Students gain an intuitive understanding of strain and deformation through a series of physical model activities using everyday materials such as bungee cords, rubber bands, fabric, index cards, silly putty, sand, and more. Can be run to fill an entire lab session exploring multiple materials or as a shorter exercise using just rubber bands and stretchy fabric. An addendum provides mathematical content (vectors, matrices, multidimensional strain) that can be used by instructors interested in building student quantitative skills.

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Not online recommended: Exercise uses variety of physical models that would be hard to duplicate at home. The first part of the "basic" version of the exercise (as opposed to "extended") does use rubber bands and could potentially be done remotely.

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In Unit 2, students learn how the techniques for water budgeting (covered in Unit 1) can be used to monitor both groundwater (High Plains Aquifer) and surface water (western mountain watershed) systems. Students interpret time-series plots that show the impact of drought years and wet years on underground water storage in the High Plains Aquifer and on snowpack and surface runoff in the western mountain watershed. They also consider the societal implications of water deficits through a series of pre-class readings, questions embedded in the assignments, and small and whole-group discussions. This unit can involve substantial computer time during which students use Excel to view and interpret hydrologic data. An alternative version with hard-copy graphs is also provided.

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Online-adaptable: Both parts of this unit are completely digital and thus at a logistical level it can be switched to online fairly easily. However, due to the relative complexity of the data investigations, there will still be quite a bit of instructor support needed and/or extended small group that should be arranged.

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Students will be provided with seawater pH and carbon dioxide concentration (pCO2) data spanning as far back as 1850. They will describe trends in pH, pCO2 and atmospheric CO2 concentration, outline why these parameters are related, and predict how changes in these parameters will affect marine biology. Each group of students will be given a different set of data from different regions and asked to compare with other groups to determine if seawater pH change is a global or regional phenomena. This unit will provide students with an understanding of the pH buffering system and an opportunity to interpret real climate data.

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Students will collect and analyze relevant social data on individual and community knowledge, risk perception and preparedness within their local social networks.

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This unit includes an opportunity for students to move from definitions into reading and creating a diagram of a complex system relevant to their course, and then to exploring the connections between the components in the system. An exercise is provided to help students identify complex systems and their component parts from the world around them. Students will draw and revise a systems diagram, including identifying measurable quantities in the system, and participate in a gallery walk. The unit ends with students constructing a system diagram from photographs they take, and reflecting on their process. Note that to carry out the activities described in this unit, groups of students will need large sheets of paper and markers, or whiteboard/chalkboard space, to create a diagram.

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How do geologic, hydrologic, biologic, and built-landscape features manifest themselves on maps? In this unit, students will use topographic maps, hillshade maps, and aerial imagery to learn to recognize a variety of landscape features and subsequently identify as many of these features as they can on a map of a new study area. They will also construct a topographic profile from their map data and use their profiles to understand the concepts of slope, aspect, and relief and how these landscape characteristics are important in hazard assessment and land-use planning.

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Online-adaptable: Part 1 (lecture) and Part 3 (individual or small-group exercise) are particularly straight forward to adapt to online. The landscape scavenger hunt exercise, Part 2, is typically done with printed maps but can be successfully adapted to online by having synchronous groups of students work together to annotate digital map files using: 1) PDF annotation tools in Adobe or 2) putting the map images into a Google Slides file and using the scribble tool. Google Earth files are also provided as an additional option.

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This unit builds on what students have learned about transform fault hazards to introduce the idea of risk. Students examine earthquake risk along the San Andreas Fault in San Francisco by examining public school sites around the city. Students calculate relative risk (risk = hazard probability x vulnerability x value) due to earthquake hazards at five sites, analyze different seismic hazard scenarios, communicate risks to stakeholders, and evaluate possible responses to seismic hazards. Students conclude with a summative assessment in which they reflect on the value of earthquake forecasts and warnings in mitigating risk.

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In this unit, students will keep a log of immediate, personal sensory experiences by pausing once each hour over a period of ten hours and recording the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile experiences they are sensing at that moment. The log (or journaling activity) will occur outside of class and will be shared in a subsequent class meeting.
In class, students will exchange their logs, respond and discuss, and then form larger groups which will discuss disparate ways of paying attention to sensory experiences. Students will develop a deeper understanding of their own perceptions and how those perceptions can be recorded and used to evaluate an environmental setting. This activity is qualitative; it requires students to create an informal, subjective journal of their sensory experiences once each hour for a ten-hour time period prior to class.
When students share their individual qualitative experiences in pairs and small groups, they will begin to see patterns emerge that will enable them to develop quantitative observations for future use. They will also begin to relate their sensory experiences to the social, biological, and geophysical aspects of their personal environment; students will begin to explore how these system components are interrelated and how exposure to them may impact human experience and well-being. After the group discussion, students will reflect on the interstices between qualitative and quantitative analysis by way of their sensory logs and mutual discussion.

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In a hands-on exploration, students will learn to describe and quantify the porosity and permeability of soil models representative of both agricultural and natural environments. Students will use this information to relate the effects of various agricultural methods on soil porosity and permeability in an exercise that requires modeling the role of a soil assessment expert. Instructors are provided with directions for collecting or assembling simple soil models.

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Armed with an overview of the complexity of issues associated with global food security, this unit begins by contextualizing food security as an example of a wicked problem. Wicked problems are problems that are unsolvable in the traditional sense, and have complex multiscalar causal factors that contribute to the creation of new issues as old ones are addressed. Both global food security and climate change are examples of wicked problems. This unit presents systems thinking as a way to identify complex problems and explore solutions. Using a flipped classroom model, students complete a self study tutorial that presents system concepts in the context of Earth system science. The slide stack includes two guided activities related to the carbon cycle and soils. A short reading, "Why Systems Thinking?" and a video clip is included in the tutorial. Authentic assessment of the homework activity is an Earth system diagram connected to one of the issues of global food security from Unit 1 that they will bring to class. After a short class discussion that introduces concepts of sustainability and ecosystem services as related to food production, students are broken into groups and are asked to create their own systems diagram of the global food system, using the organizational systems concepts they examined as homework and the introduction activities of Unit 1. After completing the diagrams, students examine a food system diagram example, and identify the components of the system using standardized systems language. Students can photograph their diagrams or make quick sketches so they have a working copy to include with their notes.

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How have average global air temperature and sea level changed in the last three decades? Have the changes been consistent? Can future changes in air temperature and sea level be predicted? In this unit, students will become familiar with the concept of a time series by calculating recent air temperature and sea level trends and projecting these measurements for 2100. They will also begin to consider environmental factors in addition to temperature that could influence sea level and the potential implications of sea level changes during the next century.

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Online-adaptable: The lecture and main data analysis exercise can easily be moved online. Student discussions are designed to be intermixed into the flow of the lecture and exercise. Thus moving to online discussions would be might take a bit more planning.

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Students will explore the different aspects of the carbon cycle on Earth. This includes the original source of all the carbon on our planet, the near ubiquity of carbon, the six principle reservoirs of carbon in the Earth system, and the movement (flux) of carbon between reservoirs. Students will approach the chemical history of carbon by personifying the "journey" of specific carbon atoms throughout geologic time.
The unit emphasizes the grand challenges of energy resources and climate change by grounding these issues in a solid understanding of carbon from a systems thinking perspective. The point here is for students to gain a more robust appreciation for the movement of carbon between atmosphere and geosphere, between hydrosphere and biosphere. The unit provides dynamic understanding of how perturbations to one sphere or changes in the amount of carbon in a given reservoir can have implications throughout the Earth system.

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Students will be introduced to the concept of a natural cycle. They are first asked to identify the different components of the hydrologic cycle. Students will be able to recognize the delicate balance between the individual elements of a large and complex system. Students will also be able to identify the interactions among parts of a natural system.

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In this unit, students are introduced to the concept of a natural cycle. They are first asked to identify the different components of the hydrologic cycle in Spanish. Students will be able to recognize the delicate balance between the individual elements of a large and complex system. Students will also be able to identify the interactions among parts of a natural system.

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Unit 2 engages students in topics related to the water cycle, both from natural and urban system perspectives. Students are assigned approximately 30 minutes of reading (short article) and are required to watch a 15-minute video before class to gain a basic understanding of the natural and urban water cycles, their components, and the impact of urbanization on runoff. Through short lectures, discussion questions, solution to example problems, and a group activity, students gain comprehension of the water cycle components, their spatial and temporal variability, water budget calculation, and the impacts of urbanization on surface water.

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Unit 2 opens a window into water accounting and reveals intensive water use that few people think about. How much water goes into common commodities? Have you considered how much water it takes to support our modern American lifestyle and agricultural trade? Water that is embedded in products and services is called virtual water. Looking at the world through the lens of virtual water provides a watery focus to thorny discussions about water such as: the pros and cons of globalization and long distance trade; self sufficiency vs. reliance on other nations; ecosystem impacts of exports; and the impacts of relatively cheap imports on indigenous farming. Unit 2 also introduces the concept of a water footprint. A water footprint represents a calculation of the volume of water needed for the production of goods and services consumed by an individual or country. In this unit students will calculate their individual footprints and analyze how the water footprints of countries vary dramatically in terms of gross volumes and their components. As a result of these activities, students will learn of vast disparities in water access and application. They will also be challenged to consider mechanisms or policies that could foster greater equity in water footprints.

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The basic concepts of geology will be considered to address the widely ranging textures and compositions of rocks and sediments formed in a wide range of environments. These variations in turn can affect soil formation and many related Critical Zone processes and architectures.
This unit requires substantial reading to cover basic concepts of geology: the rock cycle, plate tectonics, geologic time, erosion, weathering, and deposition, so that students have a firm grasp on how geology relates to and controls CZ processes. This background knowledge is accessed through a review of web sites and a scientific papers. An in-class activity uses the U.S. Geological Survey's National Geologic Map Database to identify resources for understanding and classifying the geology of a region.

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A flood occurs when the flow rate in a river exceeds the capacity of a channel to transmit water downstream within its banks. How much water can a channel transmit? Answering this question requires measurements of channel and floodplain topography, coupled with the application of the physics of flow in channels. These complex concepts are embodied in the well-known Manning's Equation. In this unit, students evaluate the geometry of river channels and floodplains using LIDAR-derived data and compute the depths and velocities of flow rates within channels using Manning's equation.

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This unit applies a flipped classroom model. Students complete a self-study tutorial prior to attending class. Students are then asked work independently or in pairs to generate a time-aware climate change Web map application using ArcGIS Online. Returning to the theme of cocoa production introduced in Unit 1, students identify climatic conditions conducive for cacao production around the world, especially West Africa where the majority of cacao is grown. Students then use a web application in ArcGIS Online to create a time aware map showing biomes in the KÃppen Climate Classification System and determine how projected climate changes will impact the suitable production regions for cacao in West Africa. Using a jigsaw model, students collect into groups of 4, with a representative from each of the IPCC scenarios, and they compare the the impact of the 4 scenarios in specified cocoa production regions. At the end of the class they will be assigned to one of three regional areas for group work in Units 4-6.

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This unit is designed to allow students to quantitatively assess how much water is used for irrigating crops and how this varies across the United States. This unit also has students link water use to the economic value of the crops that are produced--spanning the scientific and economic disciplines. The concepts that students learn here will connect back to the Water Footprint concept that was introduced in Unit 2, as students consider the accuracy of water calculators.

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