Unit 5: The Sixth Extinction
Camille Holmgren, SUNY Buffalo State University
In this unit, students will prepare by reading a couple of articles describing the causes and rates of mass extinctions, including the current "Sixth Extinction," and why conservation is important to ...

Unit 1: Introduction to the Geologic Timeline & Mass Extinctions
Rebecca Teed, Wright State University-Main Campus
In this unit, students will identify mass extinctions as paleontologists have done and recognize and understand the "pull of the recent," that is, the human tendency to know more about events closer to ...

Unit 2: Causes of Mass Extinction
Rebecca Teed, Wright State University-Main Campus
During Unit 2, students will learn about the causes of two past mass extinctions and discuss the controversies surrounding these causes and the evidence upon which the theories in the debates are based. Before ...

Unit 4: Impacts of Environmental Change on Organisms: Horses
Camille Holmgren, SUNY Buffalo State University
In this unit, students will gain a deep-time perspective on how life evolves on a dynamic planet. They will use the Equidae (horse family) as a case study to examine the relationship among climate, biomes, and ...

Unit 3: The Interconnected Nature of the Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, and Biosphere
Sam Donovan, BioQUEST; LeeAnna Chapman, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Cailin Huyck Orr, Carleton College; Camille Holmgren, SUNY Buffalo State University; Rebecca Teed, Wright State University-Main Campus
Using a systems dynamics approach, students will work in groups to conceptualize and construct a model of the global carbon cycle considering five major Earth systems: atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, ...

Unit 1: What is Sustainability in the Context of Water?
Robert Turner, University of Washington-Bothell Campus
In this three to four class unit, students will: Assess the case for a global water crisis and its relevance in America. Expand their understanding of sustainability as a contestable concept and movement. Consider ...

Unit 2: Water Footprints
Robert Turner, University of Washington-Bothell Campus
Unit 2 opens a window into water accounting and reveals intensive water use that few people think about. How much water goes into common commodities? Have you considered how much water it takes to support our ...

Activity 2.2: Issue Investigation
Jeffrey D. Thomas, Central Connecticut State University; Scott Linneman, Western Washington University; James Ebert, SUNY College at Oneonta
During Activity 2.2, students download, organize, and analyze geoscience data sets of sea level trends, terrestrial ice sheet trends, and intensity of tropical cyclones as well as forecast models of atmospheric CO2 ...

Unit 2: Climate Change, After the Storm
Jeffrey D. Thomas, Central Connecticut State University; Scott Linneman, Western Washington University; James Ebert, SUNY College at Oneonta
The goal of Unit 2 is for students to apply what they learned about the methods of geoscience to complete an authentic and data-rich, lab-based activity to address the following problem: "To what extent should ...

Renewable Energy Virtual Field Trip
Evan Heeg, University of Wisconsin-Madison
This is a virtual field trip on the subject of renewable energy. The Google Earth slideshow will take you around the world to different key renewable energy sites across the world. Each site will have a quick ...