Earth System Science Courses

Mock Environmental Summit part of Pedagogy in Action:Library:Role Playing:Examples
At the end of a six-week class or unit on global warming, students role-play representatives from various countries and organizations at an international summit on global warming.

Being P-Waves and S-Waves part of Pedagogy in Action:Library:Role Playing:Examples
Teach students about P-waves and S-waves by having them model them with their own bodies.

Runaway Greenhouse Effect Exercise part of Pedagogy in Action:Library:Role Playing:Examples
This site has a collection of role-playing exercises that provide the students with equations and data to use in collaborative problem-solving.

Oil Demand and Consumption part of Pedagogy in Action:Library:Process of Science:Examples
Data modeling activity using oil reserve and consumption data. Students predict when oil reserves meet or exceed reserves.

Weathering Rates part of Pedagogy in Action:Library:Interactive Lectures:Examples
A think-pair-share activity in which students calculate weathering rates from tombstone weathering data.

2004 Asian Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Project part of Pedagogy in Action:Library:Cooperative Learning:Examples
Students are employees of a unit of the United Nations responsible for coordinating disaster relief after a major disaster (the 2004 Asian Earthquake and Tsunami) occurs. The agency needs to understand the situation in each country so that it can coordinate the work of various governments and NGO (nongovernmental organizations) working in the affected area.

Earth's Radiation Budget part of Pedagogy in Action:Library:Teaching with Data:Examples
In this activity students explore the Earth's radiation budget using Earth radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) data archived at the IRI/LDEO Climate Data Library (more info) .

What Should We Do About Global Warming? part of Pedagogy in Action:Library:Role Playing:Examples
This module contains an 8-lesson curriculum to study greenhouse gases and global warming using data and visualizations. The students will summarize the issue in a mock debate or a presentation.

Building-Stone Geology part of Pedagogy in Action:Library:Field Labs:Field Lab Examples
Students in an area remote from igneous and metamorphic rocks wrote papers on the properties of locally used building stones and gave a walking tour in which they presented their results.

Carbon Dioxide Exercise part of Pedagogy in Action:Library:Interactive Lectures:Examples
Students work in groups, plotting carbon dioxide concentrations over time on overheads and estimating the rate of change over five years.