http://serc.carleton.edu/earthandmind/posts/collapsing_moun.html#discussion http://serc.carleton.edu/earthandmind/posts/collapsing_moun.html#post13158
We just had a massive rock fall of a boulder the size of a school bus hit the dam that forms Ennis Lake along the Madison River. For safety, the lake is being drained ~9 feet to ease the pressure on the damaged dam, but just imagine the liberated potential energy if the dam had failed and Ennis Lake had drained!

To misquote "All the President's Men": "Follow the energy"--in the Earth system to see the magnitude and frequency and impacts of the work that is being done!]]> Dave Mogk 1283882520 http://serc.carleton.edu/earthandmind/posts/collapsing_moun.html#post13158 http://serc.carleton.edu/earthandmind/posts/collapsing_moun.html#post13160
As I've said before, I sure wish that I had had you as a teacher. Your field reflection technique with your intro students sounds wonderful.

I would like to find a book or reading that would help my "Teaching & Learning Concepts in Earth Science" students (pre-service teachers) perceive the natural world through this energy/entropy viewpoint. I looked through my collection of Intro level Geo and Earth Science textbooks that publishers keep sending me, and none takes this perspective. There are several that, on the specific topic of erosion and mountain building, talk about the balance or battle between forces of construction and destruction, but none cast this in terms of energy. I can make this point myself in discussion, but it is a rare high school teacher who would teach a topic in a way that is so far out of alignment with the way it is explained in the textbook.

Any suggestions?
Kim ]]> Kim Kastens 1283999220 http://serc.carleton.edu/earthandmind/posts/collapsing_moun.html#post13160