JoAnn Thissen

Geologic Time Resorts part of Geoscience in Two-year Colleges:Activities
This is a capstone project in Historical Geology. Students are assigned a geologic time period, spend the term doing specific, defined research on that time period and then act as the director of media and marketing for an ecotourism company. As such they must create a brochure marketing their time period.

Beach Profiling, Observing and Documenting a Changing Environment, Point Lookout, NY part of Geoscience in Two-year Colleges:Activities
Beach profiling and sediment analysis is a method used in sedimentology and coastal geomorphology to study dynamic beach processes and the effect of wave, current and anthropogenic structures on a beach. Sediment analysis for mean grain size, shape, sorting and skewness provide information on provenance and textural maturity. By combining these two methods students can put together a snapshot of the beach at the time of study. By comparing data taken over several seasons students can see a total picture of beach dynamics over time.

Digging for Fossils part of Geoscience in Two-year Colleges:Activities
In this laboratory, students act as paleontologists at a fossil rich location. Their job is to get the fossils out of the hillside without destroying them. They then must use internet research to identify each fossil they find.