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 ...

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 ...

Volcanoes at Subduction Zones part of Activities
This activity takes place in a laboratory setting and requires ~0.5 hour to complete. Students study the volcanic segmentation and earthquake distribution of the Andes continental volcanic arc. Then, they compare ...

Learning About Marine Sediments Using Real Data part of Activities
This exercise set explores marine sediments using real core photos and composition data from the scientific ocean drilling programs DSDP, ODP, and IODP in an inquiry-based approach.

Life through Time: Investigating biostratigraphy wth the PBDB part of Activities
Students learn how to use the Paleobiology Database (PBDB) to investigate the basic principles of biostratigraphy, including, index fossils and how fossils were used to construct the geologic timescale.

Interpreting the surficial deposits of Glacier National Park, Montana part of Activities
Students interpret a GIS map of surficial deposits in Glacier National Park to unravel a bit of the glacial history of the park.

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 ...

Geology of the Grand Canyon part of Activities
Students analyze topographic and geologic maps, through a set of guiding questions, to decipher the geologic history recorded in the rocks of the Grand Canyon.

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

Geology of Yellowstone National Park part of Activities
Students examine and interpret the geologic map of Yellowstone National Park, focusing on its volcanic history.

Olympus Mons and Hawaii part of Activities
Students estimate the volume of Olympus Mons and the volume of lava that has erupted from the Hawaiian hotspot and compare them.

Barrier Islands and Coastal Geomorphology part of Activities
Students use Google Earth to evaluate barrier island evolution and migration and identify coastal landforms.

Stream Hydrology and Morphology part of Activities
Students create and interpret hydrographs, discharge data, and stream cross-sectional and longitudinal profiles.

Effects of Pressure and Temperature on Igneous Rocks CogSketch geoscience worksheet part of Activities
Sketching activity that uses a sketch-understanding program, CogSketch. Using pressure/temperature charts with a solidus line, students draw arrows to show how the pressure and temperature and state of a rock would ...

Fault Identification CogSketch geoscience worksheet part of Activities
Sketching activity that uses a sketch-understanding program, CogSketch. Students learn about normal, reverse, and strike-slip faults by moving fault blocks in response to different stress orientations.

Transgression and Regression CogSketch geoscience worksheet part of Activities
Sketching activity that uses a sketch-understanding program, CogSketch. Students build transgression and regression stratigraphic sequences with 4 near-shore lithologies (beach sand, fine sand, mud, and limestone).

Identifying Geologic Structures in Outcrops CogSketch geoscience worksheet part of Activities
Sketching activity that uses a sketch-understanding program, CogSketch. Students identify and annotate/sketch stratigraphic (e.g. bedding) and structural features (e.g. joints, faults, folds) on top of outcrop ...

Earth's Magnetic Field CogSketch geoscience worksheet part of Activities
Sketching activity that uses a sketch-understanding program, CogSketch. To draw attention to the changes in magnetic inclination with latitude on Earth, students move, rotate, and match packages of "rock" ...

Metamorphic Facies CogSketch geoscience worksheet part of Activities
Sketching activity that uses a sketch-understanding program, CogSketch. Students plot pressure and temperature points from metamorphic environments (i.e. subduction zone and continental convergence) onto the ...

Earth's Interior CogSketch geoscience worksheet part of Activities
Sketching activity that uses a sketch-understanding program, CogSketch. Students sketch the layers of the Earth in a progressive fashion, starting with the somewhat familiar top 40km of the crust and working ...