Teaching Activities

These teaching activities have a strong spatial thinking component. Search the collection to find activities suitable for your classes.




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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) ...

Online Field Experience Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the Teaching with Online Field Experiences Exemplary collection
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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 ...

Online Field Experience Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the Teaching with Online Field Experiences Exemplary collection
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-University Park
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 ...

On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
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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 ...

Online Field Experience Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the Teaching with Online Field Experiences Exemplary collection
See the activity page for details.

Mapping Plate Tectonic Boundaries
Nathan Toke, Utah Valley University
In this classroom activity, students will work in groups to observe how patterns of topography, bathymetry, earthquake locations and depths, and the location of volcanoes vary across regions of the Earth. They will ...

Remote Mapping and Analytical data integration: Coal Creek quartzite and Ralston shear zone, Colorado
Kevin Mahan, University of Colorado at Boulder
This is a combination of an online mapping project (igneous and metamorphic terrain) and a subsequent module for group collaboration with associated analytical datasets (e.g., geochronology and microstructure). ...

Online Field Experience Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the Teaching with Online Field Experiences Exemplary collection
See the activity page for details.

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 ...

Paleoclimate
Lenore Teevan, School of Innovation/Springfield City School District
This is a unit plan for project-based learning. Students will learn about paleoclimate proxies and their importance in understanding past climates. Students will focus on one region-specific aspect of paleoclimate ...

Dino Doom
Sina Kirk, Arizona State University at the Tempe Campus
This is an online learning experience that transports learners around the world to different locations related to the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event. Students will collect and analyze evidence to ...

Using concept sketches for field trip wrap-up
Barb Tewksbury, Hamilton College
This is a post-field trip assignment in a structural geology course. Students create a set of concept sketches, with a short introduction, to illustrate the structural features and geologic history of the area, ...

On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
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Voyage of the Arctic Project
Mallory Stone; Tamie Jovanelly, Berry College
This is a two-week long project geared towards middle school earth science teachers. This should be used towards the end of a school year when students have background knowledge on the following topics: plate ...

On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
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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 ...

Geologic time scale hiking tour group project
Erik Haroldson, Austin Peay State University
Students work in groups to develop content for am online hiking tour which is matched to the geologic time scale. This project has been used as a semester group work project in an introductory geologic history ...

Constructing a 3D bathymetry model
Jessica Kleiss, Lewis & Clark College
Student groups build a scaled cardboard physical model of a seafloor feature in a box, and then close the box and affix a scale. Student groups then swap boxes and perform "soundings" to determine which ...

On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
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Oceanography Virtual Field Trips
Jennifer Nelson, Purdue University-Main Campus
Students explore online data, maps, webcams, and articles from specific US locations to understand and visualize the oceanographic phenomena of that location. Through the worksheet, students will learn to explore ...

Modeling River Long Profiles
Andrew Darling, Colorado State University
This project or multi-lab activity is designed to teach students about modeling landscape change caused by rivers over large time and spatial scales (e.g., the incision of Grand Canyon). Basic working knowledge of ...

MATLAB Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the Teaching Computation in the Sciences Using MATLAB Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
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Adopt a Microbe! - Digital Adaptation
Molly Ludwick, Kings Mountain Middle School; Beverly Owens, Cleveland Early College High School
This activity is a Google Slide playlist that will introduce students to microbes that can be found in deep sea sediments, and what roles they play in their environment. This playlist is suitable for use in remote ...

FutureEarthCast: Voicemails from 50 years in the future
Laura Guertin, Penn State Brandywine
Students are challenged to write a script and record a voicemail that is left 50 years in the future, describing changes that have taken place in the local environment based upon scientifically-accurate information ...

On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
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Structure from Motion for Analysis of River Characteristics
Sharon Bywater-Reyes, University of Northern Colorado; Beth Pratt-Sitaula, EarthScope
In this assignment, students conduct a Structure from Motion (SfM) survey of the Sheep Draw field site along the Poudre River near Greely, CO. The end product is a point cloud used in additional assignments to ...

Northwestern Indiana Landscape Unit
Moriah Weitman, University of Maine
In this lesson, students will investigate the question, what is the effect of climate on glacial landscape processes? Students will be guided through understanding how climate factors, such as temperature and ...