cull at cull@jyi.org. Also,
please feel free to email comments or suggestions. Credits: Go to UMass Geoscience Faculty Index Go to Chris Condit's UMass Home Page |
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Last updated 5 December 2007 by Chris Condit.
Copyright 2005 by Selby Cull. Cull@jyi.org.