Wind and Ocean Ecosystems
Alanna Lecher, Lynn University; April Watson, Lynn University
Wind has a fundamental impact on ocean ecosystems. Wind drives physical processes, including current development and upwelling through Ekman transport. These physical processes, in turn, have cascading impacts on ...

Investigating Wildfire Smoke and Air Quality in the DMV Using MATLAB and EPA Dataset
Nakul Karle, Howard University
How does fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅) air pollution change over time, and what can observations tell us about a wildfire smoke episode? In this classroom activity, students use MATLAB to retrieve and analyze ...

Climate Change Module
O'Reilly, C.M.; D.C. Richardson; R.D. Gougis; C.M. O'Reilly
Scientists agree that the climate is changing and that human activities are a primary cause for this change through increased emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. There have been times in ...

Paleoclimate and Ocean Biogeochemistry
Allison Jacobel, Middlebury College
This module guides students through an examination of how surface ocean productivity relates to global climate on glacial-interglacial timescales and how the availability of ocean nutrients can be correlated with ...

Measuring Plate Motion with GPS: Iceland | Lessons on Plate Tectonics
Roger Groom, Mt. Tabor Middle School; Cate Fox-Lent, UNAVCO; Shelley E Olds, EarthScope Consortium; Nancy West, Quarter Dome Consulting; David Thesenga, Front Range Community College
This lesson teaches middle and high school students to understand the architecture of GPS—from satellites to research quality stations on the ground. This is done with physical models and a presentation. Then students learn to interpret data for the station's position through time ("time series plots"). Students represent time series data as velocity vectors and add the vectors to create a total horizontal velocity vector. They apply their skills to discover that the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is rifting Iceland. They cement and expand their understanding of GPS data with an abstraction using cars and maps. Finally, they explore GPS vectors in the context of global plate tectonics.

Exploring California's Plate Motion and Deformation with GPS | Lessons on Plate Tectonics
Roger Groom, Mt. Tabor Middle School; Andy Newman, Georgia Institute of Technology; Shelley E Olds, EarthScope Consortium; Cate Fox-Lent, UNAVCO; Nancy West, Quarter Dome Consulting; David Thesenga, Front Range Community College
Students analyze data to study the motion of the Pacific and North American tectonic plates. From GPS data, students detect relative motion between the plates in the San Andreas fault zone--with and without earthquakes. To get to that discovery, they use physical models to understand the architecture of GPS, from satellites to sensitive stations on the ground. They learn to interpret time series data collected by stations (in the spreading regime of Iceland), to cast data as horizontal north-south and east-west vectors, and to add those vectors head-to-tail.Students then apply their skills and understanding to data in the context of the strike-slip fault zone of a transform plate boundary. They interpret time series plots from an earthquake in Parkfield, CA to calculate the resulting slip on the fault and (optionally) the earthquake's magnitude.

Nutrient Monitoring in the Chesapeake Bay
Akinyele Oni, Morgan State University; Niangoran Koissi, Morgan State University
The Chesapeake Bay waters receive input from rivers and streams from areas of Washington D.C, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, and some parts of New York and Pennsylvania. Historically, humongous ...

Spectral Seismology Module
Soule, D. S.; M. Weirathmuller; G. Kroeger; R. Darner Gougis
This module that is based on a conceptual presentation of waveforms and filters. "Spectral Seismology" will engage students using seismic and acoustic signals available through Incorporated Research ...

Topographic differencing: Earthquake along the Wasatch fault
Chelsea Scott, Arizona State University Campus Immersion; Ramon Arrowsmith, Arizona State University at the Tempe Campus; Christopher Crosby, UNAVCO
After a big earthquake happens people ask, 'Where did the earthquake occur? How big was it? What type of fault was activated?' We designed an undergraduate laboratory exercise in which students learn how ...

OGGM-Edu Glaciology Lab 1: What Makes a Glacier?
Lizz Ultee, Middlebury College; Fabien Maussion, University of Innsbruck
This is a three-part class or lab activity that challenges students to define what a glacier is, how it differs from other parts of the cryosphere (such as sea ice), and what kinds of glaciers there are in the ...