This activity has students investigate their own cost, CO2 output, and time for commuting. They then compare their commute to an environmentally conscious alternative by using comparable metrics.

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This assignment engages students in an environmental history class in the use of quantitative data, and raises questions about the nature and meaning of that data, and how it might be utilized.

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Students are asked to count the vowels in a list of 15 words. They are then asked to write down as many WORDS as they can remember. They can usually remember only 3 - 4.
Next students are told to look at the list of words and asked to memorize them. They can usually remember about half of them after trying to memorize the words.
Finally, students are told that the words are listed in a certain way, with a guiding concept to the arrangements. They readily understand the words are listed according to number. After spending 30 seconds to memorize the words this time, students generally tend to remember 12 or more.
Metacognitive components of the activityStudents learn that considering the organization of informaton is important to remember it.
Metacognitive goals for this activity:To show students that they can significantly and immediately improve their learning.
Assessing students' metacognitionStudents tell us in verbal or email communication that they have now "stopped counting vowels" and are learning information.

Students are given two questions for each concept, in which they must (1) calculate the composition of minerals in weight percent given relative proportions of given end members and (2) calculate mole percentages for feldspars based on their mineral analyses (provided).

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This survey provides the instructor with information to help troubleshoot problems that students may experience working online. The activity also alerts students to the rigor and principal assignments of the course as well as the importance of reviewing and understanding the course syllabus.

While this module was developed when we followed the federal criminal case around WR Grace and asbestos exposure in a small Montana mining town, it can be adapted for a range of learning experiences regarding environmental justice, argumentation, strategizing, remediation and sustainability.

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This case study is based on exercises developed by Dave Pollard and uses images and mapping from Delaney and Pollard (1981). Students explore mechanisms of dike emplacement by measuring dike thicknesses along two segments of a dike intruded into shale near Ship Rock, New Mexico and mapped by Paul Delaney. Students then compare the observed dike profiles to a mechanical model -- the solution for a crack filled with magma under uniform pressure. Using the equation for opening of the crack students estimate the driving stress (difference between the magma pressure and remote principal stress acting perpendicular to the dike plane) using several different estimates of the rock stiffness parameters. Students are then asked to observe how well their best-fit model fits the two dike profiles and to investigate the map further and hypothesize why the observed widths may deviate from the simple model. Deviations from the mechanical model can lead to discussions on mechanical interaction as well as brecciation and stoping.

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Students will do background reading and research local energy production, historical patterns, and alternative energy possibilities for this area. Their task is to create a display board that can convey their research and promote education about local energy production to k-12 students. The message must also convey opportunities for youth in energy-related fields by staying in school.

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Students evaluate whether pillar failure and collapse caused ground shaking or whether an earthquake caused pillar failure and mine collapse in the Crandall Canyon Mine collapse in 2007.

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This lab focuses on the identification of impact features, and how they can used to estimate the age of planetary surfaces. Key comcepts include understanding how the crater process has changed over geologic time; how those changes manifest themselves in the surficial record of planetary landforms; how other planetary processes modify surficial landforms; how the conditions of the Solar System have changed over time.

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The goal of this class was to explore the natural history of the southern part of the Cascade Range in Oregon. We discussed the complex geologic setting of the range and focused primarily on volcanic features, geologic history and landscape evolution. Adaptation of organisms to desert, alpine and forest habitats were investigated, as well as the spatial and temporal factors that influenced plant species distribution. We spent most of our time exploring Crater Lake National Park and Newberry Volcano National Monument during this immersive field experience..

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Once the lecture on anatomy, classification and evolution are covered students then complete the "create a cladogram activity." Students are given a bag of nails, screws, and bolts which they must seperate and make observations about the characters of each item. Student then must determine the important derived characters and generate a matrix and cladogram. Students then must compare their cladograms with other groups to see how results varied and why results varied. This activity gives studnets proactive with the procedure of generating cladograms and some of its complexities.

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Students create a Power Point presentation on a topic of their choice. Then they make this presentation into a screencast using the free program, called Jing. The students do this by narrating their Power Point using a rubric that I've provided.

This activity focuses on one of the many free web mapping applications available: Google My Maps. Here you will learn how to create your own personalized maps in Google My Maps, complete with linked photographs and YouTube videos. The applications are endless: from your local running/biking routes to a map of your field area, complete with sample locations, sample data, and photographs. You can easily share your map with the rest of the world!

The first part of this activity teaches students how to make a high quality shaded relief image of an aerial photo using ArcMap, an orthophoto, and a DEM by matching the illumination direction on the hillshade created from the DEM with the illumination direction at the time the photo was taken.

In the second part of this activity, students use a digital orthophoto with an associated DEM, and ArcScene to construct a high resolution 3D visual version of the scene that can be tilted, panned, and zoomed in real time, providing an outstanding way for students to visualize landscape.

This activity does not come with a data set. Any orthophoto and DEM can be used.

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Student groups create blogs or VoiceThreads on selected natural disaster events including a description of the event, the cause of the disaster, response & recovery, prediction & prevention and resilience to the event.

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Students will be guided through the procedure for creating a partial-pressure diagram in the low-temperature system Cu-CO2-O2-H2O system for the minerals cuprite, tenorite, native copper, azurite, and malachite. They will write chemical reactions and use Gibbs Free Energies to calculate Log K and plot lines on a graph with axes Log P CO2 and Log PO2 for stability boundaries between minerals. They are provided with data to then create their own diagram for the Fe-CO2-O2 system.

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Because many students are familiar with contouring methods, they can mechanically construct water table maps from canned data sets with ease. However, their contouring abilities may mask their level of understanding. This field exercise aims to instill a deeper understanding of the nature of a water table surface as students also learn fundamental hydrogeological field techniques.

The exercise is based at Newark Road Prairie, which is owned and managed by Beloit College and located approximately five miles from campus. The property contains native prairie, wetlands, and a small stream. Although many schools may not own similar types of properties, land managers are often willing to allow the installation of shallow wells on public lands (e.g., county parks, state wildlife areas). Seven shallow monitoring wells and four staff gages are currently installed at Newark Road Prairie.

When we arrive at the field site, we begin by making observations on the subtle changes in topography and the direction of stream flow. Although we have just carried in all of the field equipment, I ask what type of information we will need to create a water table map. Handouts for the exercise are distributed after this discussion (see Supplementary Materials below).

Students are divided into groups of three for the field portion of the exercise, although each student ultimately drafts their own map using group and class data. Each group gets an electronic water level meter, a GPS unit, and a measuring tape, and we discuss the magnitude of error incorporated into the measurements taken by each of the instruments. We then review basic operation procedures for the water level meters and the GPS units, and students confirm that their GPS units are using the correct coordinate system and datum (UTM, NAD83).

We discuss surveying techniques as a class, and supplemental instructions are also provided in the handout (see Supplementary Materials below). We establish a centrally-located, bench mark (usually one of the staff gages) from which the students survey the wells and other staff gages. Each group is responsible for surveying at least two wells or staff gages. Groups distribute their surveying results to the rest of the class when we return to campus. Each group checks their results in the field, which reduces the chance of propagating surveying errors throughout the class.

Groups need to take water level measurements, survey wells, and record GPS coordinates for each well and staff gage. Additionally, because Newark Road Prairie has an established grid system with posts and markers at ten meter intervals, students measure the distance of each well/staff gage from at least three markers in order to evaluate the accuracy of their GPS measurements. Groups rotate the surveying equipment and are responsible for collecting all of the necessary data within the two lab periods. Two three-hour lab periods provide ample time for each group to collect the necessary data sets, including the time required to load/unload equipment and drive to/from the site. One 50-minute class period is provided for distributing survey results, compiling and printing base maps using ArcGIS, and contouring the water table maps.

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This activity utilizes Visible Geology to analyze folds on a stereonet using a pi-girdle technique. The assignment starts with students following a simple example, and then creating their own and sharing it with a partner. Students are introduced to concepts of fold axis, axial plane, interlimb angle in three-visualizations: model view, cross-section view, and stereonet view. By moving between these media students are able to draw deeper connections with respect to folding and to stereonet interpretation.

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This activity is a side project that students work on through the organismal portion of a course in paleobiology/paleontology. Students present on the lifestyle, habitat, and behavior of "living fossil" groups. The activity ties the fossil record to the modern living world and allows students to engage with ideas of evolutionary stasis, taphonomy, and functional morphology.

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