Finding and predicting hurricane activity through GIS
Jennifer Gebelein, Florida International University
Students must be able to search for, find, download, display, query and map hurricane and other relevant GIS data. Hurricane data spans 1851-2008 and is from: http://www.fgdl.org/metadataexplorer/explorer.jsp ...

The Non-linearity of Environmental Change: A coral reef model
Dennis Hubbard, Oberlin College
This is an exercise that is used in an undergraduate, non-major course titled "Coral Reefs: Biology, Geology & Policy". The course uses this popular environment as a proxy for environmental decline ...

Research project to consider how projected climate change will impact a region of interest to the student
Susan Kaspari, Central Washington University
Students consult the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chapters on climate projections and the primary scientific literature to write a research paper and present their results to the ...

Ozone Pollution
Omowumi Alabi, University of Missouri-Kansas City
This lab exercise is designed to provide a basic understanding of a real-world scientific investigation. Students are introduced to the concept of tropospheric ozone as an air pollutant due to human activities. ...

Understanding the Carbon Cycle: A Jigsaw Approach
David Hastings, Eckerd College
In this "jigsaw" exercise, each student is assigned one of five geochemical processes in the carbon cycle to research, fully understand, and then explain to others in groups of five. At the end of class ...

An integrated view of the Glendale Landscape
Kaye Savage, Wofford College
Students work in groups to develop posters that communicate their concept of landscape following several field labs (soils, sediment analysis, river discharge, vegetation survey, aquatic life) at one location. They ...

Using spring water chemistry to understand groundwater inputs
Rebecca Frus, University of New Mexico-Main Campus
The assignment will begin with teaching proper water collection and use of equipment for hydrochemical field work. Once the class is familiar with sample collecting technques, the class takes a field trip to ...

independent soil investigation project
Stephanie Ewing, Montana State University-Bozeman
Students demonstrate their skill in soils investigation and interpretation through independent projects undertaken in groups of one to three and presented in class using visual aids.

Impacts of El Nino and La Nina
Sue Clement, Kent State University-Main Campus
In this exercise, students explore NOAA and the Climate Data Center websites that provide information about El Niño. The students are then asked interpret a series of maps to describe the key changes in climate ...

Earthquake Compare and Contrast Paper
Sarah "Sally" Zellers, University of Central Missouri
Students will write a research paper comparing the Sumatran (2004) and Tohoku (2011) tsunami generating earthquakes.