Martha Conklin: Critical Zone Science at University of California-Merced

What I found was very helpful was to provide a road map of what we were going to do for each module as we started it. I called them "action plans." These covered the reading materials (and links to them), the in-class activities, and homework. I carefully spelled out group vs individual activities. My background is hydrology, so I ended up biasing many of the modules with a hydrology focus. The beauty of this course is that the instructor can pick a thread of his/her interest and weave it throughout the course. This provides a continuity as students see the interconnections between processes and compartments.

An example action plan for Unit 1.1:

• Reading Groups - Each group will pre-read and report on one of the 4 major overview articles. Upload your presentations (before class) to xxxx called "CZO Background Reports". Remember: focus on the Big Picture -
• What do CZO's do?
• Why is this important? What are the common objectives?
• Put in the context of the four driving questions:

1. How do variations in and perturbations to chemical and physical weathering processes impact the CZ?
2. How do biogeochemical processes govern long-term sustainability of water and soil resources?
3. How do processes that nourish ecosystems change over human and geologic time scales?
4. What processes control fluxes of carbon, particulates, and reactive gases over different time scales?

• Class activities:
• Class reports: Reading Groups report on reading assignments
• Lecture: CZO Overview
• Review Course website
• Introduce semester Project

• Next time: In-class Web browsing (requires computers/internet)
• While instructor meets with students to discuss semester project ideas, students will explore the 5 web sites listed

For the first week of the soils module I had the students do pre-class reading and browsing. I did a brief lecture on soil forming factors and we watched some of the videos. We did a think-pair-share class discussion on: What aspects of the Critical Zone other than soil are impacted by soil erosion and other threats to soils, and are those impacts beneficial or deleterious? Each pair reported out. I was impressed with the insights the students provided. The next week the students explored soil maps, picking their own site for an indepth exploration. We explored the Web Soil Survey together (the site has powerpoint slides explaining how to use, I used a subset of those). The students prepared individual soils report (working on it in class and completing it for homework). Soils action plan was:

First week:

• Review what worked in presentation
• Lecture (summary of Brady and Weill reading)
• In-class video
• Class discussion. Think-pair-format

Second week:

• Class discussion. Think-pair-format on 12 Orders Report:
• Do you observe any generalized pattern to the distribution of any of the soil orders?
• If so, can you attribute the distribution to any understanding you may have of the state factors of soil formation?
• Can you draw any conclusions regarding the relative importance of any of the state factors of soil formation from your observations?
• Review NRCS WebSoilSurvey
• In-class activity

For the Methods module, I invited the University Librarian in to review how to use library resources, to download articles and to make an annotated bibliography. I met with the students individually to discuss their paper topics. The students prepared an annotated bibliography for homework, many of them used the same papers for their final paper. The class did their first group assignment (data analysis) and presentation. We spent some time discussing useful/readable graphs. The action plan for the two weeks was:

• Discuss pre-class reading
• Lecture
• Prepare data analysis ppt & share

• Unit 2.1.2 spreadsheet skills
• Unit 2.1.1 research skills including developing an annotated bibliography – the university librarian will show you how track down references, download articles, find reports....

For the Land-atmosphere exchange module, I ended up giving two formal lectures on the material as it was new to most of the students. I also made sure the students became visually familiar with the sites for which they were using data. Action plan:

First week:

• Unit 3.1, Lecture on Water & Energy: Fluxes & Budgets. Do pre-reading:

• Rasmussen, et.al, 2011, An open system framework for integrating critical zone structure and function, Biogeochem, 102:15-29. DOI 10.1007/s10533-010-9476-8 (link may require Springer on-line subscription)

• In-class activity to explore the CZO Met/Flux database and examine metadata that will be crucial to understanding the data record.

Second week:

• Lecture on carbon cycle
• Discovery activity -- Examining annual carbon flux graphs (group activity)

For Water Transfer module, I used the lectures and activities provided. All activities were started in class. My action plan was:

First week:

• Cover montane water balances & in class activity Unit 4.1.1: water balance on a tree & review energy balances
• Look at water balance for a basin and start homework estimating how much runoff will make it to a creek

Second week:

• Learn to interpolate point measurement to area measurements.
• Start water basin activity in class and it will evolve to a homework.

When I taught this course, Landform and Landscape Evolution was after Water Transfers. We spent time with structured discussions in class with preassigned question for class discussions -- that went well. I had student groups present on different landforms and processes. Probably my coverage for remote sensing was the weakest part of the whole course for me. I ended up giving a lecture with videos. My action plan was:

First week:

• Lecture on landform and landscape evolution
• Pre-reading Anderson et al. with focus questions for an in-class discussion:
• Do you think all soil parent materials were subject to erosion and deposition?
• Are some soils the result of weathering of bedrock in place, that is not subjected to erosion and deposition?
• If so, how do soils developed directly from bedrock differ from soils developed on unconsolidated material, if at all?
• In class exercise/homework on bedrock maps

Second week:

• In-class group presentations & discussion using case studies provided for bedrock and surficial geology maps (emphasizing):
• Soil catena
• Role of topography
• Characteristic landforms
• Review websites (e.g. National Geologic Map)
• Introduction to Remote Sensing and Aerial Photography (Lecture)

Geochemistry and Biogeochemistry is a very integrative module that builds on previous concepts. I followed most of the activities provided. The use concept maps was very effective.

First week:

• Lecture/website on P & N; provide some data and questions to discuss.
• Students use observations, models and data analyses to identify and analyze the anthropogenic influences on the Critical Zone.
• Discuss the question: are there solutions to P pollution? (using a TED talk and a paper refuting the talk).

Second week:

• Lecture/discuss N and P control (include best management practices). Do a group assignment creating a concept map about mitigating eutrophication by nutrient control. Share with class.
• Spend a class discussing whether soil is in peril (think-pair-share activity)

• Explore ways to reduce human perturbations on the critical zone while maintaining or improving economic, political and social conditions using the Model My Watershed application using the provided worksheets.