Ashlee Dere: Introduction to the Critical Zone at University of Nebraska at Omaha

The greatest challenge with this course is a lack of time in the classroom to engage with students. Most activities work better in groups and with constant feedback, so students struggled on their own to complete activities but did very well and were extremely engaged in the classroom. Time management and organization are key, meaning I will likely need to reduce the number of activities in the future to make sure there is enough quality time to get the most out of each class. I also plan to add a lab section to provide more contact time for students to dive into the material.

Unit 1: CZ Background
Students enjoyed the reading and discussion of CZ Science and were excited by the concept. They were especially excited about the Web Soil Survey Activity in Unit 1.2 – many had never considered soils an interesting topic before this class. Providing students with pdfs of the papers will minimize limited availability at some libraries.

Unit 2: Methods in CZ Science
Although most students were within one year of graduation, many struggled with basic Excel and annotated bibliography skills. This emphasized how important it is to review basic skills, including finding scholarly sources and manipulating data, since these skills form the foundation for many future assessments. The students worked well in small groups to explore CZ methods and appreciated the opportunity to practice presenting to the class.

Unit 3: CZ Architecture and Evolution
Because the class included many geology majors, the students were most comfortable with this material. They did struggle with searching for geologic maps, however, and were rather quick to get frustrated when they couldn't find what they were looking for. This presented a nice learning opportunity to demonstrate how much basic knowledge we don't have about our planet. It is also helpful to emphasize that students use evidence to back up their claims---because many are comfortable identifying geologic features, they did not include any evidence for how they arrived at their conclusions.

Unit 4: Land-atmosphere Exchange
Energy budget concepts were foreign to most students but the discovery activities helped students think about how to interpret plots and think across scales. The worksheet activities were rather challenging and reviewing basic concepts, such as dimensional analysis, was necessary to keep students on track. This unit was particularly difficult to students to complete on their own, so devoting as much time in class to provide feedback is helpful.

Unit 5: Water Transfer through the CZ
Students did well with these activities, especially since they started at a small scale and built up to bigger problems. Working through water budget concepts first and then applying calculations is a nice approach. Some students are still uncomfortable with Excel, making the modeling activities more difficult. The students love working in groups and respond well to the real-world scenarios in the activities.

Unit 6: Geochemistry and Biogeochemistry
Students needed more background on this unit and many were not as comfortable with chemistry in general. Working in groups seems to help students get more out of the readings. Students were particularly engaged in the TED talk activity discussing how to communicate science and evaluate arguments. I will spend more time discussing evidence, claim,s and science communication in the future because they were so interested.

Unit 7: Humans in the CZ
The activities in this unit were very relevant to many students and they were very interested in the human role in the CZ. Some students had strongly held preconceived ideas about these topics (such as different types of agriculture) and some struggled to use evidence to back up their claims rather than emotion. I will devote more time in the future to class discussion and focus on bringing in evidence and concepts learned earlier in the semester to evaluate human roles.