Joints are very important to problems in applied geology (fluid flow, slope stability), but three-dimensional exposures of simple joint sets are not readily accessible from my campus. I developed this exercise based on the experiments of Miller (2001) to give students hands-on practice describing and interpreting joints.

For the exercise, I prepare a cornstarch-water mixture a few days in advance and pour it into plastic petri dishes. I add a "flaw" to each dish (typically a small pebble). As the cornstarch dries, vertical joints develop.

In class, each group of 3-4 students is provided a petri dish of desiccated cornstarch. Students are asked to draw a map of the joints, paying particular attention to intersection angles. (The joints curve to intersect at 90 degrees.) They determine relative ages of the joints using abutting relationships. (Typically 3-6 generations of joints.) Students next dissect the sample and describe the surface textures of the larger joints and the location of the flaw. The cornstarch produces beautiful plumose structure (hackles). Students then interpret the joint propagation direction from the surface textures, and note the origin of the joint. (Typically, a first- or second-generation joint initiates at the flaw.) Students discuss the role of flaws in the initiation of joints in their groups.

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This second introductory lesson in GeoMapApp begins with a historical look at methods of surveying the seafloor, from lead line surveys to modern multibeam and side-scan sonar. Then, a series of instructions takes students trough the bathymetric tools of GeoMapApp. Activity includes both student and instructor versions.

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This is an online geologic mapping activity designed to mimic the experience of conducting a geologic mapping project over several days in a field area. Students download a physical topographic basemap and then plot structural data and interpret rock units and their placement on the map based on a collection of gigapan photos. Finally, students answer a series of questions based on the map pattern and some U-Pb analytical data to determine the chronology of deformation. The exercise requires students to integrate various fields of geology to piece together the geologic history of this hypothetical region, loosely based on the North American Cordillera.

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Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum/Geology of National Parks
Collection. Students create a histogram to examine the time between geyser
eruptions of Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park.

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This activity is a set of student-centered exercises that enable students to learn about the individual stories of Goldman environmental prize winners, the activism and organizing that grounds their work, and the underlying political and social contexts from which their struggles emerge. The lesson inspires critical reflection about justice, power, and democracy in green politics, and encourages ways to make personal connections to activism and environmental work.

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Using a combination of water, effervescent antacid tablets, dishwashing liquid and simple materials, students model volcanic eruptions to measure the intensity of explosivity and develop their own scale.

This laboratory exercise examines the linkages between ground and surface water hydrology and landscape evolution in the Interior Low Plateaus Region of Kentucky. The exercise focuses upon the origin of Mammoth Cave.

This page from the National Hurricane Center hosts a variety of still graphics that can be looped into animations of the storm's progress. Images include 3- and 5-day Watches and Warnings, Wind Swaths and Strike Probabilities.

In this exercise, we analyze the trends in the CO2 record monitored at Mauna Loa, (the 'Keeling Curve'). This is an exercise in data handling, interpolation, trend estimation and extrapolation.

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This activity has students bodily move as propagating seismic waves. They record their travel time along a string of measured length to compute average wave velocities. They then enact an earthquake, and use the time lag between wave arrival times and their computed speeds to determine the position of the epicenter.

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Utilizing online and traditional resources students will collect data on planets and moons in our solar system. Working collaboratively students will generate a spreadsheet of the data. After verifying one another's information, they will then use the spreadsheet to try and determine ways in which the Earth is unique amongst the objects in our solar system, including, but not limited to, the reasons behind Earth's ability to support life.

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An assignment teaching students about Kohler curves that enhances their quantitative skills.

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Each student randomly picks a card with a geologic event (written description and an image) on it. A timeline has 11 events, not including the formation of the Earth and today. Students attach their event where they think it should go on a 45.5' timeline (in the hallway) made out of paper adding tape and mark the location on the timeline. They return to the classroom and receive a list of age dates for each event. Each group figures out the scale (1 foot = 100 million years) and then moves their events to the correct locations. Students are asked how the position of the events changed, and answer other questions that reinforce the difference between human timescales and geologic timescales.

The powerpoint file below contains a template for making geologic event labels for the index cards. Instructors can tailor the geologic event list to fit their course.

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The purpose of this exercise is to integrate modeling with field data. The activity includes links to a "virtual field trip" of maps and photographs. Data from a creek is included in the field trip and students use an Excel spreadsheet model to analyze the data.

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In this introductory lab, students are introduced to the different components that make up the cryosphere and watch a NASA animation showing an example of how global land and sea ice coverage can change over the course of a single year. In the second part of the lab, students learn about some of the ways that changes in the cryosphere are already impacting human life.

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In this introductory activity, students view and interpret a satellite visualization movie of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season that shows a composite of Atlantic Basin satellite imagery and sea surface temperatures overlaid with hurricane paths and names. Through close examination of this movie, students develop a generalized understanding of the multiple systems and process that influence hurricane life cycles. A whole class discussion of the movie after the viewing will elicit questions that form the basis of later investigations in the Investigating Hurricanes unit.

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Students begin this investigation by watching several short videos and reading a NOAA article to learn about some some of the ways that declining fish populations have come to be, what fishing management and sustainable catches mean, and how the U.S. established fisheries to monitor fishing. In Part B, students examine graphs and read data maps to explore how the increase in the global number of fishing vessels and the ability for fishing to take place over more of the global ocean by more people than ever before led to a decline in the numbers of fish available. The investigation concludes with students reading the data from the UN's FAO to learn about how fish are used after they're caught - both for food and non-food uses.

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Students are introduced to four major components of the Earth system: the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and pedosphere. They start to apply this knowledge as they visit the local study site to identify elements of these four spheres and infer connections among them. The investigation concludes with students making predictions about ways that a change in the characteristics of one component of their study site might affect the characteristics of other components.

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Using data on the world's water distribution, students calculate the percentage of water that is available to humans and examine graphics that illustrate the distribution. Students develop a sense of where the world's water is located and how it moves through the Earth system.

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In this activity, students examine hydra, a fresh-water relative of coral, under a microscope to observe feeding behavior and identify stinging cells that are characteristic of corals. They also learn more about the individual animals that make up coral reefs and construct simple models of coral polyp anatomy and feeding behavior.

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