The goal of this exercise is to illustrate how each municipality needs …
The goal of this exercise is to illustrate how each municipality needs to have a energy portfolio that is specific to their needs.
The students analyze a spreadsheet that links % of energy types to 6 output categories; cost, environmental impact, NIMBY, and three types of industrial emissions. As the students input % values for each energy type the overall value of each output category is calculated.
The challenge is for the students to come up with energy plans for multiple cities. Each of these cities would have different limits on either the maximum % of an energy type or one of the specific categories.
Example: Detroit, Michigan would use a low cap on the cost category so their energy plan would need to be very affordable. Seattle, Washington would only allow for 2-3% solar because climactic conditions don't favor solar energy.
For the last portion of the activity the students would come up with a plan for their own town and then be able to look up the current plan at https://www.epa.gov/egrid/power-profiler#/. They could then discuss how their plan and the currently implemented plan compare.
After looking at census data, students will determine the birth years of …
After looking at census data, students will determine the birth years of children who were aged 8 through 11 in 2017. Then they will use their data to create a line graph, with an appropriate scale and axes labels, to compare and contrast the estimated number of births in their state and in another state during each year.
This exercise is centered around a suite of rocks from the Sierra …
This exercise is centered around a suite of rocks from the Sierra Nevada batholith. The activities are designed to give petrology students a capstone experience for the igneous portion of the upper-level Petrology course. Students are given thin sections with hand samples, a map and a table of geochemical analyses (in Excel format) and asked to record hand-sample and thin section observations with the idea that these will be used to understand processes that were active during batholith generation. By the time they encounter this lab, the students have spent at least 7 lab periods looking at a variety of igneous rocks and their textures. Because students are given geochemical analyses, they are also expected to experiment with the use of graphs (e.g., Harker and spider diagrams) to better understand tables of geochemical analyses. The students use observations about rocks and geochemistry to build a coherent story around these rocks; the final product is a short paper in which they use petrographic observations and geochemical diagrams to back up their interpretations.
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Dissolved ions are present in all freshwater systems, but humans can change …
Dissolved ions are present in all freshwater systems, but humans can change the chemical composition of freshwater in several ways. In this activity, students will examine the concentration of major ions in freshwater systems over time and reason about potential drivers of these changes.
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Many people live in regions prone to earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, …
Many people live in regions prone to earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, but the hazards and risks inherent in our communities may be very different. Making connections with learners from another location is a great way to share knowledge and practice science communication skills. Video conferencing applications like Zoom and Skype make it possible to connect with learners anywhere in the world. This activity provides a simple protocol, and a form for submitting a request to connect with a classroom teacher in Anchorage, Alaska.
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In this activity, students learn how to contour topographic data from three-dimensional …
In this activity, students learn how to contour topographic data from three-dimensional models that they create for themselves. Students examine how topographic contour lines differ based on different topographic features.
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Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum/Geology of National Parks module. Students work with a …
Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum/Geology of National Parks module. Students work with a color-coded conditional-formatted spreadsheet map to work through a USGS report applying a coastal vulnerability index.
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Students will examine data from the 1990–2010 censuses — and U.S. Census …
Students will examine data from the 1990–2010 censuses — and U.S. Census Bureau projections for 2010–2020 — on population changes in the U.S. island territories to make observations about the populations’ demographics and to make inferences about the purpose of such data.
Marshmallow Pig. This is the Lesson 3 Digging Deeper activity, from Unit …
Marshmallow Pig. This is the Lesson 3 Digging Deeper activity, from Unit 8 Animal Systems, from the DIGS (Developing Individuals, Growing Stewards) AmeriCorps Curriculum from CSU. The curriculum focuses on introducing students in grades 3-5 to Colorado agriculture, industry and environmental issues.The curriculum is matched to State Standards 2021. The curriculum upon request. Visit: https://engagement.colostate.edu/programs-old/developing-individuals-growing-stewards/
Students use an interactive online mass balance model help understand the observed …
Students use an interactive online mass balance model help understand the observed levels of chlorofluorocarbon CFC-12 over the recent past.
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This is designed as an introductory lab for hydrogeology or other upper-level …
This is designed as an introductory lab for hydrogeology or other upper-level courses that are quantitative in nature in order to review key mathematical concepts that will be used throughout the semester.
This is a visual demonstration of the effects of aquifer parameters and …
This is a visual demonstration of the effects of aquifer parameters and stresses on the size and shape of zones of contribution. With these simple Matlab routines, students can rapidly observe zones of contributions for different sets of input parameters.
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Uses 3 points of entry to introduce students to viscoelastic rheology: A …
Uses 3 points of entry to introduce students to viscoelastic rheology: A hands-on exercise with cake as the deformable material, an accessible example of an artificial material, and using literature to apply the concepts to post-glacial rebound in the British Isles.
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This hands-on demonstration illustrates how GPS can be used to measure the …
This hands-on demonstration illustrates how GPS can be used to measure the inflation and deflation of a volcano. Volcanoes may inflate when magma rises closer to the surface and deflate when the pressure dissipates or after an eruption.
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By measuring the spacing of fossil footprints it is possible to estimate …
By measuring the spacing of fossil footprints it is possible to estimate the speed of the trackmaker, but only after making several assumptions based on footprint size and the behavior of a wide range of living animals. A widely applied method for estimating speed from trackways was developed through the research of R. McNeill Alexander, an expert in biomechanics. This lab is a group exercise designed to lead students step-by-step through the methods and principles involved in estimating speed of movement from trackway data using Alexander's method. First students test the method on humans to see how accurate it is, and then they apply it to measurements taken from a variety of dinosaur trackways. This activity involves having students collect speed and footprint data on subjects while they are running and walking. The footprint data are analyzed and the speed estimates are compared to the actual measured speeds. Students then collect trackway measurements from published illustrations of dinosaur trackways to estimate dinosaur speeds. Students calculate the percent error for their experimental estimates and use this to interpret the results obtained from dinosaur trackways. Spreadsheets may be used to record and carry out the calculations in the analysis. Students are asked to discuss the significance of their results to ongoing debates over the physical capabilities of dinosaurs.
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With printouts of typical GPS velocity vectors found near different tectonic boundaries …
With printouts of typical GPS velocity vectors found near different tectonic boundaries and models of a GPS station, demonstrate how GPS work to measure ground motion.GPS velocity vectors point in the direction that a GPS station moves as the ground it is anchored to moves. The length of a velocity vector corresponds to the rate of motion. GPS velocity vectors thus provide useful information for how Earth's crust deforms in different tectonic settings.
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This lesson teaches middle and high school students to understand the architecture …
This lesson teaches middle and high school students to understand the architecture of GPS -- from satellites to research quality stations on the ground. This is done with physical models and a presentation. Then students learn to interpret data for the station's position through time ("time series plots"). Students represent time series data as velocity vectors and add the vectors to create a total horizontal velocity vector. They apply their skills to discover that the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is rifting Iceland. They cement and expand their understanding of GPS data with an abstraction using cars and maps. Finally, they explore GPS vectors in the context of global plate tectonics.
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Because the campuses of the University of Kansas and the University of …
Because the campuses of the University of Kansas and the University of Houston are almost directly on a N-S line we can duplicate many aspects of the classic measurement of Eratosthenese in determining the circumference of the Earth. We use a web cast (backed up by cell phones) to communicate between the two campuses in real time. We measure the shadow of a 2 m stick in both locations at the same time and then go through the math required to calculate the size of the planet.
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This lesson unit is intended to help teachers assess how well students …
This lesson unit is intended to help teachers assess how well students are able to: make sense of a real life situation and decide what math to apply to the problem; understand and calculate the conditional probability of an event A, given an event B, and interpret the answer in terms of a model; represent events as a subset of a sample space using tables, tree diagrams, and Venn diagrams; and interpret the results and communicate their reasoning clearly.
The calculation of the d-spacings, the angles between planes and zones, the …
The calculation of the d-spacings, the angles between planes and zones, the bond lengths and angles and other important geometric relationships for a mineral can be a tedious task for the student and the instructor, particularly when completed with the large assortment of trigonometric identities and algebraic formulae that are available. However, such calculations are straightforward and relatively easy to do when completed with the metrical matrix and the interactive software MATOP. Several applications of the matrix are presented here, each of which is worked out in detail and which is designed to teach its use in the study of crystal geometry.
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