Feldspar Minerals and Triangle Diagrams part of Activities
This activity takes place in a laboratory setting and requires ~1.5-2 hours to complete. Students learn how to read a triangle or ternary diagram. They determine physical properties of feldspars and interpret two ...

Relative and Absolute Geologic Time with Maps and Spreadsheets part of Activities
This activity takes place in a laboratory setting and takes ~1.5-2 hours to complete. Students apply stratigraphic principles for relative dating and basic equations of isotopic systems for absolute dating and ...

The Panama Passageway: Using the PBDB to constrain the timing and extent of the The Great American Biotic Interchange part of Activities
Students learn how to use the online Paleobiology Database to map changes in the distribution of fossil vertebrates in the Americas through time. They will generate distribution maps for several key fossil groups ...

Working with Climate Change Data part of Activities
This activity takes place in a laboratory setting and requires ~1.5-2 hours to complete. Students use spreadsheets to create graphs data related to climate change: sunspots, insolation, carbon dioxide, and global ...

Poster Project for an Introductory Physical Geology Course part of Activities
This page details a term project that replaced the comprehensive final exam in an introductory physical geology course. For the project, each student prepares a poster showing analysis of geological data using a ...

Seafloor Spreading: Bathymetry, Anomalies, and Sediments part of Activities
This activity takes place in a laboratory setting and requires ~1.5-2 hours to complete. Students study the bathymetry of the South Atlantic, use magnetic reversals to interpret marine magnetic anomalies, and ...

Igneous Rocks and Triangle Diagrams part of Activities
This activity takes place in a laboratory setting and requires ~1.5-2 hours to complete. Students observe igneous rock compositions and plot them on triangle diagrams, normalize rock compositions using a ...

The Pangea Puzzle part of Activities
Students learn how to use the Paleobiology Database (PBDB) to produce maps of fossils on the present-day Earth's surface, as well as past continental configurations. They will then use these maps to understand ...

Lecture Tutorials for Introductory Physical Geology part of Activities
These activities take place in a lecture setting and require ~5-10 minutes to complete. Students apply lecture topics directly to answer questions, interpret maps and photographs, perform calculations, and plot ...

Relative Dating with Art part of Activities
This activity asks students to make observations of an artwork and to deduce the sequence of events or processes that occurred during the creation of the piece.

Tracking Sea Level and Paleoenvironments with Fossils part of Activities
Students use the Paleobiology Database Navigator to examine changes in sea level in southeastern North America throughout the Cretaceous, Paleogene, and Neogene Periods. They will plot the change in distribution of ...

Exploring Spreadsheets with Microsoft Excel part of Activities
This activity takes place in a laboratory setting and requires ~1.5-2 hours to complete. Students work with a large set of earthquake data, examine types of charts available in Excel, and use a spreadsheet to ...

Plate Tectonics with Maps and Spreadsheets part of Activities
This activity takes place in a laboratory setting and requires ~1.5-2 hours to complete. Students learn about plate tectonic boundaries, earthquakes in a subducting slab, and volcanic hotspot tracks.

Working with State, National, and Global Petroleum Data part of Activities
This activity takes place in a laboratory setting and requires ~1.5-2 hours to complete. Students work with data on oil production in Illinois, the United States, and the world, creating graphs to interpret data on ...

Introduction to Google Earth part of Activities
Students utilize a variety of tools in Google Earth to answer questions

Learning Assessment #1 - Plate Tectonics part of Activities
An in-class activity that tests students' understanding of the basic concepts of plate tectonics.

The Pleistocene Ice Age part of Activities
This activity takes place in a laboratory setting and requires ~1.5-2 hours to complete. Students work with data about glacial materials, Milankovitch cycles, and stable isotopes from ice cores and deep-sea ...

Fossils under your Feet: Using the Paleobiology Database to explore local fossils part of Activities
In this activity, students will explore what types of fossils have been found in their local area, where they were discovered, and how old they are, using the Paleobiology Database (PBDB).

Topographic Maps from the US Geological Survey part of Activities
This activity takes place in a laboratory setting and requires ~1.5-2 hours to complete. Students learn how to interpret a topographic map. They read contour lines, construct a topographic profile, and calculate ...

Erosion of the Grand Canyon part of Activities
Students estimate the volume of the Grand Canyon to calculate the average rate of erosion of the canyon, assuming the canyon began to form approximately 6 million years ago. They then find out how much sediment the ...