Lesson introduces normal distribution and how it relates to standard deviation. It includes opportunities for students to notice key features of normal distribution graphs, reviews the concept of standard distribution and the empirical rule, and provides an interactive activity where they can practice adjusting normal distribution curves based on a different standard deviation or mean.

Students prepare for the exercise by reading about normal faults in the structural geology textbook. The class is divided into groups of 3-5 students. Each group is given two clear plastic shoe boxes, each of which has one end cut off so that one box slides lengthwise into the other box. Students are charged with running three extensional sandbox experiments during the class period, in which they fill the shoe box with sand having different physical properties (ex. grain size, clay content). The groups have access to materials (such as Saran plastic wrap) that can be used to line the boxes and provide different physical properties along the basal detachment. Students are assigned three main tasks: to explore a variety of physical parameters that may influence the characteristics of normal faults in analog models, to observe typical geometry and kinematics of normal fault development in an extensional setting, and to draw inferences and form hypotheses about the general controls on normal faulting. Students take notes on the conditions of each experiment, then write brief descriptions of geometric characteristics of the faults. They are asked to evaluate which observations appear to be repeatable from one experiment to another. After the groups have finished running experiments and taking notes, the class reassembles for an instructor-led brainstorming session. The instructor makes a list of student-generated observations, key parameters, and possible inferences on the board. The instructor leads the class in a discussion that addresses issues such as the key characteristics of normal faults, kinematics, mechanical principles, predictability of results, and the applications of analog models.

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An investigation of changes in polar regions using Google Earth.

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Using State Facts for Students, a data access tool from the U.S. Census Bureau, students will explore data about their state and voice their opinions on how the population has changed over time. Students will work in small groups to share their opinions, practicing oral communication and small-group discussion skills.

Estimating nutrient loads is a critical concept for students studying water quality in a variety of environmental settings. Many of these students will be asked to assess the impacts of a proposed anthropogenic activities on human water resources and/or ecosystems as part of their future careers. This module has students explore factors contributing to the actual loads of nitrogen that are transmitted down streams. Nitrogen is a key water quality contaminant contributing to surface water quality issues in fresh, salt and estuarine environments. Students will utilize real-time nitrate data from the US Geological Survey to calculate nitrate loads for several locations and investigate the interplay of concentration and discharge that contributes to the calculated loads.

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Provenance: Used with permission from the Chesapeake Bay Program: https://www.chesapeakebay.net/
Reuse: If you wish to use this item outside this site in ways that exceed fair use (see http://fairuse.stanford.edu/) you must seek permission from its creator.
The Chesapeake Bay waters receive input from rivers and streams from areas of Washington D.C, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, and some parts of New York and Pennsylvania. Historically, humongous amounts of water pollution from nutrients discharged from these locations have reportedly occurred in the waters of the Chesapeake Bay region, such that it was entered into the list of the "Clean Water Act Section 303(d): Impaired Waters and Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs)," compiled by the EPA. Water impairment occurs when a lake, river, or stream fails to meet specific water quality standards, according to its classification and intended use.
According to the Chesapeake Bay Program, established in 1983 to reduce pollution and restore the ecosystem, "Plants and animals need nutrients to survive. But when too many nutrients enter waterways, they fuel the growth of algae blooms and create conditions that are harmful to underwater life." Source: Chesapeake Bay Program: Learn the Issues.

In this task, students are able to conjecture about the differences and similarities in the two groups from a strictly visual perspective and then support their comparisons with appropriate measures of center and variability. This will reinforce that much can be gleaned simply from visual comparison of appropriate graphs, particularly those of similar scale.

Data modeling activity using oil reserve and consumption data. Students predict when oil reserves meet or exceed reserves.

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Students use the height and radius of Olympus Mons to estimate its volume. They then propose a method to estimate the volume of lava that has erupted over from the Hawaiian hotspot over time. I then show them a graph of the cumulative volcanic volume as a function of distance from Kilauea (from Clague and Dalrymple). They compare these volumes and also consider the possibility that some of the lava erupted from the Hawaiian hotspot has been subducted.

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This exercise is based on recent crystallographic research on the olivine crystal structure published by Redfern et al. (2000). The authors of this study synthesized Fa50 olivine olivine (MgFeSiO4) in an experimental apparatus at temperatures ranging from 100 to 1250 ��C, quenched the experiments, and used in situ neutron powder diffraction techniques to investigate changes in the synthesized olivines as a function of temperature. While this study reports cutting-edge materials research carried out with the latest crystallographic techniques, the results are educationally instructive and illustrate important concepts normally covered in an undergraduate mineralogy course.

In this exercise, students are guided into the American Mineralogist Crystal Structure Database to retrieve and download published crystal structure data for viewing in either the CrystalMaker or XtalDraw visualization software packages. The students are instructed on how to manipulate the structures and are asked to plot some of the crystallographic data from this study on graphs using a spreadsheet program such as Excel.

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Students will use census data from a sample of 136 U.S. counties and other sample data to make estimates about the U.S. population that is 65 or older in all other counties and about other variables, using normal distribution models.

To prepare for the activity, students do background reading on rheology from structural geology textbook. In the lab, students are provided with the required analogue model materials (rubber sheets attached to aluminum grips, silicon goo, and straw). Their task is to apply specific type of deformations on the materials, make measurements, and calculate properties of the deformation.

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LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Identify and distinguish between a parameter and a statistic.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Explain the concepts of sampling variability and sampling distribution.

Here is the link to the new Passion-Driven Statistics e-book!

Github book https://bit.ly/PDSe-book

pdf version https://bit.ly/PDSpdf

Passion-Driven Statistics is an NSF-funded, multidisciplinary, project-based curriculum that supports students in conducting data-driven research, asking original questions, and communicating methods and results using the language of statistics. The curriculum supports students to work with existing data covering psychology, health, earth science, government, business, education, biology, ecology and more. From existing data, students are able to pose questions of personal interest and then use statistical software (e.g. SAS, R, Python, Stata, SPSS) to answer them. The e-book is presented in pdf format for ease of use across platforms.

http://bit.ly/EditPDSe-book

For more information, contact Lisa Dierker, ldierker@wesleyan.edu or check out the Passion-Driven Statistics website at https://passiondrivenstatistics.com/

This short activity provides an intuitive introduction to earthquake magnitude using an everyday item--spaghetti. Learners are introduced to the earthquake magnitude scale by breaking different amounts of uncooked noodles. Visual scale of the pasta emphasizes the relative differences between magnitudes with each whole step in magnitude. For older students, the demonstration helps students understand why seismologists use the nonlinear logarithmic scale to best graph the huge range of quantities.

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Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module/Geology of National Parks course. Students calculate percentages and percent differences to compare various measures of fumaroles, mud pots, hot springs and geysers in this introduction to hydrothermal features at Yellowstone NP.

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This activity will help students understand that people’s perceptions of the world—places, regions, and environments—are constantly changing with new experiences and information. Students will examine Census Bureau data about Los Angeles, and about the rest of California and the United States, to challenge or confirm these perceptions.

This is a laboratory-style investigation wherein students examine the petrography and major-element geochemistry of 6 samples of mid-ocean ridge basalt and related differentiated lavas recovered from the Cleft segment of southern Juan de Fuca Ridge, a medium spreading-rate MOR in the northeast Pacific Ocean. Lava types range from basalt to dacite.

After some initial background information on basalts, the MOR environment, and the study area students investigate four thin sections, beginning with typical basalts and ending with a dacite. They are led through a series of directed questions that help them gain familiarity with commonly occurring minerals and textures in mid-ocean ridge lavas. Questions direct students toward the interpretation of quench-related textural features and crystallization sequence, as well as a few other textural observations and petrographic techniques. After proceeding through the initial four thin sections and associated questions student are then asked to undertake "full thin-section descriptions" of the remaining two samples.��

After investigating the thin-sections and determining a possible crystallization sequence from the petrographic data gathered (plagioclase followed by olivine followed by augitic clinopyroxene followed by pigeonite), students examine a P-T phase diagram to constrain possible pressures of formation. Discovering that crystallization pressures were low (less than ~ 0.75 GPa) students then examine a phase diagram of the olivine-plagioclase-augite-quartz system (olivine-quartz-augite ternary, projected from the plane of plagioclase saturation) [Walker, 1979]. Students draw 2 possible liquid lines of descent (LLD) onto the diagram, and then use their petrographic observations to qualitatively plot the samples along that LLD, determining a relative sequence of chemical evolution for the suite of samples. Lastly, given those determinations, student graph the major element data for the lava suite to infer paths of chemical evolution and the effects of fractional crystallization (possibly coupled with magma mixing).

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Using string, bubble gum, and a model of a GPS station, demonstrate how GPS work to pinpoint a location on Earth.Precisely knowing a location on Earth is useful because our Earth's surface is constantly changing from earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tectonic plate motion, landslides, and more. Thus, scientists can use positions determined with GPS to study all these Earth processes.

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