Unit 1: Earthquake! part of GPS, Strain, and Earthquakes
Vince Cronin, Baylor University (Vince_Cronin@baylor.edu) Phil Resor, Wesleyan University (presor@wesleyan.edu)
In this opening unit, students develop the societal context for understanding earthquake hazards using as a case study the 2011 Tohoku, Japan, earthquake. It starts with a short homework "scavenger hunt" ...

3. Thermal Energy from Light part of Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability
Benjamin Cuker, Hampton University
In this module, students learn the basic principles and techniques involved with converting solar radiation to useful heat. They explore the concepts of temperature and heat, and the physical basis for solar ...

2. Using Wind to do Work part of Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability
Benjamin Cuker, Hampton University
This module shows students how wind (atmospheric circulation) is produced from solar radiation, gravity, and the spinning of Earth. It then develops the history of how humans have harnessed the power of the wind, ...

1. Electricity, Work, and Power part of Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability
Benjamin Cuker, Hampton University
This module is designed to prepare students to better understand the other modules in the course. It is a review of basic high school-level physics, reminding students of the fundamentals of energy, work, power, ...

Unit 6: Moving Forward: Evaluating Impacts of Modern-day Proposals Affecting the Carbon-cycle and Climate part of Carbon, Climate, and Energy Resources
Pete Berquist, Virginia Peninsula Community College
In this unit, students will review mock proposals that deal with some aspect of the role of carbon in the environment. Each proposal is based on actual actions proposed to mitigate some aspect of carbon consumption ...

Unit 3: Geologic Record of Past Climate part of Carbon, Climate, and Energy Resources
Callan Bentley, Piedmont Virginia Community College
Students will be introduced to a few of the different methods used in paleoclimatology, including isotopic ratios as paleotemperature proxies. They will investigate the greenhouse gas connections of two ancient ...

Unit 5: Modern CO2 Accumulation part of Carbon, Climate, and Energy Resources
Pamela Gore, Georgia State University
Students will examine data that record the modern increase in carbon dioxide concentrations and the associated increase in average temperatures, and they will investigate the effects of carbon dioxide on various ...

Unit 4: Fossil Fuel Formation part of Carbon, Climate, and Energy Resources
Pamela Gore, Georgia State University
Students will explore various aspects of fossil fuels by examining the various ranks of coal and the processes by which coal, oil, and natural gas form.

Unit 2: The Carbon Cycle part of Carbon, Climate, and Energy Resources
Callan Bentley, Piedmont Virginia Community College
Students will explore the different aspects of the carbon cycle on Earth. This includes the original source of all the carbon on our planet, the near ubiquity of carbon, the six principle reservoirs of carbon in ...

Biomass conversion into highly useful chemicals part of CUREnet:Institutes:Alabama State University:Examples
SAPNA JAIN, Alabama State University
This is CURE based course that aims at bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge in chemistry and its practical applications at solving real-world problems. It gives students an opportunity to construct and synthesize their knowledge and skills by learning to apply theoretical knowledge to practice by the laboratory research. The purpose of this course is to acquaint students with the fundamental concepts of chemistry, synthetic methods and techniques. The emphasis will be on novel catalysts synthesis and evaluating their activity towards biomass conversion to liquid fuel and useful chemicals. Students will design synthesize, deduce identities of the biomass conversion products from chemical and spectral clues, and predict reaction products.

Unit 3: Rivers and Water Diversion part of Environmental Justice and Freshwater Resources - Spanish
Ruth Hoff, Wittenberg University. Authored and compiled new case study material based on Unit 3 of Environmental Justice and Freshwater Resources module by Adriana Perez, Jill S. Schneiderman, Meg Stewart, and Joshua Villalobos
In this unit students will explore surface water and its relationship to the water cycle via watersheds and drainage divides. These topics will inform their analysis of the social and environmental impacts of the ...

Unit 1: "If an earthquake happens in the desert and no one lives there, should we care about it?" [How are human-made infrastructure lifelines affected by earthquakes?] part of Imaging Active Tectonics
Bruce Douglas, Indiana University-Bloomington; Gareth Funning, University of California-Riverside
This unit initiates a discussion about the importance of recognizing faults in relation to modern societal infrastructure. Students consider the types of infrastructure necessary to support a modern lifestyle, ...

10. Energy from Biofuels part of Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability
Benjamin Cuker, Hampton University
This unit explores the historic, current, and potential use of biomass for the production of energy. Various bio fuels are introduced, and students are reminded of the role of biomass in the development of ...

Capstone Project part of Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability
For those teaching the modules as an entire course, we provide a capstone summary assessment activity. This activity is designed to incorporate scaffolding of the material, to use the gained knowledge to do ...

Unit 7: Climate Change from the Socio-Environmental Systems Perspective part of Regulating Carbon Emissions
Robyn Smyth, Bard College; Curt Gervich, SUNY College at Plattsburgh; Eric Leibensperger, Ithaca College
This unit summarizes and synthesizes the previous six units by inviting students to reflect on their experiences throughout the module, identify key learning moments and consider how these events influenced their ...

Determining Energy Efficiency: A Lab Activity part of Curriculum for the Bioregion:Activities
Paul Frazey, Whatcom Community College
Students determine the energy efficiency of different methods of heating substances in the lab and then assess the economic and environmental costs.

Working with State, National, and Global Petroleum Data part of Introductory Courses:Activities
Eileen Herrstrom, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
This activity takes place in a laboratory setting and requires ~1.5-2 hours to complete. Students work with data on oil production in Illinois, the United States, and the world, creating graphs to interpret data on ...

Design an electric utility resource plan for 2025 and beyond part of Teach the Earth:Teaching Activities
Rik Gran, University of Minnesota-Duluth
Students will design the integration of renewable or carbon neutral energy sources into the electricity generation mix of an example utility. The structure is a budget or a design or maybe even a puzzle where all ...

Renewable Energy Virtual Field Trip part of Teach the Earth:Teaching Activities
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 ...

Systems Thinking and Civic Engagement for Climate Justice in General Chemistry: CO2 and PM 2.5 Pollution from Coal Combustion part of Curriculum for the Bioregion:Activities
Sonya Doucette, Bellevue Community College
Students apply chemistry to a climate justice case study using a systems thinking perspective in class and discuss the connections between chemistry and climate justice in a conversation with a community outside of the classroom for civic engagement. The instructor offers formative feedback during class time and in response to discussion posts. Feedback is meant to build understanding and application of concepts important to learning chemistry within a systems thinking context and using civic engagement to communicate how chemistry relates to climate justice.