Ice core data allow students to explore a number of patterns while …
Ice core data allow students to explore a number of patterns while learning that researchers need to gather and interpret evidence to understand Earth's past. Students will explore core data collected in Western Greenland that document a few decades of Earth's atmosphere. Students are challenged to identify patterns and then use those patterns and background information to answer a few key questions. The data include measurements of temperature, dust, and atmospheric gases. Downloadable files are provided for those who intend to run the activity in person. For those running the activity with an online or virtual class, a separate page includes all of the necessary information for students to complete the activity, including an interactive graph and background readings. Support videos are provided.
Students learn far more from doing than from viewing. By seeing relationships …
Students learn far more from doing than from viewing. By seeing relationships that they have developed themselves, by diagraming those relationships themselves, students learn far more than merely reading over what someone else has done. It is argued that especially for the dynamic problems encountered in environmental and resource economics, Excel has a comparative advantage as a learning aid. We develop a simple, flexible Excel assignment to illustrate the Brander and Taylor (1998) model of the Easter Island economy. Brander and Taylor argue that on Easter Island a crucial natural resource, the island's palm forest, was an open-access (res nullius) resource, leading to over harvesting and eventual societal collapse. Brander and Taylor's simple model showing the interaction of human population with a renewable resource, a forest, mimics what is known about the human population and forest from archaeological evidence.
The open access institutional protection of renewable resources is illustrated by a simple diagram of population and resource stock over centuries, a model much like ordinary predator-prey models in biology. Variations on the basic Brander and Taylor model, such as changes in propoerty rights institutions and/or changes in technology, based on published work in the literature, can be explored and compared to the original Brander and Taylor results of boom and eventual collapse.
Brander, J.A. and M.S. Taylor (1998). The simple economics of Easter Island: A Ricardo -- Malthus model of renewable resource use. American Economic Review
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Through this lesson and its series of hands-on mini-activities, students answer the …
Through this lesson and its series of hands-on mini-activities, students answer the question: How can we investigate and measure the inside of an object or its structure if we cannot take it apart? Unlike the destructive nuclear weapon test (!), nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods are able to accomplish this. After an introductory slide presentation, small groups rotate through five mini-activity stations: 1) applying Maxwell’s equations, 2) generating currents, 3) creating magnetic fields, 4) solving a system of equations, and 5) understanding why the finite element method (FEM) is important. Through the short experiments, students become familiar with the science and physics being used and make the mathematical connections. They explore components of NDE and see how engineers find unseen flaws and cracks in materials that make aircraft. A pre/post quiz, slide presentation and worksheet are included.
Students apply the main research methods in sociology to explore their personal …
Students apply the main research methods in sociology to explore their personal footprints (i.e., the global consequences of their individual actions).
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An activity in which students use dice to explore radioactive decay and …
An activity in which students use dice to explore radioactive decay and dating and make simple calculations.
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Using a map showing the horizontal velocities of GPS stations in the …
Using a map showing the horizontal velocities of GPS stations in the Plate Boundary Observatory and other GPS networks in Alaska and Western United States, students are able to describe the motions in different regions by interpreting the vectors resulting from long-term high-precision Global Positioning System (GPS) data. Show more information on NGSS alignment Hide NGSS ALIGNMENT Disciplinary Core Ideas History of Earth: HS-ESS1-5 Earth' Systems: MS-ESS2-2 Earth and Human Activity: MS-ESS3-2, HS-ESS3-1 Science and Engineering Practices 4. Analyzing and Interpreting Data 5. Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking 6. Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions Crosscutting Concepts 4. Systems and System Models 7. Stability and Change
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Google Earth enhances traditional geologic maps by allowing the viewer to explore …
Google Earth enhances traditional geologic maps by allowing the viewer to explore three-dimensional map patterns and the interaction between structure and topography in dictating those map patterns. This activity overlays 4, 7.5' USGS quadrangles on Google Earth terrain and imagery data and encourages students to investigate common features of fold-and-thrust belts.
Keywords: Google Earth, fold-and-thrust belt, visualization
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This activity utilized Visible Geology and Google Earth to help students understand …
This activity utilized Visible Geology and Google Earth to help students understand the limitations of using map-view observations of layer offset to interpret types of faulting. Students create and evaluate three fault models in Visible Geology, and compare their results to actual fault offset patterns seen near Las Vegas Bay, NV.
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The purpose of this task is to give 4th grade students a …
The purpose of this task is to give 4th grade students a problem involving an unknown quantity that has a clear visual representation. Students must understand that the four interior angles of a rectangle are all right angles and that right angles have a measure of 90_ and that angle measure is additive.
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach second …
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach second graders about finding the amount of water with illustrations and calculations.
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach second …
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach second graders about finding the capacity of water with illustrations (metric units).
A few PowerPoint or Keynote slides are used to set the historical …
A few PowerPoint or Keynote slides are used to set the historical context of the project and to introduce the general problem (see "Presentation Files" and "Instructors Notes" below). Bouncing a rubber ball in class from differing heights above the floor, and letting students see and hear the effects of differing travel times, helps students understand that longer travel time in a reflection experiment indicates a deeper reflector. The relevant parts of YouTube videos are shown (see links under "Other Materials" below). Have the students measure the time interval between the explosion and the impact a few times while showing the videos. One of the correspondents talks about (and attempts to show) how the bridge vibrated after the explosion. Pass out the worksheet and the raw seismograms related to the Hoan demolition experiment. Then, with a copy of the seismograms projected onto the screen, hold an initial discussion of how to interpret the graphics: note the time scale, discuss what the different wave amplitudes mean, and so on. Then cluster into groups of 2-4 students and have each group try to "pick" the first arrivals of [1] the explosion-induced direct wave, [2] the impact-induced direct wave, and [3] the corresponding reflected waves. Depending on the type of students involved (intro non-geologists, intro geology/geophysics, geophysics), the teacher can provide more or less assistance in picking the arrivals of the direct and reflected waves. Work through the quantitative material on the worksheet. Questions about how to handle uncertainty always occur, and if the students do not admit to having questions about this the teacher should ask them how they handle uncertainties. In a nutshell, the resultant uncertainty associated with the sum or difference in two numbers are the sum of the two uncertainties. For example, (23 �� 2) + (14 �� 1) = 37 �� 3. The resultant uncertainty associated with the product of two numbers can be estimated with the sum of the fractional (or percentage) uncertainties. For example, the percentage uncertainty of 23 �� 2 is (2/23) or 8.7% and the percentage uncertainty of 14 �� 1 is (1/14) or 7.1 %, so (23 �� 2) x (14 �� 1) = 322 �� 51 because (8.7% + 7.1%) = 15.8% and 15.8% of 322 is ~51. For a nice summary of simple uncertainty calculations, refer to http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys273/uncert/uncert.html or http://webpages.ursinus.edu/lriley/ref/unc/unc.html, or the statistics resources on the SERC website. When the worksheets are completed, recap the experiment and compare the results with a map of crustal thicknesses for North America (e.g., Braile, 1989, Fig. 23B). Finally, it is nice to have the students evaluate the experience as homework.
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This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth …
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about finding the total amount of liquid in liters and milliliters.
In this module, students calculate the pressure at the depth of compensation …
In this module, students calculate the pressure at the depth of compensation along a cross section of North America.
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In this module, students examine Archimede's Principle in general and as it …
In this module, students examine Archimede's Principle in general and as it applies to Isostacy.
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Students are asked to numerically and then analytically determine the relations governing …
Students are asked to numerically and then analytically determine the relations governing the depth of compensation.
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Students are asked to numerically and then analytically determine the relations governing …
Students are asked to numerically and then analytically determine the relations governing the depth of compensation.
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SSAC Geology of National Parks module/Geology of National Parks course. Students calculate …
SSAC Geology of National Parks module/Geology of National Parks course. Students calculate probabilities using USGS hydrograph data, a spreadsheet of daily stage heights, and the COUNTIF function.
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This assignment asks students to do a flood frequency analysis to determine …
This assignment asks students to do a flood frequency analysis to determine the size and stage of various floods and determine if the town of Crawford, OH is likely to be flooded or not. Outcomes: learn to work with quantitative data, learn to use Excel, be able to use USGS data.
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