This activity will help students learn about Minnesota animals and characteristics that distinguish them from one another.

The Plant Breeding E-Learning in Africa (PBEA) e-modules were originally developed as part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Contract No. 24576. Building on Iowa State University’s expertise with online plant breeding education, the PBEA e-modules were developed for use in curricula to train African students in the management of crop breeding programs for public, local, and international organizations. The authors of this textbook series adapted and built upon the PBEA modules to develop a series of textbooks covering individual topic areas. It is our hope that this project will facilitate wider dissemination and reuse of the PBEA modules’ content.
Crop Genetics provides an introduction to the genetic concepts of reproductive systems, recombination, mutation, segregation and linkage analysis, inbreeding, quantitative inheritance, fertility regulation, population genetics and polyploidy.

Often Geology students complete their degrees with little practical field experience beyond what they obtain at Field Camp. This exercise introduces students to field projects early in their studies. This introduction occurs while our Earth System History class takes a three-day field trip to St. Francois Mountains of eastern Missouri. Given a topographic map of the field area, students use their field notes to construct a cross-section and answer written questions regarding relative age, field relationships, and geologic history of the area.

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Students complete a crossword puzzle to review the physical properties of minerals that are helpful in hand specimen identification. Mineral names and characteristics are particularly well-suited for a crossword format. Two versions are provided, one at an introductory level and one for more advanced undergraduates. Instructor files provided are easy to customize.

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Each student independently researches a major ancient or active regional fault, which she/he has selected from a list provided by the instructor. Each student prepares text and figures that present location, geologic column, map and cross-sectional characteristics, kinematics, mechanics, and plate tectonic significance. Students present results in a poster session to classmates, teaching assistants, instructor, and guests (e.g., other faculty and students).

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This exercise is designed to help students understand relationships among external morphology of crystals (their shape and faces), internal structure (unit cell shape, edge measurements, and volume), Hermann-Mauguin notation for the 32 crystal classes, and Miller Indices of forms and faces.

The example and four crystal measurement problems have been drawn using the computer program SHAPE (see both Brock and Velbel, this volume). Both a single drawing and stereo pair are given for each problem. The stereo pair drawings can be used with the normal stereoscope used to read air photographs. The interfacial angles were calculated by the SHAPE program. If you have access to SHAPE you can design other crystal problems or have students generate the crystal drawing on the computer and then make the calculations ask for in this exercise.

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This exercise is based on the recent formulation of a geobarometer based on the crystal structure of clinopyroxene (Nimis, 1995; 1998; 1999). This method relates structural parameters (e.g., the volumes of the unit cell and the M1 polyhedron) to the pressure at which the mineral crystallizes within basic and ultrabasic magmas.

students are guided into the American Mineralogist Crystal Structure Database to retrieve and download published crystal structure data for viewing in either the CrystalMaker or Xtaldraw visualization software packages.
students are instructed on how to examine the structures to determine pressure-sensitive crystallographic parameters
students are then asked a series of questions related to what they learn.

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This lab gives students the opportunity to investigate crystallization processes and textures. Students experiment with a crystalline wax, studying how/where the crystals form, how to get crystal-free material, and how different cooling rates affect crystal size and distribution. Students can even create their own pillow lavas and flow/cooling textures. The experiments also provide an opportunity to clarify the idea of quenching for students. Once students understand quenching, they have an easier time completing the included exercise which involves looking a binary eutectic phase diagram and the modal abundances of glass and crystals in a real sample. The phase diagram and modal information are used to determine a melting/quenching history and composition for a historical sample of metallurgical slag.

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In this exercise, students use major-element compositions of whole-rocks, volcanic glasses, and minerals in lavas and drill cores from the solidified Kilauea Iki lava lake. The data is presented in the form of a "precompiled" spreadsheet which contains selected analyses culled from the GEOROC database and a USGS Open File report. Students make graphs from the data to learn about the petrologic processes related to the eruption and in situ crystallization of basaltic magma

(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 exercise, students use major-element compositions of whole-rocks, volcanic glasses, and minerals in lavas and drill cores from the solidified Kilauea Iki lava lake. The data is presented in the form of a "precompiled" spreadsheet which contains selected analyses culled from the GEOROC database and a USGS Open File report. Students make graphs from the data to learn about the petrologic processes related to the eruption and in situ crystallization of basaltic magma.

(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 short exercise introduces students to phase diagrams that have a eutectic and a peritectic. After learning about such phase diagrams, students answer questions about melt composition, temperature, cooling and melting, crystalization, and melt:crystal ratios.

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In this laboratory exercise students explore the crystallization behavior of a rock of known composition at 1 atmosphere pressure using experimental and numerical methods and phase diagrams. They also create and use diagrams to classify their igneous rock and identify its tectonic setting. They compare results of the three methods, and then give a presentation of their results to the class.

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This activity helps students understand how geoscientists study the Earth below our feet through drilling. Using a large straw as a "drill", students collect samples through different parts of the specially layered cupcake and keep a "log" of the drill core. By defining different colored cake and filling, they can reconstruct what the interior of the cupcake may look like. Students gain an appreciation for the challenges of determining a plausible geologic interpretation with limited data.

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Students learn about biomedical engineering while designing, building and testing prototype surgical tools to treat cancer. Students also learn that if cancer cells are not removed quickly enough during testing, a cancerous tumor may grow exponentially and become more challenging to eliminate. Students practice iterative design as they improve their surgical tools during the activity.

For this two-part assignment, students first locate two substantial current events articles on geology-related topics from mainstream newspaper or magazine. The instructor assesses the articles, making sure that basic criteria have been met, and assigns one article for the student to share with the class in an informal 3-5 minute presentation.

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With your mouse, drag data points and their error bars, and watch the best-fit polynomial curve update instantly. You choose the type of fit: linear, quadratic, cubic, or quartic. The reduced chi-square statistic shows you when the fit is good. Or you can try to find the best fit by manually adjusting fit parameters.

To prepare to these labs, students will attend discussions on describing the geometry of geological structures, strain analysis and geological cross-sections.

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The DISCOVER-AQ curriculum integrates real-word research with real-life learning to answer the question: What are the causes and effects of air quality issues and how do they affect human health and the environment?

Make your own relaxing bath salts. 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.

Make your own first aid kit. 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.