Activities
These teaching activities have been submitted by faculty members at two-year colleges across the country. If you would like to add an activity to the collection, check out the Activity Submission Form. To see a larger collection of geoscience activities from all types of institutions, check out the Teach the Earth Activity Collection.
Results 1 - 20 of 48 matches
Intro to Graphing part of Undergraduate Research:2014 Workshop:Activities
Debra Woodall, Daytona College
Intro to Graphing is a 2-phase exercise that introduces students to Excel for the purposes of properly storing their data and producing graphs.
Writing a hypothesis and designing an experiment for a high altitude balloon flight part of Undergraduate Research:2014 Workshop:Activities
David Kobilka, Central Lakes College-Brainerd
This is a small part of a much larger project in which students complete an high altitude balloon flight (HAB). In this part they complete a series of steps that encourage collaboration, communication, cooperation, ...
Geoscience education research project part of Undergraduate Research:2014 Workshop:Activities
Karen Kortz, Community College of Rhode Island
Students complete a scientific research project including asking a question, developing methods, collecting data, analyzing and interpreting data, and communicating results. The research question begins "What ...
VEPP: Determining the relationship between the summit and Pu'u 'O'o on Kilauea part of NAGT:Our Resources:Teaching Resources:Volcano Exploration Project: Pu`u `O`o:Examples
Karen Kortz, Community College of Rhode Island
This is an exercise that is in development and will not be fully tested until Fall 2010. Please check back regularly for updates and changes. Brief three-line description of the activity or assignment and its ...
Geologic Time Resorts part of Geoscience in Two-year Colleges:Activities
JoAnn Thissen
In this Geologic Time Resorts activity students do in-depth research on a given geologic time period of the Phanerozoic Eon and create brochures "selling" their time period as a resort destination.
Introduction to Mineral Identification part of Geoscience in Two-year Colleges:Activities
Suki Smaglik, Laramie County Community College
The exercise uses an inquiry-based approached to overcome the fear of tackling mineral identification. Few instructions are given and students discover for themselves how to approach identification.
The Oil Game: Problem-based learning exercise in an Environmental Geology lecture-format class part of Geoscience in Two-year Colleges:Activities
David Voorhees, Waubonsee Community College
This is an active engagement exercise as a capstone exercise in a unit on energy in an Environmental Geology class of non-science majors combining a 'field-based' simulation and 'office-based' geological modeling. It uses readily available supplies and easily constructed equipment that can take 1 or 2 class meetings.
Mineral Properties -- Learning through Experience part of Geoscience in Two-year Colleges:Activities
Katryn Wiese, City College of San Francisco
Students are each given a mineral and asked to locate all other students in the room with the same mineral (knowing there are a total of 5 different minerals). Once groups form, they need to decide what characteristics are similar for all their samples and ultimately report out to the whole class on their observations.
Observational Skills in a Simple Crystal Growing Experiment part of Geoscience in Two-year Colleges:Activities
Richard Gottfried, Frederick Community College
Students grow crystals and identify the crystal system by observing their basic geometric form. Students all research crytallization processes.
The Carbon Cycle & Global Climate Change part of Oceanography:Activities
Kathryn Hoppe, Green River Community College
This is two-hour lab exercise based on computer data sets. Students examine records of CO2 levels in the atmosphere as well as annual temperature records for the US and the world.
Service-Learning to explore Sustainability part of Integrate:Workshops and Webinars:Systems, Society, Sustainability and the Geosciences:Activities
Tracy Lai, Seattle Community College-Central Campus
Service-Learning is a means of exploring sustainability and connecting experiential learning with academic study of the topic.
Stabilization Wedges Game part of Integrate:Workshops and Webinars:Systems, Society, Sustainability and the Geosciences:Activities
David Kobilka, Central Lakes College-Brainerd
Learning about complexities carbon stabilization firsthand with the Princeton University Carbon Mitigation Initiave's Sabilization Wedges Game
Evaluating the lines of evidence for plate tectonics part of Integrate:Workshops and Webinars:Teaching the Methods of Geoscience:Activities
Becca Walker, Mt. San Antonio College
In this in-class exercise, students compare several lines of evidence that support the ideas of continental drift and plate tectonics. Before the class meeting, each student is given a preparation assignment in which he/she studies one "continental drift" and one "ocean floor data" map. In class, students divide into teams of 3, with each team member having prepared different specialties. They discuss their respective maps and look for spatial patterns among the data.
Aurora Mastodont Project - Matrix Analyses Project part of Undergraduate Research:2014 Workshop:Activities
David Voorhees, Waubonsee Community College
This is a laboratory based assignment that is for Introductory level geoscience classes (Physical Geology, Historical Geology, Earth Science) that brings an authentic research experience to your students. In the ...
Introduction to Science - Penny Histograms part of Undergraduate Research:2014 Workshop:Activities
Kathryn, Green River Community College; Kathryn Hoppe, Green River Community College
Overview: This exercise serves as an introduction to histograms. Students are given a short introduction to histograms in lecture and reading. They are then broken up into different groups of 3-5 students. Students ...
Determining slope movement and water contamination of quicklime deposits along Lake Winnebago, High Cliff State Park, Wisconsin part of Undergraduate Research:2014 Workshop:Activities
Beth A. Johnson, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
For nearly 100 years, the site that is now High Cliff State Park near Sherwood, WI was the site of a quicklime kiln. Local Silurian dolomite from the Niagara Escarpment was quarried and baked in large kilns before ...
Developing Student Ability to Ask Scientific Questions part of Undergraduate Research:2014 Workshop:Activities
Kaatje van der Hoeven Kraft, Whatcom Community College
This activity is a two-part (three week) lab in which students initially develop a claim (non-scientific) and learn how to use evidence to support a claim. They then are provided with a scientific research question ...
Shaking Ground - Linking Earthquake Magnitude and Intensity part of Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum:General Collection:Examples
Eric Baer, Highline Community College
An in-class activity for connecting earthquake magnitude, shaking, and intensity.
Comparison of Two Hurricanes part of Integrate:Workshops and Webinars:Teaching about Risk and Resilience:Activities
David Kobilka, Central Lakes College-Brainerd
In this activity students synthesize ideas from lecture, reading, and viewing two PBS NOVA videos on hurricanes.
Beach Profiling, Observing and Documenting a Changing Environment, Point Lookout, NY part of Geoscience in Two-year Colleges:Activities
JoAnn Thissen
Using quantitative field methods to study shoreline erosion of a barrier beach. Students profile a beach and mechanically process sediment to document the changes along a shoreline.