Classroom, Lab and Field Exercises in Geophysics

This collection of teaching materials allows for the sharing of ideas and activities within the community of geophysics teachers.

Do you have a favorite teaching activity you'd like to share? Add your teaching materials to the collection, using our submission tool.




Current Search Limits:

Results 1 - 20 of 23 matches

Episodic tremor and slip: The Case of the Mystery Earthquakes | Lessons on Plate Tectonics part of Geodesy:Activities
Shelley E Olds, EarthScope Consortium
Earthquakes in western Washington and Oregon are to be expected—the region lies in the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Offshore, the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate subducts under the North American plate, from northern California to British Columbia. The region, however, also experiences exotic seismicity— Episodic Tremor and Slip (ETS).In this lesson, your students study seismic and GPS data from the region to recognize a pattern in which unusual tremors--with no surface earthquakes--coincide with jumps of GPS stations. This is ETS. Students model ductile and brittle behavior of the crust with lasagna noodles to understand how properties of materials depend on physical conditions. Finally, they assemble their knowledge of the data and models into an understanding of ETS in subduction zones and its relevance to the millions of residents in Cascadia.

On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
Learn more about this review process.

Earthquake Early Warning Demonstration part of Geodesy:Activities
Shelley E Olds, EarthScope Consortium
This hands-on demonstration illustrates how GPS instruments can be used in earthquake early warning systems to alert people of impending shaking. The same principles can be applied to other types of early warning systems (such as tsunami) or to early warning systems using a different type of geophysical sensor (such as a seismometer instead of a GPS).This demo is essentially a game that works best with a large audience (ideally over 30 people) in an auditorium. A few people are selected to be either surgeons, GPS stations, or a warning siren, with everyone else forming an earthquake "wave."

Earthquake Investigation Workshop: Shake, Rattle, & Rock part of Geodesy:Activities
Daniel Murray, University of Rhode Island
This workshop is part of an NSF-funded effort to provide professional development to STEM teachers in Rhode Island. In this activity, students will make "earthquakes" using a simple model, the earthquake ...

On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
Learn more about this review process.

Downloading Earthquake Data from the USGS Earthquake Hazards Site for Anywhere in the World and Studying it Using ArcGIS part of Introductory Courses:Activities
Barb Tewksbury, Hamilton College
Students download earthquake data from the USGS Earthquake Hazards website and plot and anlyze the earthquakes using ArcMap and ArcScene.

On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
Learn more about this review process.

Acoustic Waves and Seismac part of Geodesy:Activities
Remke Van Dam, Michigan State University
The students will expand on their knowledge of acoustic signals (from class lectures and book readings) by watching videos and doing an in-class exercise with the seismac program.

Spectral Seismology Module part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules
This module was initially developed by Soule, D. S., M. Weirathmuller, G. Kroeger, and R. Darner Gougis. 20 March 2017. EDDIE: Spectral Seismology. EDDIE Module 10, Version 1. https://d32ogoqmya1dw8.cloudfront.net/files/enviro_data/activities/spectral_seismology_module-student_.v2.pdf. Module development was supported by NSF DEB 1245707 .
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 ...

On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
Learn more about this review process.

Unit 2: Kilauea Hawai'i - Monday Morning Meeting at the USGS Hawai'i Volcano Observatory part of Monitoring Volcanoes and Communicating Risks
Kaatje van der Hoeven Kraft, Whatcom Community College and Rachel Teasdale, California State University-Chico
How do volcanologists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory monitor volcanoes? In a jigsaw format, students first work in teams to learn one of the four volcano monitoring data sets (GPS, Tilt, Seismic and InSAR) and ...

On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
Learn more about this review process.

Unit 6: Applying GPS strain and earthquake hazard analyses to different regions part of GPS, Strain, and Earthquakes
Vince Cronin, Baylor University (Vince_Cronin@baylor.edu) Phil Resor, Wesleyan University (presor@wesleyan.edu)
Students select their own set of three stations in an area of interest to them, conduct a strain analysis of the area between the stations, and tie the findings to regional tectonics and societal impacts in a 5–7 ...

GETSI Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the GETSI curricular materials development process.
Learn more about this review process.

Unit 5: 2014 South Napa Earthquake and GPS strain part of GPS, Strain, and Earthquakes
Phil Resor, Wesleyan University
The 2014 South Napa earthquake was the first large earthquake (Mag 6) to occur within the Plate Boundary Observatory GPS network (now Network of the Americas- NOTA) since installation. It provides an excellent ...

On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
Learn more about this review process.
GETSI Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the GETSI curricular materials development process.
Learn more about this review process.

Unit 1: Earthquake! part of GPS, Strain, and Earthquakes
Vince Cronin, Baylor University (Vince_Cronin@baylor.edu) Phil Resor, Wesleyan University (presor@wesleyan.edu)
In this opening unit, students develop the societal context for understanding earthquake hazards using as a case study the 2011 Tohoku, Japan, earthquake. It starts with a short homework "scavenger hunt" ...

On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
Learn more about this review process.
GETSI Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the GETSI curricular materials development process.
Learn more about this review process.

Unit 3: Yellowstone is active, but will it erupt? part of Monitoring Volcanoes and Communicating Risks
Rachel Teasdale (California State University, Chico) and Kaatje van der Hoeven Kraft (Whatcom Community College)
An eruption at Yellowstone could have devastating effects on large areas of the United States and Canada, but what is the likelihood of such an eruption occurring? This unit has students explore seismic data for ...

Unit 2: Identifying faulting styles, rates and histories through analysis of geomorphic characteristics (Lidar) part of Imaging Active Tectonics
Bruce Douglas, Indiana University-Bloomington; Gareth Funning, University of California-Riverside
Can active faults be identified remotely, based upon their appearance in the landscape? How can the geomorphic features associated with active faults be used to classify and quantify fault movement? In this unit, ...

On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
Learn more about this review process.
GETSI Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the GETSI curricular materials development process.
Learn more about this review process.

Unit 3: How to see an earthquake from space (InSAR) part of Imaging Active Tectonics
Bruce Douglas, Indiana University-Bloomington; Gareth Funning, University of California-Riverside
How can we tell what style of faulting was responsible for a particular earthquake? Especially in cases where there is limited instrumentation in a region, or where geologists have difficulty accessing the affected ...

On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
Learn more about this review process.
GETSI Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the GETSI curricular materials development process.
Learn more about this review process.

Unit 1: "If an earthquake happens in the desert and no one lives there, should we care about it?" [How are human-made infrastructure lifelines affected by earthquakes?] part of Imaging Active Tectonics
Bruce Douglas, Indiana University-Bloomington; Gareth Funning, University of California-Riverside
This unit initiates a discussion about the importance of recognizing faults in relation to modern societal infrastructure. Students consider the types of infrastructure necessary to support a modern lifestyle, ...

On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
Learn more about this review process.
GETSI Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the GETSI curricular materials development process.
Learn more about this review process.

Unit 5: How do earthquakes affect society? part of Imaging Active Tectonics
Bruce Douglas, Indiana University-Bloomington; Gareth Funning, University of California-Riverside
Unit 5 is a final exercise that can start during a lab period and carry over into work outside of the lab time. The project report will test students' abilities to synthesize and apply knowledge related to ...

GETSI Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the GETSI curricular materials development process.
Learn more about this review process.

Unit 4: The phenomenology of earthquakes from InSAR data part of Imaging Active Tectonics
Bruce Douglas, Indiana University-Bloomington; Gareth Funning, University of California-Riverside
How are different types of earthquakes represented in InSAR data? How can we obtain detailed information on the earthquake source from InSAR data? How well can we resolve those details? In this unit, students ...

GETSI Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the GETSI curricular materials development process.
Learn more about this review process.

The 2014 La Habra earthquake: Teaching Risk and Resilience in Southern California with Citizen Science part of Integrate:Workshops and Webinars:Teaching about Risk and Resilience:Activities
Danielle Sumy, EarthScope
This exercise uses the example of the March 28, 2014 M5.1 La Habra earthquake to teach about earthquake risk and resilience in southern California. Students will examine seismic waveforms recording during the earthquake, as well as read reports from scientific agencies and news outlets to answer basic questions regarding earthquake risk and resilience.

Seismicity and Relative Risk part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Teaching with Data:Examples
Anne Egger, Central Washington University
This activity introduces students to using real-time data about earthquakes to make decisions. -

On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
Learn more about this review process.

The Epicenter of a Southwestern Earthquake part of Keyah Math:Activities
Kéyah Math Project development team: Nancy Zumoff, Christopher Schaufele, Steven Semken, Tracy Perkins, Lynn Onken, Philippe Laval, David Gonzales, and Andrew Becenti (deceased). Kéyah Math Project directed by Steven Semken , Arizona State University; and Christopher Schaufele and Nancy Zumoff, Professors of Mathematics, Emeritus. Archived at Arizona State University School of Earth and Space Exploration.
This activity guides students to use the measured difference in P and S wave velocities to locate the epicenter of a minor earthquake in the Southwestern United States. Click here to view the full activity on the ...

Layers of the Earth part of Keyah Math:Activities
Kéyah Math Project development team: Nancy Zumoff, Christopher Schaufele, Steven Semken, Tracy Perkins, Lynn Onken, Philippe Laval, David Gonzales, and Andrew Becenti (deceased). Kéyah Math Project directed by Steven Semken , Arizona State University; and Christopher Schaufele and Nancy Zumoff, Professors of Mathematics, Emeritus. Archived at Arizona State University School of Earth and Space Exploration.
Students use graphs of seismic wave travel times, and value for the diameter of Earth obtained in the Size of the Earth activity, to investigate the internal structure of the Earth and determine that it is layered. ...