Introduction to strings and DNA/protein sequence alignments
Benjamin Bratton, Vanderbilt University
This is problem set that helps solidify concepts of computational processing (accessing data, parsing data, visualizing data, using preconstructed tools) and sequence matching, specifically in the context of ...

Sedimentation Provenance Problem Set
Man-Yin Tsang, University of Toronto
Introduce students the concept of Sedimentation Provenance and how it can be studied from rock samples. Teach students to visualize mineral distributions in a basin and draw ternary QFR (quartz-feldspar-rock ...

Stress Map
James Conder, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Use earthquakes from the global CMT catalog to look at crustal stresses in a given region of the Earth. Students will download earthquake data from an online catalog and make 2 tectonic maps. One map is of the ...

Transitioning from Excel to MATLAB Diffusion Models
Kendra Lynn, University of Delaware
This activity is part of a larger module that introduces students to two different ways to model chemical diffusion in minerals: 1) 1D diffusion in Excel using finite differences and 2) 1D diffusion in MATLAB using ...

Vector Fields
Sayonita Ghosh Hajra, California State University-Sacramento
This activity is exploratory and collaborative MATLAB activity. Students will explore and visualize vector fields. Students will also learn about the flow lines of the vector fields.

Feedback Loops
Alexandra Davatzes, Temple University
This assignment requires students to use analogical reasoning to identify the key attributes, the causal structure, that make a feedback loop positive (by amplifying/accelerating the effect) or negative (by ...

Snow Avalanches
Alessandro Zanazzi
In this activity, students have to select the most convenient backcountry ski route to climb a peak located near Brighton ski resort (Utah). In order to select the route, they have to evaluate the information ...

SIGkit (Software for Introductory Geophysics toolkit) for modelling and visualization of data
Charly Bank, University of Toronto
Predicting what geophysical data may look like and making basic inferences from data are critical learning outcomes of introductory geophysics courses whether they happen in a classroom or in a field setting. This ...

Baseflow recession
Les Hasbargen, SUNY College at Oneonta
This baseflow recession exercise will help students build skills in analyzing time series data in a spreadsheet. It should also open their eyes to the variation in streamflow, both at a single location over a year, ...

Understanding the Age of the Ocean Floor
Mike Passow, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
In part 1, Students will use data collected during DSDP Leg 3 to plot the age of the sea floor at distances away from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. In part 2, they learn about paleomagnetic evidence and learn about the ...

Remote Sensing Applications in Hydrology
Emad Habib, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
The module offers background content on the fundamentals of remote sensing, but also integrates a set of existing online tools for visualization and analysis of satellite observations. Specifically, students are ...

Solving the 1D Schrodinger Equation
Morgan Hawker, California State University-Fresno
In this activity, students will explore 1-dimensional solutions to the time-independent Schrodinger equation. Students will utilize a provided MATLAB live script to determine exact energy values for two different ...

Creating a Partial Pressure Diagram for the Cu-CO2-O2-H2O System
Terri Woods, East Carolina University
Students will be guided through the procedure for creating a partial-pressure diagram in the low-temperature system Cu-CO2-O2-H2O system for the minerals cuprite, tenorite, native copper, azurite, and malachite. ...

Weathering and Sedimentary Processes in Google Streetview
Nicole LaDue, Northern Illinois University
This exercise uses Google Streetview, in combination with 360 degree immersive photographs, to show students real-world examples of the sedimentary rocks, sedimentary structures, and weathering processes that they ...

Introduction to hydrologic model calibration
Matin Rahnamay Naeini, University of California-Irvine
In this exercise, we introduce the concept of model calibration for rainfall-runoff models. We specifically employ a synthetic precipitation data as input to the hydrologic model to generate synthetic runoff. The ...

Physical Activity and Heart Rates
Jennifer Jordan, Virginia Commonwealth University
This problem is an assessment of several computational methods being pulled together to solve a complex problem for biomedical engineering students. Students need to use mock clinical data to compute whether study ...

Construction of a Triangular Stability Diagram
Terri Woods, East Carolina University
An interactive powerpoint presentation walks students step-by-step through the process of generating a triangular diagram for the system K2O-Al2O3-SiO2. A Word document provides the thermodynamic data and ...

Virtual Pendulum Experiments & Mechanical Oscillations
Jeremy Riousset, Florida Institute of Technology-Melbourne
The pendulum motion is one of the first encounters with the concept of a harmonic oscillator. This activity seeks to complement a traditional, rigorous, theoretical approach with a rigorous numerical model. It ...

Where on Earth were the reefs through geologic time?
Alycia Stigall, Ohio University-Main Campus
Students explore the geographic distribution of reefs through geologic time. Students map fossil occurrences of reef forming organisms on modern and paleogeographic reconstructions using the Paleobiology Database. ...

Projectile Motion and Circular Motion
Michele McColgan, Siena College
4 MATLAB Grader (previously Cody Coursework) problems assigned to freshmen physics majors in a general physics course are described. The physics concepts are projectile motion and circular motion.