This activity takes place outside of the classroom and requires ~1 hour to complete. Students recreate the map of the Mt. St. Helens ash plume of 1980 and use their maps to answer a series of questions about this ashfall.

This assignment is given near the end of the semester when the students have had a chance to learn about a lot about the fossil record. The major goal is for the students to have the opportunity to delve into a topic in more detail than we can normally do during the course of the semester. It also allows the student to demonstrate that they have internalized some of the major ideas in the class including the geologic time scale, fossils and fossilization, past environments and the roles organisms play in their ecosystem. Lastly, it should be fun and enjoyable assignment for the students.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This assignment titled “My Interdisciplinary Perspective on Climate Change” was developed in Fall 2020 as the signature assignment of the STEM Learning Community LC50 for students enrolled in the Biology program of the Natural Sciences department, at LaGuardia Community College, CUNY. The assignment targets Integrative Learning and Global Learning Core Competencies, and Digital/Oral Communication Abilities.
For this STEM Cluster, “Climate Change” is the shared theme that connects learning from the different disciplines and helps build students’ overall knowledge on an imperative issue that our planet currently faces. Work on this assignment entails a narrated digital student presentation on the various aspects of Climate Change such as causes, global effects and manifestations, and possible remedial solutions or suggested actions. Students also practice summarizing the research and learning on this theme from the various courses undertaken in the first semester.
The main goal of this signature assignment is to make connections among the ideas, experiences and learning acquired among the different courses, assignments and co-curricular activities of this semester that contributed to the students’ understanding of this global phenomenon. This high-stakes assignment is worth 20% of the final grade in NSF 101: First Year Seminar for Natural Sciences (program-core course). Students are guided by all four instructors of the Learning Community, which comprises of the courses- NSF 101, MAT 115: College Algebra and Trigonometry, ENG 101: Composition I, and HUC 106: Public Speaking, through a 12-week scaffolded process to complete work and showcase their findings as a well-informed Biology major and responsible citizen of society. This assignment meets the NSF101 learning objectives and helps the students to hone their skills on the targeted Core Competencies (Global/Integrative Learning) and Communication Abilities (Digital/Oral), thereby increasing their chances of being successful in the subsequent 200-level classes of their major.
LaGuardia's Core Competencies and Communication Abilities
Student artifacts were deposited for this assignment at the end of the semester for college-wide Benchmark Readings 2021, and the Fall 2020 Learning Communities Seminar (as the LC assignment). Due to the serious COVID-related situation in New York state in Fall 2020, including high incidence of the disease and the associated challenging and technical issues at some students’ end, more emphasis was placed on helping the students learn how to prepare a digital presentation embodying their work on science, data analysis, writing and communication skills, while incorporating elements of integrative and global learning from all four classes on Climate Change. However, when the assignment is implemented again in the future, both Digital and Oral Communication Abilities will be fostered in all student work. It is noteworthy that some students managed to cover both these abilities in their work in Fall 2020 also.

(Nota: Esta es una traducción de un recurso educativo abierto creado por el Departamento de Educación del Estado de Nueva York (NYSED) como parte del proyecto "EngageNY" en 2013. Aunque el recurso real fue traducido por personas, la siguiente descripción se tradujo del inglés original usando Google Translate para ayudar a los usuarios potenciales a decidir si se adapta a sus necesidades y puede contener errores gramaticales o lingüísticos. La descripción original en inglés también se proporciona a continuación.)

Para ayudar a los educadores con la implementación del Core Common Core, el Departamento de Educación del Estado de Nueva York proporciona módulos curriculares en las artes del lenguaje y las matemáticas del idioma inglés P-12 que las escuelas y los distritos pueden adoptar o adaptarse para fines locales. El plan de estudios de matemática de año completo del año 7 está disponible en los enlaces del módulo.

Encuentre el resto de los recursos Engageny ELA en https://archive.org/details/engageny-ela-archive.

English Description:
In order to assist educators with the implementation of the Common Core, the New York State Education Department provides curricular modules in P-12 English Language Arts and Mathematics that schools and districts can adopt or adapt for local purposes. The full year of Grade 7 Mathematics curriculum is available from the module links.

Find the rest of the EngageNY ELA resources at https://archive.org/details/engageny-ela-archive .

(Nota: Esta es una traducción de un recurso educativo abierto creado por el Departamento de Educación del Estado de Nueva York (NYSED) como parte del proyecto "EngageNY" en 2013. Aunque el recurso real fue traducido por personas, la siguiente descripción se tradujo del inglés original usando Google Translate para ayudar a los usuarios potenciales a decidir si se adapta a sus necesidades y puede contener errores gramaticales o lingüísticos. La descripción original en inglés también se proporciona a continuación.)

Para ayudar a los educadores con la implementación del Core Common Core, el Departamento de Educación del Estado de Nueva York proporciona módulos curriculares en las artes del lenguaje y las matemáticas del idioma inglés P-12 que las escuelas y los distritos pueden adoptar o adaptarse para fines locales. El plan de estudios de matemática de año completo del año 7 está disponible en los enlaces del módulo.

Encuentre el resto de los recursos Engageny ELA en https://archive.org/details/engageny-ela-archive.

English Description:
In order to assist educators with the implementation of the Common Core, the New York State Education Department provides curricular modules in P-12 English Language Arts and Mathematics that schools and districts can adopt or adapt for local purposes. The full year of Grade 7 Mathematics curriculum is available from the module links.

Find the rest of the EngageNY ELA resources at https://archive.org/details/engageny-ela-archive .

(Nota: Esta es una traducción de un recurso educativo abierto creado por el Departamento de Educación del Estado de Nueva York (NYSED) como parte del proyecto "EngageNY" en 2013. Aunque el recurso real fue traducido por personas, la siguiente descripción se tradujo del inglés original usando Google Translate para ayudar a los usuarios potenciales a decidir si se adapta a sus necesidades y puede contener errores gramaticales o lingüísticos. La descripción original en inglés también se proporciona a continuación.)

Para ayudar a los educadores con la implementación del Core Common Core, el Departamento de Educación del Estado de Nueva York proporciona módulos curriculares en las artes del lenguaje y las matemáticas del idioma inglés P-12 que las escuelas y los distritos pueden adoptar o adaptarse para fines locales. El plan de estudios de matemática de año completo del año 7 está disponible en los enlaces del módulo.

Encuentre el resto de los recursos Engageny ELA en https://archive.org/details/engageny-ela-archive.

English Description:
In order to assist educators with the implementation of the Common Core, the New York State Education Department provides curricular modules in P-12 English Language Arts and Mathematics that schools and districts can adopt or adapt for local purposes. The full year of Grade 7 Mathematics curriculum is available from the module links.

Find the rest of the EngageNY ELA resources at https://archive.org/details/engageny-ela-archive .

This is a Physical Science journal that supports student investgation of forces of change and nanoscale.

This teacher's edition provides suggestions for using the Nanoleap Student Journal in the classroom. Nanoleap is a Physical Science journal that supports student investgation of forces of change and nanoscale.

Students analyze the natural disaster threat and potential mitigation techniques of their (family) home.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Students characterize how climate change impacts natural hazards and pose research-based solutions to the county Emergency Management Agency. Presentations require the use of local data, created figures, and reliable sources. This activity builds from an assignment which has students identify and describe projected local climate trends using the USGS National Climate Change Viewer followed by Unit 1 and 2 of the Map Your Hazards InTeGrate Module.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Students apply the concepts learned in the class by preparing two (2) term projects discussing two natural hazards and how they impact the area where the student lives (or an area the student might like to live in).

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

There are two parts to this exercise but they are stand-alone if desired. The first part deals with the nature of science: what is science, what does it involve, and what makes science good? It is aimed at one particular paper but any paper could be used. The second part is about a heinous case of scientific fraud and the legal action associated with it. Probing questions make students think about the most important factors, implications, and questions.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This activity guides students through the process needfinding to identify areas of need for their creation of a technology for the "public good." Students will conduct contextual inquiry to identify the needs of their target audience.

Comments
Although this activity can be used in isolation, it is intended to be part of a series guiding students towards the creation of a front-end of a website. The series (all published as OER) consist of:

a) Needfinding
b) Personas, Scenarios and Storyboards
c) Front-end Website Design and Development
d) Accessibility Evaluation

This course will start with the conceptual framework of negotiations as it applies to all areas of negotiation in both the public and private sectors. As the course progresses, you will focus on business negotiation skills and strategies designed to help you maintain healthy business relationships. Specifically, you will learn about the concepts, processes, strategies, and ethical issues related to negotiation as well as appropriate conduct in multicultural business contexts. You will also learn to better understand the theory, processes, and practices of negotiation, conflict resolution, and relationship management so that you can be a more effective negotiator in a wide variety of situations. If you take advantage of the opportunities this course offers, you will be more comfortable and more productive managing negotiations as well as professional and personal relationships.

The project involves measurement of stratigraphic sections in the field and completion of a report that summarizes the nature of the section and a variety of interpretations. It includes data collection, separate interpretations of depositional processes and paleoenvironments, use of cut slabs and thin sections, and the use of mock expert "consulting" sessions with groups of students.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

The digital age has created the need for a new kind of literacy-a literacy that empowers news consumers to determine whether information is credible, reliable and truthful. This is not just a skill; it is a new core competency for the 21st century. So-called “fake news” is hard to spot and spreads easily, leading to disagreements over basic facts. The antidote to the growing challenges posed by this digital revolution is news literacy. This mini news literacy course includes two three-hour sessions that will teach anyone to become a more critical consumer of news.

This is an exercise that is used in an undergraduate, non-major course titled "Coral Reefs: Biology, Geology & Policy". The course uses this popular environment as a proxy for environmental decline in general and has two broad goals beyond the course content: 1) to encourage science majors to think about complex environmental problems outside the context of their individual major, and 2) to help non-majors understand the scientific thought process in the context of their own personal interests and opinions.The computer model described here was built to provide a user-friendly interface that is visually stimulating but non-"threatening" to math-phobic students. It runs on FREE software that can be run on any computer. It can be run and modified by an instructor or student with no modeling skills.For this exercise, it demonstrates how losses of grazing fish and/or the addition of nutrients to the reef system will reduce the relative abundance of corals and algae on the reef - leading to eventual decline. The main lessons for the students are:1) If you increase a particular stress, there is often little or no change until suddenly the system rapidly declines.2) If multiple stresses are added, the pattern is more complicated but basically the same. 3) Once the system collapses, simply returning to the "safe" side of the collapse threshold has no result.The Big Picture: All of this is referred to as "non-linearity" and demonstrates that on the reef (as in most natural systems), it's a LOT easier (and cheaper) to not "break it" in the first place than it is to "fit it" once it crashes.
Coral Reefs
Computer Model
Modeling
Environmental change
Diversity
Reef Decline
Anthropogenic Stress

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

To prepare for this assignment, the students read and discuss the article "Lying with Maps," which describes different ways to display quantitative attributes on maps, and argues (in part) that map authors need to be aware of whether they are appropriately representing their data through choices of symbols and colors. The students apply these ideas through making maps of three quantitative characteristics of New Jersey's population: total population, racial distribution, and age distribution. They summarize their efforts through a written description of their mapping choices to justify why they opted for certain symbology choices, and why they didn't choose other options.

This website features many of the OER conversion projects completed at John Jay College over the past few years. Class conversions using the Blackboard platform are not represented because of the BB firewall. These are not the actual LibGuides, but content from the LibGuides, using the LibGuide platform for access. The entire website is public.

The left navigation panel displays the academic departments with the overview and objective of the department. Also, navigation to the specific departmental classes, with corresponding OER content, are found at the bottom of the academic department pages. You can also directly navigate to the specific converted class, by clicking on the course title under the department tab. When clicking on a specific class (e.g. Science 110), the link takes you to the course description, learning outcomes of the course and a link to the OER content for the specific course. The OER content features creative commons OER Textbooks, vetted open Internet sites, academic journal articles and library owned streaming video, requiring a login to the John Jay Library. Each academic department features a link to "Discussion and Comments". In addition all pages have navigation arrows to previous pages and next pages. On many of the OER content pages, the class calendar by week is featured with links to the reading assignments. In addition to the specific OER content by class, there is a link at the top of the main page to access generic OER by subject and/or topic.