This lab activity allows students to indetify macroinvertebrates and determine the health of an acquatic ecosystem.

This activity is a field investigation where students gather population data on bird species. The students will create bar graphs and interpret their findings. Based on their experiences and data, they will write an answer to the guiding question.

This activity combines field exercise soil collection with lab analysis of soil bulk density. Students develop a lab procedure to measure density and analyze data using Microsoft Excel computer software.

This is a three-week lab sequence aimed at determining the approximate amount of carbon stored in a local bog and teaching skills for solving complex problems through collaborative work.

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A homework/classroom activity where students collect historical earthquake information and use it to forecast the probability of larger earthquakes.

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Trench logs of the San Andreas Fault at Pallett Creek, CA are the data base for a lab or homework assignment that teaches about relative dating, radiometric dating, fault recurrence intervals and the reasons for uncertainty in predicting geologic phenomena. Students are given a trench log that includes several fault strands and dated stratigraphic horizons. They estimate the times of faulting based on bracketing ages of faulted and unfaulted strata. They compile a table with the faulting events from the trench log and additional events recognized in nearby trenches, then calculate maximum, minimum and average earthquake recurrence intervals for the San Andreas Fault in this area. They conclude by making their own prediction for the timing of the next earthquake. While basically an exercise in determining relative ages of geologic horizons and events, this assignment includes radiometric dates, recurrence intervals, and an obvious societal significance that has been well received by students.
With minor modifications, this exercise has been used successfully with elementary school students through university undergraduate geology majors. Less experienced students can work in groups, with each group determining the age of a single fault strand; combining the results from different groups and calculating recurrence intervals can then be done as a class activity. University students in an introductory geology course for non-majors can add their data from the trench log to an existing table with other faulting events already provided. The exercise can be made more challenging for advanced students by using logs from several different trenches, requiring students to design the table themselves, and giving students the uncertainties for the radiometric dates rather than simple ages for the strata. Most students -- at all levels -- are initially frustrated by their inability to determine an exact date of faulting from the available data. They gain a new appreciation for the task of the geoscientist who attempts to relate geologic phenomena to the human, rather than geologic, time scale.

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This activity is divided into two parts - 1) Using data from primary literature to calculate mantle potential temperature beneath a ridge and an oceanic island ("hotspot"). 2) Using the transition zone thickness observed beneath a "hotspot" (Hawaii) to analyze contributions from anomalous temperature and composition. In addition to the student activity sheets, an Excel key, instructor notes, and student handouts are included below.

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This activity is an introduction to population sampling techniques. Students' will identify weaknesses and strengths of a variety of techniques and determine the best applications of the various methods identified.

This activity is intended to extend students' learning of fundamental physics concepts (e.g. reflection, refraction and transmission of energy) through a real-world application.

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For nearly 100 years, the site that is now High Cliff State Park near Sherwood, WI was the site of a quicklime kiln. Local Silurian dolomite from the Niagara Escarpment was quarried and baked in large kilns before being shipped by boat on Lake Winnebago at the base of the escarpment. Rejected quicklime spoils are still present near the site of the kiln ruins, resting on the slope leading to the Lake Winnebago shoreline. This project is designed to use basic, low-cost field techniques to determine if any quicklime is moving downslope and into Lake Winnebago. Methods of analysis will include: 1) Placing survey stakes on the quicklime slope to see if they slope is moving, 2) Take several water samples from various points along the lakeshore to test the dissolved mineral content, and 3) Take several water samples from various points along the lakeshore to test the pH. Students will be asked to return to the site several times over the course of a semester in order take samples (particularly after precipitation events) and check the position of the stakes. Students will then use to data to project how far out into the lake the effects of the quicklime extend.

Key words: Quicklime, mass wasting, Niagara Escarpment, water pollution, dissolved minerals

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In this activity the students calculate recurrence intervals for some historical crests on the Chippewa River and identify the 100-year flood plain in downtown Eau Claire. The students also evaluate the effect of a 20ft high stage event along the whole Chippewa River with the goal of showing how topography influences the size of the area affected by flooding events. The students also evaluate the effectiveness of a flood gate system located on campus.

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Gravels deposited as a result of continental glaciation are used to teach introductory-level earth-science students the application of the scientific method in a cooperative learning mode which utilizes hands-on, minds-on analyses. Processes that involve erosion, transportation, and deposition of pebble- and cobble-sized clasts are considered by students in formulating and testing hypotheses.

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In this deterministic cellular automata model, interactions between neighboring automata are described using a prisoner's dilemma. Limiting dispersal of seeds of annual plants can permit heterogeneous co-existence, whereas thorough mixing instead allows one subpopulation to dominate quickly.

This activity is a two-part (three week) lab in which students initially develop a claim (non-scientific) and learn how to use evidence to support a claim. They then are provided with a scientific research question for which they need to make a claim supported with evidence from their own models (river/stream tables). Based on their results, they then ask a new research question, design the model, carry out their tests and report their results.

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As a culminating assignment in Natural Hazards Planning, students work in teams to create 15-year mitigation strategy for a selected jurisdiction using the FEMA 386 methodology for prioritizing mitigation options.

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Through this activity, students in a liberal arts mathematics class will develop experience with real-world statistical concepts through the context of sustainability: estimation, survey writing, sampling techniques, and data analysis.

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This activity is a multi-part lab designed to allow students to develop their ability to visualize folds in 3-dimensions using Visible Geology and stereonets.

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This case study is intended to develop an awareness of the ethical and privacy implications for the creation, sharing, interpretation, and use of geocoded data, that is, data with locational content. It provides a set of relevant ethical and legal standards, along with a fact-rich hypothetical. By applying those standards to the hypothetical, learners from a variety of backgrounds are offered the opportunity to develop an awareness of the potential for unintended and negative consequences to result from geocoded data practices that appear, in isolation, to be unproblematic.

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In this guided research and critical thinking activity, students prepare a research paper comprised of two parts: 1) a "state-of-the-science" review and synthesis of selected literature from risk and resilience research (provided) and 2) a brief critical appraisal of how current knowledge is (or could be) applied to building disaster resilience in a real-world scenario. Part 2 will be set in a student-selected hazard context (coastal hazards, flooding, or earthquake), employment sector (academia, government, private industry, services, non-profit), and geopolitical sphere of influence (e.g., Resilience to earthquake disaster in the student population at Universidad de Lima, Peru).

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We introduced a new required course "EnSc 210: Issues in Environmental Science" for our majors about three years ago. When I was assigned to teach this course for the first time, I struggled with developing a syllabus and recommending a text for the course. Since we also offer classes in "Environmental Geology" and an introductory course "EnSc 110 Understanding the Earth," the challenge was to avoid duplication while developing an appropriate syllabus. What I finally decided to do was to have students provide ideas. So, on the first day of class I announced that we don't have a syllabus for this course (many sighs of disappointment) and, after a brief remark on some current environmental issues, invited each student to suggest at least one topic for inclusion in the course. After some hesitation (as expected) hands went up and I began writing each topic on the white board. Pretty soon we had 20-25 topics with some overlapping themes. Some of these included: population problem, global climate change, air and water pollution, waste management, environmental health, species decline, environmental impact of large dams, and sustainability. After some discussions about relative importance of various topics and the time available to cover each during the semester, we narrowed it down to about 10 topics for detailed study. I prepared my syllabus (linked below) based on this list which worked very well because: we were able to include key topics and, very importantly, students felt a sense of 'ownership' which led to a very interesting and interactive class experience throughout the semester.

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