Resources for Day 1 Activities:
The Earth's Atmosphere : Practice exam questions ( This site may be offline. )
Online practice quiz; good in the context of a larger page.
Build Your Own Solar System (more info)
Astronomy/planetary science page. Complex and fascinating.
Energy Balance (more info)
Interactive animation demonstrating water inflow and outflow as a metaphor for energy consumption. Good example of letting the student play with possible situations.
Hurricanes: online meteorology guide (more info)
Part of a large system of online guides with excellent animations and in depth explanation.
Expeditions: a module on the tectonic structure of Earth
A good teaching site that is both interesting and fairly well organized. Notes for a class, or just a general online resource, might be arranged in a similar linear fashion.
Physical Geology
Online version of introductory course, with clean design and clear points.
Glaciers and Glaciation
One example of how to post notes from a class in a readable, printable form.
Water structure and behavior (LSBU)
Clear navigation and easily accessed sections make this encyclopedic page user-friendly.
Global Climate Animations
These climate animations make it easier for students to understand what global temperature means and how it behaves.
Crystallography 101 : An Introductory Course
Extensive online course, with excellent navigation, this site is intended for those with a chemistry background.
Understanding Earthquakes (more info)
Aimed at the general public, with some emphasis on historical accounts, this page includes a simple animation to demonstrate a strike-slip fault.
The following sites are cataloged in the Using Data: Data Sources and Tools collection.
Ocean Data Viewer
This is a viewer for global ocean temperature, salinity, wind, precipitation, evaporation, and other data. Data are displayed in 3D views with map and depth sections. The tool can be navigated with pull down menus, and instructions are right on the page.
Interactive Mapping and Data Analysis (more info)
This site provides direct access to digital data sets using a web-based application tool.
Jules Map Server
This is an interactive map tool for virtual exploration of the earth and other worlds.
The Earth System (more info)
These introductory level courses at Columbia University rest on the use of an on line data viewer for oceanographic and climate data.
The following is cataloged in the Mineralogy and Geochemistry collections:
40 Common Minerals and Their Uses (more info) Of the ninety two elements found in the Earth, forty of them are used in our daily lives. Some of the names are common and well known, and others seem obscure until one sees that it helps create something we cannot live without. This page describes these 40 common minerals.