This Computer Technology lab is designed to engage students in the process …
This Computer Technology lab is designed to engage students in the process of organizing and presenting data in a visual way so that they can then summarize in writing their conclusions about the relationships between the data.
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This unit applies a spreadsheet, based on the storm water hydrograph modeling …
This unit applies a spreadsheet, based on the storm water hydrograph modeling module, that applies the widely utilized Rational Method to estimate hydrographs and flooding for urban watersheds. The specific structure of the model is based on assumptions encoded for Maricopa County, Arizona, which is an urbanized area in the Desert Southwest of the USA, so the model is directly applicable to any similar climate. The model is broadly applicable to urban watersheds anywhere in the world, if appropriate adjustments are made to model parameters and if the necessary input data can be obtained. This model is designed to be utilized in parallel with a modeling guide by the same authors and alongside conceptual instruction in the hydrological concepts of rainfall and runoff processes in undergraduate classrooms. Hydrology and/or computational learning outcomes are assessed using a validated pre/post assessment instrument included with the unit.
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This set of problems involves calculations of changes in radiogenic isotope ratios. …
This set of problems involves calculations of changes in radiogenic isotope ratios. It requires students to understand the concept of an isochron and how isotope ratios change (or do not change) during magma mixing and crystal fractionation.
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This activity provides a brief introduction to GPS and provides a student …
This activity provides a brief introduction to GPS and provides a student activity to practice creating and reading time series plots with simplified GPS data. Students graph how a tectonic plate (and the GPS unit attached to it) has moved over a five year time period by moving a GPS model across a North-East coordinate graph. Students practice these skills by analyzing GPS time series from two GPS stations in Iceland. Teaching Tips Adaptations that allow this activity to be successful in an online environment Need to really transform to an online environment. I did have one participant draw the vectors on an online map of Iceland - however, only one person gets to do this, so I'd like to figure out other techniques for this.
Elements of this activity that are most effective
Recommendations for other faculty adapting this activity to their own course:
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Use a topographic map to deliniate a watershed, draw a map bar …
Use a topographic map to deliniate a watershed, draw a map bar scale, and calculate a map ratio scale.
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This is a short experimental study of what happens to aluminum hydroxide, …
This is a short experimental study of what happens to aluminum hydroxide, silicic acid, magnesium oxide, and calcium carbonate (or reagents of instructors choice) when they are heated to 110 and 1200 degrees.
Students determine the formula and calculate the mole percent and weight percent of each element and oxide in each reagent. They heat the samples and calculate percentage weight loss or gain. Finally, they write a lab report summarizing their results.
Be sure to have students save their samples for later use in a lab that introduces X-ray diffraction.
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This video from Next Gen Personal Finance follows the stories of five …
This video from Next Gen Personal Finance follows the stories of five remarkable students from Maryland, New Mexico, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Washington. The short (19 min.) documentary film demonstrates how student activism is behind the movement to increase access to financial education.
Really Ancient Fossils STEM Kit. The Natural Sciences Education & Outreach Center …
Really Ancient Fossils STEM Kit. The Natural Sciences Education & Outreach Center collaborates with CSU faculty, National Parks and citizen science programs to translate their current scientific research into unique STEM experiences for students in the form of Educational Kits that can be checked out. Each kit contains just about all of the materials needed (minus common things like water and paper towels) to explore some really interesting scientific research topics.The kits are available for teachers and informal educators in Colorado to check out for a duration of a week by submitting either a local pickup form or a delivery form available at the linked website. Due to the extreme weight of the sand used in this Kit, local pickup is the only option. This kit is provided free for educational use. This kit is also available in Spanish.
The inquiry method and meteorological and astronomical online data can be used …
The inquiry method and meteorological and astronomical online data can be used to elicit the inconsistencies of students' na��ve ideas about the "real" reasons for the seasons. The first phase of this two-part investigation uses online meteorological data to identify factors that might explain differences of seasonal temperatures among cities These factors are used to hypothesize why differences of seasonal temperatures occur among cities. During the second phase, the variables and hypotheses that were previously identified in part one are used to design and conduct an inquiry-oriented investigation. Astronomical data is used as part of the investigation to "test" students' hypotheses -- conclusions are drawn then communicated.
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Reasons for the Seasons. This is the Lesson 3 Digging Deeper activity, …
Reasons for the Seasons. This is the Lesson 3 Digging Deeper activity, from Unit 4 Agriculture and the Seasons, from the DIGS (Developing Individuals, Growing Stewards) AmeriCorps Curriculum from CSU. The curriculum focuses on introducing students in grades 3-5 to Colorado agriculture, industry and environmental issues. The curriculum is matched to State Standards 2021. The curriculum upon request. Visit: https://engagement.colostate.edu/programs-old/developing-individuals-growing-stewards/
Students download and merge the multiple sheets of the New York State …
Students download and merge the multiple sheets of the New York State Geologic Map together and reclassify units to create an attractive and legible version of the state geologic map at postcard scale. The class votes on the winning layout, and we have postcards printed at OvernightPrints.com *Special thanks to Brian Hynek, University of Colorado, for the basic idea for this exercise.* You might also be interested in our Full GIS course with links to all assignments.
In this activity, students replicate the slope failure experiment presented by Densmore …
In this activity, students replicate the slope failure experiment presented by Densmore et al. (1997) in the journal Science. They are given the original article and the slope failure apparatus (along with all associated materials) and then they need to figure out how to replicate the experiment. Once they have completed an experimental run of sufficient length, they compile and analyze their data and compare it to the article's results.
After completing this portion of the lab, the students read the discussion and reply (Aalto et al., 1998; Densmore et al., 1998) and critically evaluate they results of the experiment and its applicability to the real world and landscape evolution.
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Students practice human-centered design by imagining, designing and prototyping a product to …
Students practice human-centered design by imagining, designing and prototyping a product to improve classroom accessibility for the visually impaired. To begin, they wear low-vision simulation goggles (or blindfolds) and walk with canes to navigate through a classroom in order to experience what it feels like to be visually impaired. Student teams follow the steps of the engineering design process to formulate their ideas, draw them by hand and using free, online Tinkercad software, and then 3D-print (or construct with foam core board and hot glue) a 1:20-scale model of the classroom that includes the product idea and selected furniture items. Teams use a morphological chart and an evaluation matrix to quantitatively compare and evaluate possible design solutions, narrowing their ideas into one final solution to pursue. To conclude, teams make posters that summarize their projects.
This activity uses simulation to help students understand sampling variability and reason …
This activity uses simulation to help students understand sampling variability and reason about whether a particular samples result is unusual, given a particular hypothesis. By using first candies, then a web applet, and varying sample size, students learn that larger samples give more stable and better estimates of a population parameter and develop an appreciation for factors affecting sampling variability.
A guided activity for students to explore the relationship between climate and …
A guided activity for students to explore the relationship between climate and plant and animal distributions in the past, present, and future. Students use the Neotoma Paleoecology Database, USDA Climate Change Tree Atlas, USGS Atlas of Relations Between Climatic Parameters and Distributions of Important Trees and Shrubs in North America (Professional Paper 1650 A/B), and climate model output.
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Students are given a short introduction to fossils, strata, Steno's law of …
Students are given a short introduction to fossils, strata, Steno's law of superposition, and the development of the geologic time scale from initial description of systems, through the realization that fossils could be used to correlate between systems, to the assembly of the modern geologic time scale. Then, each student in the course is given a sheet of paper with a simple stratigraphic column and associated fossils representing a geologic system on one side and a short description of the location and history of discovery of the system on the other. On a large wall, students then assemble four geologic columns from their systems representing mainland Europe, Great Britain, the Eastern U.S. and the Western U.S. using the fossils illustrated on their sheets to correlate systems. The instructor guides this process by placing the first system on the wall and by providing some narration as the columns take shape. Europe and Great Britain are assembled first, one sheet at a time, providing when completed the framework of the modern geologic time scale. Once this is up on the wall, the remaining students can assemble the other two columns in minutes using fossils to correlate between American and European systems. A temporal gap in the Grand Canyon sequence provides an opportunity to discuss the incompleteness of the rock record in any one place and a system composed of igneous and metamorphic rocks with no fossils is used to point out the difference between radiometric (absolute) and biostratigraphic (relative) dating.
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This lesson unit is intended to help teachers assess how well students: …
This lesson unit is intended to help teachers assess how well students: are able to use frequency graphs to identify a range of measures and make sense of this data in a real-world context; and understand that a large number of data points allow a frequency graph to be approximated by a continuous distribution.
This lesson unit is intended to help teachers assess how well students …
This lesson unit is intended to help teachers assess how well students are able to interpret data using frequency graphs and box plots. In particular this unit aims to identify and help students who have difficulty figuring out the data points and spread of data from frequency graphs and box plots. It is advisable to use the lesson: Representing Data 1: Frequency Graphs, before this one.
Many of today's popular sports are based around the use of balls, …
Many of today's popular sports are based around the use of balls, yet none of the balls are completely alike. In fact, they are all designed with specific characteristics in mind and are quite varied. Students investigate different balls' abilities to bounce and represent the data they collect graphically.
This lesson in part of Software Carpentry workshop and teach novice programmers …
This lesson in part of Software Carpentry workshop and teach novice programmers to write modular code and best practices for using R for data analysis. an introduction to R for non-programmers using gapminder data The goal of this lesson is to teach novice programmers to write modular code and best practices for using R for data analysis. R is commonly used in many scientific disciplines for statistical analysis and its array of third-party packages. We find that many scientists who come to Software Carpentry workshops use R and want to learn more. The emphasis of these materials is to give attendees a strong foundation in the fundamentals of R, and to teach best practices for scientific computing: breaking down analyses into modular units, task automation, and encapsulation. Note that this workshop will focus on teaching the fundamentals of the programming language R, and will not teach statistical analysis. The lesson contains more material than can be taught in a day. The instructor notes page has some suggested lesson plans suitable for a one or half day workshop. A variety of third party packages are used throughout this workshop. These are not necessarily the best, nor are they comprehensive, but they are packages we find useful, and have been chosen primarily for their usability.
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