5. Passive Designs part of Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability
Randolph Chambers, College of William and Mary
In this module, we consider how the actual design and placement of buildings can be important considerations for energy efficiency, thereby optimizing winter heating and summer cooling needs. One of the simplest ...

Unit 8: Thermohaline Circulation part of Modeling Earth Systems
David Bice, Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus
In this module, students first review some background material on density-driven deep currents in the oceans, and then create a STELLA model of the thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean. The model ...

Unit 7: Heat Flow in Permafrost part of Modeling Earth Systems
Kirsten Menking, Vassar College
In this unit, students create a STELLA model of heat flow in the top 1 km of Earth's crust to explore the use of Arctic borehole temperature profiles as recorders of anthropogenic warming. The exercise draws ...

Unit 5: Agriculture and Freshwater Pollution part of Water, Agriculture, Sustainability
Chris Sinton, Ithaca College
Units 3 and 4 of this module explored how water resources are used for agriculture in the United States and how this can vary depending on location. In Unit 5, students explore how agricultural practices can affect ...

Unit 3: Crops and Irrigation Patterns in the United States part of Water, Agriculture, Sustainability
Chris Sinton, Ithaca College
This unit is designed to allow students to quantitatively assess how much water is used for irrigating crops and how this varies across the United States. This unit also has students link water use to the economic ...

Unit 4: Irrigation and Groundwater Mining part of Water, Agriculture, Sustainability
Chris Sinton, Ithaca College
Is groundwater mining sustainable? In Unit 4, students compare and contrast long-term (decades) groundwater well levels in six states representing the East Coast, West Coast, and Midwest Plains states. Satellite ...

Unit 4: Case Study Group Work-Problem Identification part of The Wicked Problem of Global Food Security
Rebecca Boger, Brooklyn College, CUNY; Russanne Low, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies; Amy Potter, Armstrong State University
Units 4, 5, and 6 provide the opportunity for students to delve into a greater examination of food security at a regional level in small teams selecting one of the following locations (Caribbean, New York City, or ...

Unit 1: Introduction to Global Food Security part of The Wicked Problem of Global Food Security
Amy Potter, Armstrong State University
This introductory lesson will build the foundation for students to progress through the remaining units by defining food security and discussing the major factors contributing to food insecurity today (climate ...

Module 4: Understanding Sea-Level Change part of Coastal Processes, Hazards and Society
Sean Cornell, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
In this module we explore how scientists define and measure sea level in the first place. We explore how sea level changes from one day to the next, one season to the next, one year to the next, and beyond. We ...

Unit 1: Ocean Introduction part of Ocean Sustainability
MICHELLE KINZEL, Southwestern College; Astrid Schnetzer, North Carolina State University; Cara Thompson, Arizona State University at the West Campus
In this unit, students explore the role of ocean circulation in climate modification and bioproductivity. The activities require students to interpret the effect of horizontal and vertical seawater movement on heat ...