This activity helps students understand how geoscientists study the Earth below our …
This activity helps students understand how geoscientists study the Earth below our feet through drilling. Using a large straw as a "drill", students collect samples through different parts of the specially layered cupcake and keep a "log" of the drill core. By defining different colored cake and filling, they can reconstruct what the interior of the cupcake may look like. Students gain an appreciation for the challenges of determining a plausible geologic interpretation with limited data.
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For this two-part assignment, students first locate two substantial current events articles …
For this two-part assignment, students first locate two substantial current events articles on geology-related topics from mainstream newspaper or magazine. The instructor assesses the articles, making sure that basic criteria have been met, and assigns one article for the student to share with the class in an informal 3-5 minute presentation.
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To prepare to these labs, students will attend discussions on describing the …
To prepare to these labs, students will attend discussions on describing the geometry of geological structures, strain analysis and geological cross-sections.
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Students use a JAVA interface design by R.M. MacKay to explore the …
Students use a JAVA interface design by R.M. MacKay to explore the Daisy World model. The JAVA interface comes with a link to a 6-page student activity page in PDF format.
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After constructing a Stella model of Daisyworld students perform guided experiments to …
After constructing a Stella model of Daisyworld students perform guided experiments to explore the behavior of Daisyworld to changes in model parameters and assumptions.
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Student must synthesize the data that go into the construction and operation …
Student must synthesize the data that go into the construction and operation of a large hydroelectric dam. Students must strive to develop a design that minimizes or mitigates the impacts of the dam on the existing watershed. Students divide the analysis and frequently present to each other their findings. These findings are then synthesized into independent reports produced by each student. Designed for a geomorphology course Uses online and/or real-time data Uses geomorphology to solve problems in other fields Addresses student misconceptions
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Students choose one of four short articles to read about mineral mining, …
Students choose one of four short articles to read about mineral mining, including the impacts of mining on the Native American community in the region. Each article highlights a specific example where the Indigenous community's interests are in conflict with the mining company's interests. After reading one of the articles, students post a short reflection to a discussion board, then respond to at least one classmate's reflection.
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To prepare for this assignment, the students read the Chapter 17 "Galapagos …
To prepare for this assignment, the students read the Chapter 17 "Galapagos Archipelago" from The Voyage of the Beagle. In class we have discussed Darwin's theory of evolution as outlined in the first edition of the Origin of Species. The students need to examine Chapter 17 to find those observations that Darwin made in 1835 that support the his theory of evolution that was published 24 years later in 1859.
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In Jigsaw format, groups of 3 students divide up and each collects …
In Jigsaw format, groups of 3 students divide up and each collects topographic data for a small landform using a different technique (tape and level; handheld GPS; Total Station). When they re-group they compare data quantity and quality using spreadsheets and a mapping program. They write a group report comparing the strengths and weaknesses of the three methods. Designed for a geomorphology course Addresses student fear of quantitative aspect and/or inadequate quantitative skills Addresses student misconceptions
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This lab utilizes the computer program, Excel. In this exercise students will …
This lab utilizes the computer program, Excel. In this exercise students will generate synthetic data sets based on a simplified model of daily high temperatures in Boone, NC and apply several filtering techniques to the data. A key to this lab is that the students must use Excel in an efficient manner; otherwise, this exercise may take a long time to complete. Thus, the synthetic data sets are intentionally large in size. The overarching purpose of this lab is two-fold: 1) Perform some quantitative data processing and determine the effectiveness of several types of simple mathematical noise filters, and 2) Make a professional interpretation and recommendation based on quantitative results.
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In this lab, students are introduced to the difference between relative and …
In this lab, students are introduced to the difference between relative and absolute dating, using the students themselves as the material to be ordered. Initially, the students are asked to develop physical clues to put themselves in order from youngest to oldest (exposing the inferences we make unconsciously about people's ages), and this will be refined/modified using a list of current events from an appropriate historical period that more and more of the students will remember, depending on their age (among other variables). Absolute age is introduced by having the students order themselves by birth decade, year, month, and day, and comparing the absolute age order to the order worked out in the relative-dating exercise, with a discussion of dating precision and accuracy.
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In this activity, students will choose a topic relating to the triple …
In this activity, students will choose a topic relating to the triple bottom line, which has to do with environmental, social and economic issues.
The students as a whole will choose a topic of debate having to do with the triple bottom line of sustainability: healthier ecosystems, social systems and economies. The class then splits up into two groups. The purpose of this activity is for the students to then have a group debate, one side for a topic and one side against the topic. Each group will try to sway the opposing side to their point of view. If one side does not win the debate, then the students will have to come to a compromise and find a solution acceptable to both sides. After the acceptable solution is identified, students should write a letter to the mayor, or a governmental figure of their choice on how they came to an agreement and how this could be achieved by our government today.
Students compare mineral structures shown in ball-and-stick, space filling, and polyhedral diagrams. …
Students compare mineral structures shown in ball-and-stick, space filling, and polyhedral diagrams.
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Copper is an element that is essential to our technology and to …
Copper is an element that is essential to our technology and to our standard of living. Commonly, the copper is extracted from a variety of copper-bearing minerals that occur in veins. These fossilized fluid pathways record a complex set of geologic processes with non-linear couplings that are the products of hydrothermal activity associated with igneous intrusions (e.g. heat transport, mechanical fracture, mineral precipitation, permeability changes). By carefully examining a rock slab and its mineralogy, one can decipher the series of interrelated processes and their resultant impact on the final product.
Students set about to determine the relative age of veins by visual examination of the rock slab provided. Several generations of veins are recorded by different colors representing different minerals. Using cross-cutting relationships, they list the veins from oldest to youngest. Based on their color, they determine the sequence of minerals that fill veins. This provides an opportunity to review why color can be used to identify some minerals but not others. Once minerals are identified, their ideal chemical formula allows the percent copper in the mineral to be determined as well as the additional elements that must be present to form the mineral. The consequent change in mineral chemistry can be linked to the alterations in fluids flowing through the fractures by analysis of fluid-mineral equilibria on activity-activity (a-a) diagrams. For the more advanced classes, relevant thermodynamic data can be provided and students can write hydrolysis reactions and calculate the (a-a) diagram themselves.
Interpretation of the geologic history begins with the matrix and initial conditions and follows through rock fracture, fluid flow, mineral precipitation, evolving fluid composition, fracture sealing, pore-fluid pressure buildup, fracture, precipitation, etc. in a series of feedbacks. A feedback diagram can be provided and used as a base-map for interpretation not only of the sequence but changes to each reservoir, or students can be asked to draw the series of events and their reservoirs with the mechanisms of change. In the end, students understand the complex series of geologic processes that must come together in space and time to produce an ore-deposit that can be mined for our use. They also wrestle with the complications of reading the rock record and with the ambiguity of interpreting the interaction of various mechanisms that control the final product.
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Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum/Geology of National Parks module. Students calculate the haze …
Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum/Geology of National Parks module. Students calculate the haze index and standard visual range from concentrations of particulate matter.
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Students will view fossils, sometimes with supporting illustrations, and answer questions about …
Students will view fossils, sometimes with supporting illustrations, and answer questions about them via deductive reasoning. The exercise is highly interactive, with the instructor providing hints and helpful questions. The questions concern ways in which fossil preservation reveals information about things like what kind of organism the fossil represents, how that organism lived, and how the fossil came into being.
This activity will help students to explore characteristics of microbes that live …
This activity will help students to explore characteristics of microbes that live in the deep sea. This activity can be conducted as a jigsaw or research project, and can be used with face-to-face, remote, and hybrid students.
Provenance: Beverly Owens, Cleveland Early College High School Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.
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This activity is a Google Slide playlist that will introduce students to …
This activity is a Google Slide playlist that will introduce students to microbes that can be found in deep sea sediments, and what roles they play in their environment. This playlist is suitable for use in remote, hybrid, or in-person instruction and can easily be added to a Learning Management System.
Provenance: Molly Ludwick, Kings Mountain Middle School Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.
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Appreciating the depth of time is a bit like trying to understand …
Appreciating the depth of time is a bit like trying to understand the national debt -- it is easy to rattle off the number, but more difficult to appreciate what it means. Several popular writers have tried to convey the depth of time by incoporating one major (and important!) signpost in their scales: the first historical records of humans on the planet. Mark Twain famously referred to human history as the "skin of paint" at the summit of the Eiffel Tower, and John McPhee the "stroke of a medium-grained nail file" on the middle nail of an outstretched arm.
Eiffel Tower
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Vitruvian man
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I would like for you to evaluate these two metaphors for accuracy. How close were Twain and McPhee to appropriately contexualizing human existence in geological time? Use the pdf's of Twain's and McPhee's prose and what you know from class lectures to accomplish the following goals.
(1) Evaluate whether McPhee's and Twain's metaphors are appropriately scaled -- i.e., do their metaphors correctly depict the age of the earth relative to human history? How about if we incorporate the fossil record of humans?
(2) Create your own appropriately scaled metaphor. Add in at least three other "signposts", either biological or geological, into your metaphor and explain why you chose them.
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This activity is designed to introduce students to the way in which …
This activity is designed to introduce students to the way in which thermohaline circulation and the biological pump influence the distribution of nutrients, oxygen, carbon, and radiocarbon in the Atlantic vs. Pacific Oceans.
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