This Western Mining History database uses Mineral Resources Data System to list …
This Western Mining History database uses Mineral Resources Data System to list known Colorado historical mines by county. Each county site has links to the known mines within its borders. Some are known and named, others are unnamed. Mines should be assumed to be on private property unless other research is conducted. Data provided for each mine site include: Name, State, County, Elevation, Primary Mineral Mined, Latitude and Longitude and a link to Google Maps. Photos are provided where available. Additional information for some Mines are satellite photos, and ownership, business and historical records. Mining History is an historical site that provides information on mining, mining towns, the gold and silver rush, and Photos and maps of the western United States. This is a great database for student historical research or data and statistics classes. Consider becoming a member or making a donation to help further the work of the site.
This activity provides young students with a relevant model (a layer cake) …
This activity provides young students with a relevant model (a layer cake) to help them understand concepts about sedimentary rock layers (such as the Law of Superposition), correlation of the rock record with geologic time and relative ages of rocks and fossils.
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This is a set of five exercises that teach the basic skills …
This is a set of five exercises that teach the basic skills of using Perplex and the possible types of understanding one can gain from the use of internally-consistent thermodynamic databases. The exercises culminate in the creation of a pseudosection for a particular rock.
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This teaching unit was created to provide any classroom teacher with all …
This teaching unit was created to provide any classroom teacher with all the tools necessary to help her students learn and apply engineering and design skills and computer science concepts in the context of a Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) style investigation.
Students learn in the context of a story line that winds throughout each of the five workshops in the unit. Each workshop introduces a new phase of their ongoing “Mission to Mars.” Every workshop begins with a video that provides students an overview of the problem or situation encountered by the Mars Explorers (represented in the online modules by two Lego™ mini-figures and called Max and Mia to match the WeDo software). The curriculum then walks the students through a series of online learning modules that help them learn about a piece of technology or a new concept they’ll need to build a model from Lego WeDo™ kits and how they can solve real life problems using engineering practices.
Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module/Geology of National Parks course. Students use a …
Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module/Geology of National Parks course. Students use a topographic map and spreadsheet to find how many Big Macs they burned off on a five-mile hike at Catoctin Mountain Park.
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Library Carpentry lesson: An introduction to Git. What We Will Try to …
Library Carpentry lesson: An introduction to Git. What We Will Try to Do Begin to understand and use Git/GitHub. You will not be an expert by the end of the class. You will probably not even feel very comfortable using Git. This is okay. We want to make a start but, as with any skill, using Git takes practice. Be Excellent to Each Other If you spot someone in the class who is struggling with something and you think you know how to help, please give them a hand. Try not to do the task for them: instead explain the steps they need to take and what these steps will achieve. Be Patient With The Instructor and Yourself This is a big group, with different levels of knowledge, different computer systems. This isn’t your instructor’s full-time job (though if someone wants to pay them to play with computers all day they’d probably accept). They will do their best to make this session useful. This is your session. If you feel we are going too fast, then please put up a pink sticky. We can decide as a group what to cover.
This activity teaches students about the value of planning, knowing, and explaining …
This activity teaches students about the value of planning, knowing, and explaining the limitations of a systems diagram. Students are taught to follow the following four steps when assessing the limitations of a systems diagram: identify the question, identify the scope, identify the missing sources, identify the level of detail. Students then assess the limitations of a systems diagram they previously created, and reflect on how assessing the limitations of a systems diagram also allows them to identify ways to improve their systems diagrams.
Students learn about the weighted mean by building spreadsheets that apply this …
Students learn about the weighted mean by building spreadsheets that apply this concept to the average density of the oceanic lithosphere.
(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 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.
This Western Mining History database uses Mineral Resources Data System to list …
This Western Mining History database uses Mineral Resources Data System to list known Colorado historical mines by county. Each county site has links to the known mines within its borders. Some are known and named, others are unnamed. Mines should be assumed to be on private property unless other research is conducted. Data provided for each mine site include: Name, State, County, Elevation, Primary Mineral Mined, Latitude and Longitude and a link to Google Maps. Photos are provided where available. Additional information for some Mines are satellite photos, and ownership, business and historical records. Mining History is an historical site that provides information on mining, mining towns, the gold and silver rush, and Photos and maps of the western United States. This is a great database for student historical research or data and statistics classes. Consider becoming a member or making a donation to help further the work of the site.
Students analyze data on temperature and precipitation collected from 26 different Long …
Students analyze data on temperature and precipitation collected from 26 different Long Term Ecological Research sites and compare them with annual net primary productivity. The students then form an ecological rule to explain their results.
(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.)
In this task students figure out how to draw the longest line …
In this task students figure out how to draw the longest line on a map of the United States without hitting a border. They use color and line plots to keep track of their results.
The purpose of this task is for students to compare two options …
The purpose of this task is for students to compare two options for a prize where the value of one is given $2 at a time, giving them an opportunity to "work with equal groups of objects to gain foundations for multiplication." This context also provides students with an introduction to the concept of delayed gratification, or resisting an immediate reward and waiting for a later reward, while working with money.
In this lab students will explore first hand what sorts of processes …
In this lab students will explore first hand what sorts of processes occur when scientists and engineers try to identify a landing site for a mission to Mars. This will mimic the process used to select the MER rover landing sites, and what will be used for future missions. First, students briefly become a planetary geologist, engineer or astrobiologist. Second, from the point of view the students feel is appropriate for their new position, and using the same constraints employed by the scientific teams preparing for forthcoming Mars missions, students will identify their top list of candidate landing sites and submit a short report describing them to me by the following class period. Third, in the following class period, all three groups of experts will work together to narrow down the site selection to a top candidate. Where would you send the next lander if the choice was up to you? Each student group, constituted randomly, is provided with the appropriate role-playing sheet from the lab assignment.
(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 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.
(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.)
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.
(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.)
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