During the course of the day, students examine the high-grade metasupracrustal rocks, related gneisses, and the late Archean granitoids and mafic dikes. We have prepared a number of exercises that might be done with classes at different levels. Depending on the background and preparation of your class you might want to emphasize different learning skills specific to the class level: observation, interpretation, integration (i.e. multiple lines of evidence focused on a given problem), and synthesis (i.e. relationship to the "big picture", drawing from the corpus of geologic knowledge). We have also prepared a compilation of our key scientific results, but these are under seal and we'd like you to do the exercises first as if you were students before taking a look at the supporting evidence.

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In this activity, students learn about their heart rate and different ways it can be measured. Students construct a simple measurement device using clay and a toothpick, and then use this device to measure their heart rate under different circumstances (i.e., sitting, standing and jumping). Students make predictions and record data on a worksheet.

Lighting is responsible for nearly one-third of the electricity use in buildings. One of the best ways to conserve energy is to make sure the lights are turned off when no one is in a room. This process can be automated using motion sensors. In this activity, students explore material properties as they relate to motion detection, and use that knowledge to make design judgments about what types of motion detectors to use in specific applications.

This learning activity explores the concept of resiliency. It allows students to make city planning decisions and then employs a game to test their resilience decisions against potential impacts from severe weather, climate change, and natural hazards.

A Beautiful Mind won the Academy Award for best picture in 2001 and it chronicles the life of John Nash who is noted for his pioneering work on general equilibrium theory. This scene is a great way to discuss self-interest and contrast it with the social optimum. Nash's work has augmented Adam Smith's "invisible hand" theory by extending how self-interest is modeled. This scene is must viewing even though the scene itself contains flawed economics (explaining why the scene is NOT a Nash equilibrium helps students learn the concept in greater depth).

Students "become" one of the major characters in a book and describe themselves and other characters, using lists of accurate, powerful adjectives.

Is the case closed on the authorship of Shakespeare's plays? Student history detectives explore the evidence for and against one of the possible alternatives, Edward deVere, using the novel Shakespeare's Secret plus a variety of online sources.

Becoming an Agricultural Entrepreneur. This is the Lesson 1 Exposure Activity, from Unit 5 Agriculture and Business, 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 upon request. Visit: https://engagement.colostate.edu/programs-old/developing-individuals-growing-stewards/

To prepare for this activity, students receive background on bedforms and flow regimes in class and practice identifying and classifying bedforms from field photographs. Students are then given a map of a barrier beach/inlet/tidal delta complex in mid-coast Maine and asked to predict what bedforms they expect to find in specific sub-environments. During a subsequent field trip to the area, students observe, classify and map bedforms and relate them qualitatively to formative flows. Qualitative description and classification are supplemented by quantitative measurements of bedform morphology and orientation, and by GPS-located digital photographs. After the trip, students compare their predictions and observations of bedforms in the sub-environments, reflecting on the reasons for the differences and the evolution of their thinking. The exercise also serves to set the stage for subsequent quantitative studies of bedforms and bedload transport, as well as interpretation of sedimentary structures and clastic depositional environments in the geological record.

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Students are given the task of predicting where parasequence boundaries would exist within a vertical section of the Blackhawk Formation, Utah. This activity challenges students to apply their knowledge of bedforms in order to interpret the facies they observe. The students work in groups of two as they make their observations. The vertical section consists of four main outcrops to be observed by the students. After making their observations and interpretations of these four outcrops, the students then make predictions of what should be found up section. Students begin down section by observing the lowest section of the four outcrops. The students make observations about lithology, grain size, sedimentary structures and trace fossils. After recording their observations in their field notebook the class gathers for a discussion. Students are called on randomly to discuss what they observed. The class creates a group stratigraphic column on a white board and includes their observations to the right of the drawn profile. They are then asked to interpret what facies these observations represent. The students defend their interpretations and, as a group, agree upon an interpretation. The facies interpretation is then added to the white board and the group moves to the next outcrop up section. After observing, describing and interpreting each of the four outcrops the students are challenged to use all of the information gathered thus far to predict what facies should be observed further up section. This exercise provides an opportunity for the students to make and defend observations and interpretations. They also get a sense for the importance of Walther's Law and how it relates to sequence stratigraphy.

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This field mapping and map-making exercise is a capstone project for a course on Geological Maps. Over a weekend (~12 hours of field work), students collect lithologic and structural data from outcrops scattered over a one square mile area. Back in the classroom, students digitally compile their field data (outcrop, structure measurements, traverse locations) into ArcMAP. They infer geologic linework (faults and contacts) and units from this data in ArcMAP and then export these data layers into Illustrator. In Illustrator, they add ancillary map components (a cross section, description of map units, correlation diagram, map symbol legend,...) to create a final map at a 1:10,000 scale. Their maps are printed out on 11"x17" paper and saved as a pdf file. This exercise helps the students to appreciate how field data is collected and how these geologic facts are interpretively organized into a four-dimensional picture that is a geologic map.

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Students collect gps locational and strike and dip data on a day-long fieldtrip to Cliff Island. The data is then used in ArcGIS to make a bedrock geologic map of the island. The final map is exported from Arc and prepared in Adobe InDesign as a tabloid size poster.

(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.)

STEM focused lesson that incorporates hands on and computer based 3D design. Grade specific math concepts such as budgets, percentages, and square footage is applied.

When you spin it around, this toy sounds like a swarm of buzzing bees.

Bees Please! 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. This kit is provided free for educational use. This Kit is available in Spanish.

The study of biomimicry and sustainable design promises great benefits in design applications, offering cost-effective, resourceful, non-polluting avenues for new enterprise. An important final caveat for students to understand is that once copied, species are not expendable. Biomimicry is intended to help people by identifying natural functions from which to pattern human-driven services. Biomimicry was never intended to replace species. Ecosystems remain in critical need of ongoing protection and biodiversity must be preserved for the overall health of the planet. This activity addresses the negative ramifications of species decline. For example, pollinators such as bees are a vital work force in agriculture. They perform an irreplaceable task in ensuring the harvest of most fruit and vegetable crops. In the face of the unexplained colony collapse disorder, we are only now beginning to understand how invaluable these insects are in keeping food costs down and even making the existence of these foods possible for humans.

Create a candle from bee's wax. Activity from Weekly STEM in a Bag. Colorado Americorp agents in Araphahoe, Denver, Garfield, Larimer, and Weld Counties. Work supported by the Corporation for National and Community Service under Americorps grant number 18AFHCO0010008. Opinions or points of view expressed in this lesson are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of or a position that is endorsed by the Corporation or the Americorps program. This resource is also available in Spanish in the linked file.

This interactive shows the extent of the killing of lodgepole pine trees in western Canada. The spread of pine beetle throughout British Columbia has devastated the lodgepole pine forests there. This animation shows the spread of the beetle and the increasing numbers of trees affected from 1999-2008 and predicts the spread up until 2015.

In this exercise, students will use the Neotoma database and ArcGIS Online to create a distribution map of modern collection localities of beetle taxa associated with an assemblage of fossil beetles from the Conklin Quarry site in eastern Iowa.

a data rich exercise to help students discover how organisms move in response to climate change

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This activity is a scientific investigation focusing on inquiry after using the Foss Water Kit. The students will pose a question, create a procedure and produce a poster showing their findings.