Students develop an estimate of the total quantity of petroleum
discharged from the Deepwater Horizon from 20 April to 15 July 2010
using only two known facts, the diameter of the riser and the flow rate
of the oil/gas mixture emanating from the riser.

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This activity provides an opportunity for the student to collect data on their individual water use to set the stage for a unit on water resources.

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The movement is too white, too privileged, and needs to be inclusive of the voices of black, brown, indigenous, and those who are disproportionately affected by climate impacts.

Students will plot the locations of earthquakes on the top of subducting slabs to determine slab dip and will then develop hypotheses regarding the relationship between slab dip, the depth of the slab, and volcanic activity on the surface.

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Students use basic aqueous geochemistry knowledge to investigate controls of the atmospheric carbon dioxide level on pH values of the wet precipitation at standard conditions (25 oC, 1 atmospheric pressure).

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SSAC Physical Volcanology module. Students build a spreadsheet to calculate velocity of rising magma in steady-state Plinian eruptions using conservation of mass and momentum.

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Despite what we have learned from the theory of plate tectonics, the specifics of how those plate motions contribute to movement along faults remain a matter of much debate. Since the discovery of plate tectonics, scientists have recognized that earthquake activity, both the orientation and magnitude, is related to plate motions. However, efforts to total up the motion simply associated with earthquakes often falls far short of the plate motions. This suggests that plates have a way to slide past one another along faults without generating earthquakes, and discovering what controls whether faults produce earthquakes is critical for better characterizing seismic hazards around the world. Scientists are using a combination of GPS and seismometer recordings to investigate this issue. Some portions of a fault reveal traditional earthquake stick-slip behavior where gradual GPS motions show the fault is locked for a long time while plate motions cause stress to accumulate at the fault until the rocks break and the fault moves over the span of minutes generating large seismic signals and an abrupt GPS motion. In 2003, researchers discovered that portions of a fault also release accumulated stress more gradually over the course of several weeks in the form of a slow slip event that is accompanied by weak seismic tremors observed in a narrow frequency range that requires specific filtering to observe. These new phenomena are described as episodic tremor and slip as they recur on nearly an annual basis, much more frequently than large earthquakes which can have recurrence intervals of 50-5000 years. To better understand how faults move, this activity will examine both GPS and seismic data in the Cascadia region to identify key observations and build interpretation from them.

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Students of paleontology, evolutionary biology and Earth history will be best able to critically analyze readings about evolution if they have first hand experience generating their own evolutionary hypotheses. In this lab exercise, students apply the principles of cladistics to create evolutionary trees of fun, familiar objects. The candy bar lab concept -- expanded here - came from Dr. Robert Gaines of Pomona College.

Part A -- Candy bars: The instructor provides about 12 "taxa" of candy bar. Students are welcome to taste the samples as they work, but make sure some of each bar is left for examination. Working in groups, students assign characters and states to the candy taxa, decide what's synapomorphic, and sketch a cladogram (tree), marking where new characters or states arise. Toward the end of the period, groups share their findings with the rest of the class, and together all students decide on the best tree. As students discuss the validity of their characters and argue about how to arrive at the most parsimonious tree, they will begin to comprehend the rules -- and pitfalls -- of cladistic analysis. At this point, the instructor might have them actually enter character data into a computer program such as MacClade, and project the tree results for all to see and discuss.

Part B -- Get creative!: After the candy bar lab, the students' homework assignment is to construct a cladogram and evolutionary hypothesis about a group of objects of their choosing. Ideas for "taxa" include models of car (characters could include hatchback, 4WD, sunroof, number of seats, engine capacity, etc.), board games (spinner or dice, number of players, cards used, etc.), or rock bands (members, instruments, genre, etc.). Just about anything -- biological organisms excluded -- with enough characters and states can be used, and students enjoy coming up with unique approaches. Students will hand in a character matrix, hand-drawn tree with character transformations indicated, and an evolutionary narrative explaining the relationships among their group and discussing constraints and biases. Depending on the time allotted, and the instructor's expertise, this could go a step further with students entering character data into PAUP and/or MacClade to obtain computer-generated trees.

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In this multi-step lab, students explore the concepts of seismic wave propagation through materials with different mechanical properties, and examine seismic evidence from a recent earthquake to infer Earth's internal structure and composition. They calculate the diameter of Earth's core by comparing a model to recorded seismic data, then explore mechanical differences between the lithosphere and the asthenosphere, and then examine models of the boundary between the lithosphere and the asthenosphere. This lab is designed to be done with an instructor present to answer questions and guide students to conclusions.

Getting students to "put on paleontologists' hats" before their first fossil-hunting field trip allows for a more enriching field experience. Rather than handing out an instructor-prepared field guide (that few students read, anyway), the students essentially work up their own geologic/paleontologic interpretation of a site, using a custom toolkit they develop through classroom and homework exercises.
The activity begins with a worksheet that can be completed in groups during class (recommended) or as homework. Students are asked to imagine scenarios of fossil preservation, suggest factors that influence the completeness of the fossil record, and think of ways that fossil assemblages can give clues to the stratigraphic position and paleoenvironment of a rock formation. The instructor is involved as a guide, introducing concepts and terminology as needed. Students will also discuss -- with help from a textbook, specimens, or slide presentation - how the characteristics of major fossil groups might be used to identify a fossil in outcrop (for example, the coil of a gastropod, the pinnules of a crinoid).
Next, each student is assigned to be an expert on one taxon or faunal group that they will encounter on the trip. This requires reading a fossil identification guide or instructor-prepared handout. They will make an "expert's notecard" to bring along on the field trip, and will be expected to find and present examples of their fossil(s) on the field trip. The taxonomic level or groups assigned will vary depending on the fossil assemblage and the class size.
The activity culminates with the field experience, during which students keep a detailed field notebook (bringing along their in-class worksheets for reference). In the field, students will identify modes of preservation, assist one another as "experts" in fossil identification, and discuss the paleoecological and paleoenvironmental setting of the geologic section. After the field trip, the class compiles a faunal list for the site. Each student writes up an interpretation based on their individual observations and those made as a class.
This set of activities can be streamlined if, for instance, the field trip is only a small unit of a general geology course. Rather than using open-ended discussion questions on the preliminary worksheet, the instructor can assign reading or give a lecture that covers modes of preservation and other concepts that students will use to complete the worksheet. The goal remains, however, for students to think about what they will observe at the outcrop BEFORE they are on the rocks.

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This is a great activity for class sizes ranging from small seminars to lecture classes. It's particularly appropriate for courses that relate hazards/volcanism to culture, society, and human interest subjects like risk management. I designed it for a Volcanoes and Society class.

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In this activity, students will investigate the questions: What are the benefits/costs of 3 varieties of shower head types: standard, low flow, massage spray? Which would be best for a homeowner? For the university dorms?

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Analyzing an outcrop for the first time is challenging for many students. In an effort to prepare students for their field trip, this exercise gives students practice with basic outcrop analysis before going into the field. Although this exercise is not a substitute for a field experience, it requires students to think about what they should be observing and noting at an outcrop before visiting an actual field site. First, students watch a short video tutorial on analyzing an outcrop. Then, they are given a color photograph of an outcrop and a hand sample and complete a field notebook entry for the outcrop.

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Through a discussion board, students comment and respond to paper topics on the human impacts on sharks.

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Selecting one environmental situation students will learn about some basic human rights norms and then analyze that environmental situation in terms of those human rights norms.

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Lined up shoulder-to-shoulder, learners are the medium that P and S waves travel through in this simple, but effective demonstration. Once "performed", the principles of P and S waves will not be easily forgotten. This demonstration explores two of the four main ways energy propagates from the hypocenter of an earthquake as P and S seismic waves. The physical nature of the Human Wave demonstration makes it a highly engaging kinesthetic learning activity that helps students grasp, internalize and retain abstract information.

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This lab gives students a bare-bones introduction to one GIS software package, ArcMap. I hope that students will get comfortable with how GIS programs layer data, and that they will begin to appreciate the power of GIS for solving a wide variety of problems. Students access freely available shape files, and make a map of Lake Mead, the largest human-made reservoir in the United States. (It formed behind the Hoover Dam when that was constructed on the Colorado River in the 1930s.) Then, they compare the mass of water lost to evaporation from the surface of Lake Mead to the evaporation that was occurring from the surface of the pre-dam river. Finally, they make a map of some other location affected by human activities. This activity could easily be expanded to have students calculate the amount of sediment that has been trapped behind Lake Mead, because sediment depths are also available online.
Designed for a geomorphology course
Uses online and/or real-time data

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1) The students read an article from the literature on humans as geomorphic agents as an introduction to order-of-magnitude calculations.
2) The class discusses the article in a 50-minute class
3) The students complete a problem set that introduces them to dimensional analysis, walks them through a comparison of the article's results to natural geomorphic rates, and explores how the author derived the article's final numbers.
4) Once the students are done with the problem set, the class discusses the results and implications as a group.

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Students are asked to respond in a way they choose (as a class) to a geologic or weather related hazard. They begin with a study of the event, its causes and local effects. They then research the needs of the people affected. They research charities that serve the population affected. They choose a response (again, as a class). They educate the campus community about the geology/geography of the event, the needs and solicit donations.

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Students will be required to answer a series of simple questions for this assignment based on material covered in lecture. This assignment also allows students the experience of searching a website for more specific information about hurricane statistics that are not covered in lecture. Hurricane Katrina will be discussed in lecture. Students will see where Katrina falls relative to other major hurricanes while answering the questions.

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