Teaching Activities
These teaching activities have been contributed to the collection by faculty members across the country. You can contribute an activity of your own to the collection using the Teach the Earth contribute form as well.
Learning Outcomes
- Design a data strategy 23 matches Design a field strategy to collect or select data in order to answer a geologic question.
- Collect data 30 matches Collect accurate and sufficient data on field relationships and record these using disciplinary conventions (field notes, map symbols, etc.).
- Synthesize geologic data 34 matches Synthesize geologic data and integrate with core concepts and skills into a cohesive spatial and temporal scientific interpretation.
- Interpret systems and processes 26 matches Interpret earth systems and past/current/future processes using multiple lines of spatially distributed evidence.
- Develop an argument 32 matches Develop an argument that is consistent with available evidence and uncertainty.
- Communicate clearly 33 matches Communicate clearly using written, verbal, and/or visual media (e.g., maps, cross-sections, reports) with discipline-specific terminology appropriate to your audience.
- Work independently and collaboratively 25 matches Work effectively independently and collaboratively (e.g., commitment, reliability, leadership, open for advice, channels of communication, supportive, inclusive).
- Reflect on personal strengths/challenges 8 matches Reflect on personal strengths and challenges (e.g. in study design, safety, time management, independent and collaborative work).
- Demonstrate professional behaviors 23 matches Demonstrate behaviors expected of professional geoscientists (e.g., time management, work preparation, collegiality, health and safety, ethics).
Capstone Field Experience
Results 1 - 20 of 97 matches
Geology of Yosemite Valley
Nicolas Barth, University of California-Riverside
This is a four-part module designed to be flexible in duration and student grade-level. (1) Geology of Yosemite Valley Virtual Field Trip. A 43-stop web-based Google Earth tour with embedded views, hyperlinked ...
Resource Type: Activities:Classroom Activity, Lab Activity, Project, Writing Assignment
Learning Outcomes: Collect data, Synthesize geologic data , Interpret systems and processes , Develop an argument, Communicate clearly
Capstone Field Experience: Capstone (virtual)
See the activity page for details.
Karst Hydrogeology: A virtual field introduction using Google Earth and GIS
Rachel Bosch, Northern Kentucky University
Students will have the opportunity to select and virtually explore the hydrogeology and geomorphology of a karst landscape using Google Earth, lidar data-sourced DEM(s) and geologic maps, and GIS software (QGIS) ...
Resource Type: Activities:Lab Activity, Project, Field Activity, Writing Assignment, Virtual Field Trip
Learning Outcomes: Collect data, Synthesize geologic data , Interpret systems and processes , Develop an argument, Communicate clearly , Work independently and collaboratively , Reflect on personal strengths/challenges , Demonstrate professional behaviors
See the activity page for details.
Working with Point Clouds in CloudCompare and Classifying with CANUPO
Sharon Bywater-Reyes, University of Northern Colorado
This exercise will walk you through 1) basic operations and use in CloudCompare, and 2) use of an Open-Source plugin in CloudCompare called CANUPO (http://nicolas.brodu.net/en/recherche/canupo/) that allows for ...
Resource Type: Activities:Classroom Activity, Lab Activity, Field Activity, Virtual Field Trip
Learning Outcomes: Synthesize geologic data , Interpret systems and processes , Develop an argument
Capstone Field Experience: Capstone (virtual)
Learn more about this review process.
Getting started with Structure from Motion (SfM) photogrammetry
Beth Pratt-Sitaula, EarthScope Consortium
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 ...
Resource Type: Activities:Classroom Activity, Lab Activity, Field Activity
Learning Outcomes: Design a data strategy , Work independently and collaboratively
Learn more about this review process.
Reconnaissance stratigraphy and mapping of the Frying Pan Gulch, MT
Sinan Akciz, California State University-Fullerton
Students are required to create a reconnaissance geologic map and report for a small area (approximately 0.5 sq. mile) Frying Pan Gulch just NW of Dillon, Montana. This project is designed to make students familiar ...
Resource Type: Activities:Field Activity
Learning Outcomes: Design a data strategy , Collect data, Synthesize geologic data , Interpret systems and processes , Develop an argument, Communicate clearly , Work independently and collaboratively , Reflect on personal strengths/challenges , Demonstrate professional behaviors
Capstone Field Experience: Capstone (virtual)
See the activity page for details.
Sandy Hollow Virtual Field Geology Exercise
Andrew Laskowski, Montana State University
This is a Google Earth based virtual field exercise focused on Sandy Hollow, near Block Mountain and McCartney Mountain in southwest Montana. This is a classic field locality in the Montana portion of the Sevier ...
Resource Type: Activities:Field Activity, Virtual Field Trip
Learning Outcomes: Collect data, Synthesize geologic data , Interpret systems and processes , Develop an argument, Communicate clearly , Work independently and collaboratively , Reflect on personal strengths/challenges , Demonstrate professional behaviors
Capstone Field Experience: Capstone (virtual)
See the activity page for details.
Geological Mapping of a Virtual Landscape
Mark Helper, The University of Texas at Austin
This virtual mapping exercise is part video game, part map prediction and interpretation. You will navigate a virtual landscape to "collect" outcrops and their field notes, recording your observations on ...
Resource Type: Activities:Field Activity, Virtual Field Trip
Learning Outcomes: Collect data, Synthesize geologic data , Develop an argument
Capstone Field Experience: Not a Capstone
See the activity page for details.
Karst Hydrogeology and Geomorphology: A virtual field experience using Google Earth, GIS, and TAK
Rachel Bosch, Northern Kentucky University
Students will have the opportunity to select and virtually explore the hydrogeology and geomorphology of a karst landscape using Google Earth (or perhaps Google Mars or Google Moon if they so choose), lidar ...
Resource Type: Activities:Classroom Activity, Lab Activity, Project, Writing Assignment
Learning Outcomes: Design a data strategy , Collect data, Synthesize geologic data , Interpret systems and processes , Develop an argument, Communicate clearly , Work independently and collaboratively , Reflect on personal strengths/challenges , Demonstrate professional behaviors
Capstone Field Experience: Capstone (virtual)
See the activity page for details.
Measuring the Inclination and Declination of the Earth's magnetic field with a smartphone
Avradip Ghosh, University of Houston
The poles of the Earth's magnetic field are not precisely aligned with the geographic north and south poles and, in fact, vary continuously. This activity introduces to students the Earth's magnetic ...
Resource Type: Activities:Classroom Activity, Lab Activity, Project, Field Activity, Virtual Field Trip
Learn more about this review process.
Virtual Geological Mapping Field Trip - Glens of Tekoa, New Zealand
Travis Horton, University of Canterbury; Katherine Pedley
Geological mapping involves the observation, recording, presentation and interpretation of field data, all fundamental skills required by practicing geologists. This virtual geological mapping exercise enables ...
Resource Type: Activities:Field Activity, Virtual Field Trip
Learn more about this review process.
See the activity page for details.
Virtual Field Trip to the Cagles Mill Outcrop, Indiana
Max Christie, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
During this virtual field trip students will write sedimentary facies descriptions, draw a stratigraphic column, and develop a set of paleogeographic maps of the Cagles Mill Spillway outcrop. This site is a ...
Resource Type: Activities:Classroom Activity, Lab Activity, Field Activity, Virtual Field Trip
See the activity page for details.
Magnetometry at home: a hands-on survey with your smartphone
Charly Bank, University of Toronto
Using a free app downloaded to their smartphone or tablet device students engage in collecting magnetic field data. Students have to design and document a survey, and are encouraged to do simple quality control. ...
Resource Type: Activities:Lab Activity, Field Activity, Virtual Field Trip
Learning Outcomes: Design a data strategy , Collect data, Synthesize geologic data , Develop an argument, Communicate clearly
See the activity page for details.
Geologic Mapping of a Virtual Landscape II - Three River Hills
Mark Helper, The University of Texas at Austin
This second virtual mapping exercise builds on the first (Geologic Mapping of a Virtual Landscape), but contains a more complicated geological puzzle to solve. This virtual landscape is also much larger, with a ...
Resource Type: Activities:Virtual Field Trip
Learning Outcomes: Design a data strategy , Collect data, Synthesize geologic data , Develop an argument, Communicate clearly
Capstone Field Experience: Not a Capstone
See the activity page for details.
Mid-Atlantic Appalachian Orogen Traverse – Field Trip 1
Steve Whitmeyer, James Madison University
The Mid-Atlantic Appalachian Orogen Traverse is a series of 4 virtual field trips that cross the Blue Ridge and Valley and Ridge geologic provinces in northwestern Virginia and northeastern West Virginia. This ...
Resource Type: Activities:Virtual Field Trip
Learning Outcomes: Collect data, Synthesize geologic data , Develop an argument, Communicate clearly , Work independently and collaboratively , Demonstrate professional behaviors
Capstone Field Experience: Capstone (virtual)
Learn more about this review process.
Mid-Atlantic Appalachian Orogen Traverse – Field Trip 4
Steve Whitmeyer, James Madison University
The Mid-Atlantic Appalachian Orogen Traverse is a series of 4 virtual field trips that cross the Blue Ridge and Valley and Ridge geologic provinces in northwestern Virginia and northeastern West Virginia. This ...
Resource Type: Activities:Virtual Field Trip
Learning Outcomes: Collect data, Synthesize geologic data , Interpret systems and processes , Develop an argument, Communicate clearly , Work independently and collaboratively , Demonstrate professional behaviors
Capstone Field Experience: Capstone (virtual)
Learn more about this review process.
Geological Mapping of Ghost Ranch, New Mexico
Joseph Meert, University of Florida
This is useful as a first field mapping exercise (virtual) in a traditional capstone field camp course. Students will map flat-lying, but faulted Mesozoic strata near Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. Skills required in ...
Resource Type: Activities:Virtual Field Trip
Learning Outcomes: Design a data strategy , Collect data, Synthesize geologic data , Communicate clearly , Work independently and collaboratively , Reflect on personal strengths/challenges , Demonstrate professional behaviors
Capstone Field Experience: Capstone (virtual)
See the activity page for details.
Landslide Mapping and Analysis
Alison Duvall, University of Washington-Seattle Campus
The purpose of this module is to familiarize students to empirical methods of mass movement hazard analysis, to provide them training in mapping and analyzing inventories of landslides from lidar datasets, and to ...
Resource Type: Activities:Project, Virtual Field Trip
Learning Outcomes: Synthesize geologic data , Interpret systems and processes , Communicate clearly , Work independently and collaboratively , Demonstrate professional behaviors
Capstone Field Experience: Capstone (virtual)
Learn more about this review process.
Tidepooling Field trip (online)
Katryn Wiese, City College of San Francisco
Tidepooling Field Trip online (developed for remote learning during COVID-19 pandemic); students will watch video and review photos to simulate a field experience as they explore Pillar Point tidepools (as they ...
Resource Type: Activities:Lab Activity, Virtual Field Trip
Capstone Field Experience: Not a Capstone
Learn more about this review process.
Virtual Fieldtrip to Baraboo, WI, with StraboSpot
Basil Tikoff, University of Wisconsin-Madison
This activity is a virtual field trip to the Baraboo area of southern Wisconsin. The StraboSpot digital data system is used to show the data, including the spot functionality to view outcrops at multiple spatial ...
Resource Type: Activities:Lab Activity, Field Activity
Learning Outcomes: Collect data, Develop an argument
Learn more about this review process.
Using StraboSpot for Field Sedimentology & Stratigraphy
Casey J. Duncan, New Mexico State University
This module uses StraboSpot (free mobile app for iOS and Android devices and web API, backend database) and two Utah datasets to facilitate teaching field methods related to sedimentology and stratigraphy. The data ...
Resource Type: Activities:Lab Activity, Project, Field Activity, Virtual Field Trip
Learning Outcomes: Design a data strategy , Collect data, Synthesize geologic data , Communicate clearly
Capstone Field Experience: Not a Capstone
Learn more about this review process.