Going Viral STEM Kit. The Natural Sciences Education & Outreach Center collaborates with CSU faculty, National Parks and citizen science programs to translate their current scientific research into unique STEM experiences for students in the form of Educational Kits that can be checked out. Each kit contains just about all of the materials needed (minus common things like water and paper towels) to explore some really interesting scientific research topics.The kits are available for teachers and informal educators in Colorado to check out for a duration of a week by submitting either a local pickup form or a delivery form available at the linked website. Please use the contact information on the STEM Kit overview page to learn more. https://www.cns-eoc.colostate.edu/stem-kits/ This kit is provided free for educational use. This resource is also available in Spanish in the linked file.

Because there is not a lot of surface structure to map in glacial terranes of the midwest, especially in big cities, various simulations can help. This is a "big-city" simulation of making a geologic map and interpreting the structure of a small area (a cemetery) by measuring the strike and dip of gravestones. This field activity is followed by lab work, including plotting the attitudes on stereonets and interpreting the patterns.

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Runoff in urban areas is an increasingly important issue when it comes to water quality. It is a major hydrologic issue in New York City, as urban infrastructure creates excess runoff and impervious surfaces decrease the infiltration rate of land surfaces. This excess runoff, which often times carries with it pollutants and contaminants, has proven to create water quality issues. It has become ever more critical to try to mitigate the influx of runoff into our waterways. Urbanization increases runoff, and in NYC 64% of the area is impervious.
In this module students will explore green roofs as a potential solution to the environmental impacts of increased precipitation brought on by climate change. They will evaluate data collected from studies on 15 green roofs from different areas of the US and other countries, as well as historical precipitation data from Central Park in NY to illustrate how precipitation patterns are changing and if we need to use green infrastructure, such as green roofs, to combat the symptoms of climate change. Students will also use Model My Watershed , a watershed-modeling web app, to analyze real land use data, model storm-water runoff and water-quality impacts using professional-grade models, and compare how different conservation or development scenarios could modify runoff and water quality.

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Students work in pairs to survey seafood items sold in local grocery stores or fish markets, recording whether items are farm-raised or wild caught, fresh, frozen or preserved, as well as country of origin. Students use the Seafood Watch website to research the status of each seafood item (e.g., best choice, good choice or avoid). Class data is compiled in an online or Excel spreadsheet. Students use class data to create bar graphs and pie charts of the data for the different categories. Students turn in individual analyses and answer questions based on class results.

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Groundwater accounts for only 0.75% of all water on Earth, yet it is a precious resource for the biosphere. In the United States, about one-fifth of the population taps into the groundwater reservoir of the hydrologic cycle as their main source of drinking water. However, worldwide, about 40% of all irrigation water comes from groundwater, and up to 80% of groundwater withdrawals are used for agriculture. Groundwater is also at risk and vulnerable to pollution, especially in areas with karst topography such as Tampa FL. Thus, the more people who understand the potential and the problems associated with groundwater, the better are the prospects for this resource.

Student materials for this exercise include a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with with data for dye tests and elevations, a .zip archive with two versions of the topographic map (PDF and JPG), as well as the instruction sheet. The exercise is divided into three parts.

In Part I, students study the Sulphur Springs topographic quadrangle and identify features of karst topography on the map. This part of the exercise also reviews basic groundwater terminology.

Part II involves transferring hydraulic head information from Microsoft Excel to a simplified sketch map of the quadrange and drawing contour lines on the potentiometric surface. Next, students use the contour lines to add arrows indicating the direction of groundwater flow. Finally, students apply their knowledge to determine which lakes could be affected by a toxic spill within the quadrangle.

In Part III, students study the results of dye tests in the Sulphur Springs quadrangle to analyze the flow of groundwater. They also use elevation data to construct a vertical cross section that illustrates the ground surface, the water table, and the potentiometric surface for the Floridan aquifer, and they relate the cross section to features on the topographic map.

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In this activity students work in groups to investigate the problem of Gulf of Mexico hypoxia before developing mitigation strategies based on local contriubtions to the problem. The students present their ideas in a public meeting debate format from which a solution must be selected by the entire class.

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In this group task students collect data and investigate whether there is a relationship between height and hand size among the students in the class.

Minerals are inorganic chemical compounds with a wide range of physical and chemical properties. Geologists frequently measure and observe properties such as hardness, specific gravity, color, etc. Unfortunately, students usually view these properties simply as tools for identifying unknown mineral specimens. One of the objectives of this exercise is to make students aware of the fact that minerals have many additional properties that can be measured, and that all of the physical and chemical properties of minerals have important applications beyond that of simple mineral identification.
Please do not let the title of this exercise scare you away. Introducing students to thermodynamics is not the primary objective. Getting students to "do" science - to observe, record, and interpret experimental data - is the primary goal. Heat capacity just happens to be a good vehicle for this purpose.

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The is a curriculum module from the project Data Sets and Inquiry in Geoscience Education (DIGS). The module consists of a week-long unit and two-day performance assessment in which students apply the inquiry skills to problem-based investigations of urban micro-climates. The unit and performance assessment present semi-parallel tasks but about different cities (Phoenix and Chicago).

Sudents draw conclusions about the extent to which multiple decades of temperature data about Phoenix suggest that a shift in local climate is taking place as opposed to exhibiting nothing more than natural variability. The data are from the Global Climate Historical Network (GHCN) database. GHCN is a large, multi-year, international project to measure temperature, precipitation, and air pressure from near the ground. Each monthly maximum and minimum temperature is the highest and lowest temperature reading for the month, measured in Celsius. In Phoenix and in most other places, the temperature data are collected at local airports. The performance assessment for this module requires that students apply the methods and findings from the investigation of the climate data for Phoenix to climate data for Chicago. The Chicago data shows less evidence of trends in temperature change, and this is most evident comparing the night-time minimum temperature fluctuations between the two cities. Chicago also exhibits less increase in urban development and population growth than does Phoenix. In contrast to the curriculum unit, which primarily uses constructed-response tasks to encourage student explanation and discussion, the climate assessment tasks pose explicit selected- and constructed-response questions to ensure that the items elicit the intended thinking and hence provide evidence of the targeted standards-aligned skills and understandings.

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This Statistics resource was developed under the guidance and support of experienced high school teachers and subject matter experts. It is presented here in multiple formats: PDF, online, and low-cost print. Statistics offers instruction in grade-level appropriate concepts and skills in a logical, engaging progression that begins with sampling and data and covers topics such as probability, random variables, the normal distribution, and hypothesis testing. This content was developed with students in mind, incorporating statistics labs, worked exercises, and additional opportunities for assessment that incorporate real-world statistical applications. For instructors, resources are available to support the implementation of the Statistics textbook, including a Getting Started Guide, direct instruction presentations, and a solutions manual.

This homework has two parts. In the first part, the students use Stoke's Law to determine (a) the relative sizes of olivine and plagioclase settling at the same velocity (and relate their answer to observations made on cumulate rocks in the lab, (b) the length of time it would take a xenolith-bearing basalt on Hawaii to reach the surface, and (c) to realize that pumice landing on seawater will float, not sink! In part 2, the students fill out a worksheet to see the effects of simultaneous fractional crystallization of olivine, clinopyroxene, and plagioclase on residual melt composition, and then determine whether the melt follows a tholeiitic or calcalkaline trend. The homework involves simple algebra, but several unit conversions and normalization of the results. After the students hand in the homework, we have a class discussion on the assumptions and problems associated with using Stoke's Law to model magmatic processes. We also work with different colored marbles to see the effects of fractional removal of different "minerals" on residual magma composition. My main goal in assigning this homework is to have students see that they can use simple math to come up with results for themselves, and then to have them think about the significance of those results.

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Students will create and compare dot and box plots that show the percentages of single-mother and single-father households in different regions of the United States.

Calculation of a carbon footprint resulting from common breakfast choices illustrates the importance of contextualization.

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Students will use U.S. Census Bureau data to learn how population pyramids describe population structures and to calculate age range population percentages for a selected state that will help them create a population pyramid.

SSAC Physical Volcanology module. Students build a spreadsheet to examine how magma viscosity varies with temperature, fraction of crystals, and water content using the non-Arrhenian VFT model.

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SSAC Physical Volcanology module. Students build spreadsheets to estimate melt density at high temperatures and pressures from the thermodynamic properties of silicates.

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Students use real seismograms to determine the arrival times for P and S waves and use these times to determine the distance of the seismic station from the earthquake. Seismograms from three stations are provided to determine the epicenter using the S -- P (S minus P) method. Because real seismograms contain some "noise" with resultant uncertainty in locating arrival times of P and S waves, this activity promotes appreciation for uncertainties in interpretation of real scientific data.

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Students will collect, organize, and compare data about the number of girls and the number of boys in their classroom who play sports, take lessons, and participate in clubs. Then students will compare these classroom data with U.S. Census Bureau data for girls and boys across the United States. Teachers may choose to adapt this activity for different data if other categories are more applicable to their students.

SSAC Physical Volcanology module. Students build a spreadsheet to examine and apply the Mogi model for horizontal and vertical surface displacement vs. depth and pressure conditions in the magma chamber.

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This task uses student generated data to assess standard 7.SP.7. This task could also be extended to address Standard 7.SP.1 by adding a small or whole class discussion of whether the class could be considered as a representative sample of all students at your school.