Exemplary Teaching Activities
Beginning in 2011, On the Cutting Edge began a process to review the extensive collection of activities submitted by workshop participants and members of the geoscience community. With the transition of the On the Cutting Edge program into NAGT the review process is now being used to broadly review online teaching activities relevant to NAGT's community of Earth educators. Through this review processes activities are scored on 5 elements: scientific veracity; alignment of goals, activity, and assessment; pedagogical effectiveness; robustness; and completeness of the description. The activities that score very highly in these areas become part of the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection and are featured below.
You may also be interested in the full collection of teaching activities.
Subject: Geoscience
Theme: Teach the Earth
Grade Level
Results 1 - 10 of 891 matches
Discover Plate Tectonics part of Guided Inquiry Introductory Geology Labs:Activities
Angela Daneshmand, Santiago Canyon College
This is a student-centered activity for a synchronous online course where students access google slides to complete during a video conferencing session (eg. Zoom) in break out rooms. Students will be introduced to ...
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Getting started with Structure from Motion (SfM) photogrammetry part of Cutting Edge:Enhance Your Teaching:Teaching with Online Field Experiences:Activities
Beth Pratt-Sitaula, EarthScope
Structure from Motion (SfM) photogrammetry method uses overlapping images to create a 3D point cloud of an object or landscape. It can be applied to everything from fault scarps to landslides to topography. This ...
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Economics: Sea level rise part of PENGUIN:PENGUIN Modules
Lea Fortmann, University of Puget Sound
This module is framed from the perspective of a city planner trying to determine how much to spend on a local seawall given different scenarios of sea level rise and the associated storm surge and higher flood ...
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Lake Ice Phenology Module part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules
This module was initially developed by Carey, C.C., J.L. Klug, and D.C. Richardson. 1 April 2015. Project EDDIE: Lake Ice Phenology. Project EDDIE Module 1, Version 1: cemast.illinoisstate.edu/data-for-students/modules/ice-phenology.shtml. Module development was supported by NSF DEB 1245707.
Lakes are changing worldwide due to altered climate. Many lakes that were historically frozen in the winter are now experiencing fewer days of ice cover and earlier ice-off dates. In this module, students will ...
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Paleoclimate and Ocean Biogeochemistry part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules
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 ...
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Wind and Ocean Ecosystems part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules
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 ...
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Visualizing Relationships with Data: Exploring plate boundaries with Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and GPS Data in the Western U.S. & Alaska | Lessons on Plate Tectonics part of Geodesy:Activities
Shelley E Olds, EarthScope Consortium; Becca Walker, Mt San Antonio College
Learners use the GPS Velocity Viewer, or the included map packet to visualize relationships between earthquakes, volcanoes, and plate boundaries as a jigsaw activity.
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Climate Change Effects on Lake Temperatures part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules
Cayelan Carey, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Kaitlin Farrell, University of Georgia; Mary Lofton, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Climate change is modifying the thermal structure of lakes around the globe. Because it is difficult to predict how lakes will respond to the many different aspects of climate change (e.g., altered temperature, ...
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Lake Modeling Module part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules
Cayelan Carey, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Lakes around the globe are experiencing the effects of climate change. In this module, students will learn how to use a lake model to explore the effects of altered weather on lakes, and then develop their own ...
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LEGO® Magma Crystallization Activity part of Magma Labs
Jessica Larsen, University of Alaska Fairbanks
This exercise uses LEGO® Magma Crystallization Activity building blocks to demonstrate in a simple way how zoned crystals can form in magmas. The exercise also shows how the surrounding melt changes in composition ...
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