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Click to watch Charly Bank discuss his activity or watch the full webinar.This lab activity allows students in an introductory structural geology class to explore strike-dip outcrop patterns on a map and in 3D. The topography is shown as a contour map; students decide on values for strike and a dip and select a point on the map where these would be measured. The app then shows the outcrop pattern of that plane on the map as well as a rotatable surface plot with both the topography and the plane. The activity encourages students to explore different values of strike and dip, and to work on paper and then compare their results to the model.

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Students are provided with equations and geological data to estimate the velocities and impact effects of volcanic bombs that were ejected during the last eruption of Sunset Crater, a young cinder cone volcano in northern Arizona.

Click here to view the full activity on the K��yah Math Project website.

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Learners use graphs of GPS position data to determine how the shape of Westdahl Volcano, Alaska is changing. If the flanks of a volcano swell or recede, it is a potential indication of magma movement and changing pressures below ground. GPS can measure changes as little as a couple millimeters per year. Learners are asked to decide if the measured motions are enough to issue a warning of immediate danger.

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NGSS ALIGNMENT
Disciplinary Core Ideas
Earth' Systems: MS-ESS2-1, MS-ESS2-2, HS-ESS2-1
Earth and Human Activity: MS-ESS3-2, HS-ESS3-1
Science and Engineering Practices
4. Analyzing and Interpreting Data
5. Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking
6. Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
Crosscutting Concepts
2. Cause and Effect
4. Systems and System Models
7. Stability and Change��

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The activity combines aspects of Earth science (volume of oceans and ice sheets) with calculus (area of a 1x1 degree tile) and Matlab programming. Students calculate the volume of oceans and of ice sheets given the 1x1-degree digital elevation file. They then determine how much ocean levels would rise if all is on Antarctica and Greenland were to melt. To solve this problem in Matlab entry-wise matrix multiplication, loops, selection of cells using the "ginput" command, and different visualizations (grid and contours) are useful. Conceptually students need to think about inundation of coastal areas and shifting of coastlines.

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This activity is designed to be part of a unit on the U.S. Constitution, as it focuses on U.S. voting trends. Students will analyze bar and line graphs showing the percentages of people (by race, age, sex, region, and education) who voted in elections between 1964 and 2014. Students will use these data to respond to the question “Who votes in American elections?”

Vuelve Viral Equipo STEM. El Centro de Extensión y Educación en Ciencias Naturales colabora con la facultad de CSU, los Parques Nacionales y los programas de ciencia ciudadana para traducir su investigación científica actual en experiencias STEM únicas para los estudiantes en forma de kits educativos que se pueden prestar. Cada kit contiene casi todos los materiales necesarios (menos cosas comunes como agua y toallas de papel) para explorar algunos temas de investigación científica realmente interesantes. enviando un formulario de recogida local o un formulario de entrega disponible en el sitio web vinculado. Utilice la información de contacto en la página de descripción general del kit STEM para obtener más información. https://www.cns-eoc.colostate.edu/stem-kits/ Este kit se proporciona de forma gratuita para uso educativo.

As the standards in statistics and probability unfold, students will not yet know the rules of probability for compound events. Thus, simulation is used to find an approximate answer to these questions. In fact, part b would be a challenge to students who do know the rules of probability, further illustrating the power of simulation to provide relatively easy approximate answers to wide-ranging problems.

Schematic Play-Doh model of the Wakemup Pluton and surrounding rock units, present day state of erosion

Provenance: Carol Ormand Ph.D., Carleton College
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.
Students work through a set of questions about a geologic map of an igneous intrusion and surrounding rock units. These questions focus students' attention on the topography, geomorphology, lithology, and structural geology of the region. When they have figured out the geology to the best of their abilities, we show them Play-Doh models of the pluton and country rock in various stages of erosion.

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Students collect a large set of data (approximately 60 sets) of individual student’s water use and learn how to use spreadsheets to graph the data and find mean, median, mode, and range. They compared their findings to the national average of water use per person per day and use it to evaluate how much water a municipality would need in the event of a recovery from a water shutdown. This analysis activity introduces students to the concept of central tendencies and how to use spreadsheets to find them.

The goal of this activity is to provide students an opportunity to analyze the stream pattern and morphometric relationships of a particular watershed. Students will use topographic map analysis and data collection, along with analysis of data using Excel to characterize their watershed.
Designed for a geomorphology course

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Students use USGS WaterData website to find data on area, average annual discharge and response to high-precip events in small watersheds in southern New England. Data for the class are compiled to generate graphs showing the regional relationships between (1) area and discharge, and (2) area and time-lag between precip and maximum discharge.

terms: discharge, watershed, flood

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Students vary the seismic P and S wave velocity through each of four concentric regions of Earth and match "data" for travel times vs. angular distance around Earth's surface from the source to detector.

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These open-source mathematics homework problems are programmed for the WeBWorK mathematics platform and correspond to chapters in OpenStax Introductory Statistics. They were created through a Round Eight Textbook Transformation Grant.

After discussing weathering and erosion in class, students are asked to do a small amount of research on different types of chemical weathering, physical weathering, and erosion processes (mostly out of their textbook). Outside of class students then dirty at least four similar dishes with the same type, thickness and aerial extent of food, preferably baked on to ensure maximum stick. One dish is set aside as a control (no weathering or erosion will occur for that dish). For each of the remaining three dishes, students devise an experiment that mimics some sort of chemical weathering, physical weathering, or erosion process (freeze/thaw, sand abrasion, oxidation, etc.). Prior to the experiments, the thickness of food is measured. Experiments are timed, and at the end of the experiment each plate is turned over to determine how much which method removed the greatest aerial extent of food. Experimental results are compared to the control plate to determine the actual effectiveness. Erosion/weathering rates are determined by dividing the thickness of food removed by the experimental time. Students then calculate how long it would take to remove a pile of food the size of the Geology building (assume a 50 m radius sphere), and to remove an amount of food equivalent to the depth of the Grand Canyon. Students then compare these results to rock erosion and weathering rates, performing similar calculations using these "real" rates (see the full project description for details). Photos of each step and the scientists are encouraged in their 2-3 page writeup.

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A think-pair-share activity in which students calculate weathering rates from tombstone weathering data.

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In this activity, students will learn about population movement, migration trends, and the westward expansion of the early 1800s. First, students will create a line graph that depicts changes in aggregated population data from 1800 to 1850 for Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Ohio. Using this graph, students will make data comparisons and draw conclusions. Next, students will compare the populations of several states between 1790 and 1850 and make conclusions that demonstrate their understanding of population trends in northern and southern states. This activity can spark discussion of sectionalism, slavery, and the different economic climate that took shape in the northern and southern states in the early 1800s.

Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum/Geology of National Parks module. Students study measures of central tendency in a bimodal dataset of eruption intervals.

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Students will learn about and review key geography and census terms, discover how the U.S. Census Bureau organizes space geographically, and understand why census data are collected in this way.

Students first explore different materials to see what types reduce the most amount of sound when placed in a box. Each group is assigned a different material and they fill their box with that specific material. Students measure the sound level of a tone playing from inside the box using a decibel reader from outside the box. Students share this data with the class and analyze which types of materials absorb the most sound and which reflect the most sound.

A detailed two page Word document with activity instructions that can be tailored prior to handout. (Microsoft Word PRIVATE FILE 34kB Jun7 07)

Give students a synthetic data set (Excel PRIVATE FILE 38kB Jun7 07) of 206Pb/238U and 207Pb/235U isotope ratios. The data set will define two age populations (A and B) that can be assigned to either of the following scenarios. The data set is given to the students with the intention that Historical Geology level students will not be required to have advanced knowledge.

PART I: Data plotting
Students are to make concordia plots for use with the provided data sets (Excel PRIVATE FILE 38kB Jun7 07) using the plotting program Excel.

PART II: Data analysis
Data analysis. Experience the discovery of finding two age populations on a concordia plot. Discuss U-Pb concordance. Distinguish different populations using concordia diagram, discuss uncertainty in data.

PART III: Contextual basis
Introduce the two different scenarios (see below) for encountering the age populations A and B. Explore the implications of finding two different age populations within single grains from zircons in an igneous rock (i.e. zircon inheritance).
Explore the ability to discriminate different sedimentary components within a detrital population.
Explore what other aspects of zircon could be used to distinguish different age populations.

Question: What are you really dating when you analyze a zircon?

Two examples of the concept of multiple age populations:

Example 1: Discuss concept that zircons from an igneous rock can record multiple age populations (A and B) that result in grains with different age cores and rims. As a 'hook', illustrate this concept with images of well-known Early Earth examples, demonstrating that this exercise is a real-world problem.

Acasta gneiss zircons (images from S. Bowring)
Investigating the Jack Hills zircons (PowerPoint PRIVATE FILE 17.1MB Apr23 07) (images from A. Cavosie)
Wyoming province zircons (PowerPoint PRIVATE FILE 965kB Jun8 07) (images from D. Henry)

Example 2: Discuss concept of using zircon geochronology for sedimentary provenance. Use, as an example, two age populations (A and B, same data set as in ex. 1) of rounded detrital igneous zircons that end up in the same sedimentary rock. As a 'hook', illustrate this concept with images of well-known Early Earth examples

Field shots of Jack Hills siliciclastic sediments (images from A. Cavosie)
Field shots of Wyoming siliciclastic sediments (See #2 just above.)
Petrographic images (CL, BSE, TL, etc.) of the above.
Demonstrate that both Jack Hills and Wyoming zircons occur in siliciclastic rocks but are very different.

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