Initial Publication Date: May 16, 2024
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Quantitative Activities for Earth Science Disciplines


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Unit 5: Societal Implications of Climate Change: Stakeholder Report
Bruce Douglas, Indiana University-Bloomington; Susan Kaspari, Central Washington University
Sea-level rise due to the melting of glaciers and ice sheets and ocean thermal expansion has significant societal and economic consequences. In this final unit, students prepare a summary of the impacts of sea ...

Quantitative Skills: Probability and Statistics:Data Trends, Estimation, Graphs
Subject: Geoscience: Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Geoscience:Geology:Geophysics:Geodesy, Gravity, Geoscience:Geology:Geophysics, Environmental Geology, Environmental Science:Sustainability, Natural Hazards, Global Change and Climate:Sea Level Change, Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change, Environmental Science
Grade Level: College Upper (15-16)
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Plate Tectonics: GPS Data, Boundary Zones, and Earthquake Hazards
Christopher Berg, Orange Coast College; Beth Pratt-Sitaula, EarthScope Consortium; Julie Elliott, Michigan State University
Students work with high precision GPS data to explore how motion near a plate boundary is distributed over a larger region than the boundary line on the map. This allows them to investigate how earthquake hazard ...

Quantitative Skills: Spreadsheets, Graphs
Software: Microsoft Excel
Subject: Geoscience: Geoscience:Geology:Geophysics:Geodesy, Geoscience:Geology:Geophysics, Structural Geology:Regional Structural/Tectonic Activity, Geoscience:Geology:Tectonics, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards
Grade Level: College Lower (13-14):College Introductory, College Lower (13-14)
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Lake Mixing Module
This module was initially developed by Carey, C.C., J.L. Klug, and R.L. Fuller. 1 August 2015. Project EDDIE: Dynamics of Lake Mixing. Project EDDIE Module 3, Version 1. cemast.illinoisstate.edu/data-for-students/modules/lake-mixing.shtml. Module development was supported by NSF DEB 1245707.
Stratified lakes exhibit vertical gradients in organisms, nutrients, and oxygen, which have important implications for ecosystem structure and functioning. Mixing disrupts these gradients by redistributing these ...

Quantitative Skills: Models and Modeling, Spreadsheets, Graphs
Software: Microsoft Excel
Subject: Geoscience: Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Biology:Ecology:Habitats:Water Column, Biology:Ecology, Biogeochemistry, Environmental Science:Water Quality and Quantity:Surface Water , Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Ecosystems:Ecology
Grade Level: High School (9-12), College Lower (13-14):College Introductory, College Lower (13-14), College Upper (15-16)
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Unit 3: Field Geophysical Measurements
Lee Slater, Rutgers University-Newark
Near-surface geophysical measurements are performed by moving sensors across the earth's surface. Active geophysical sensors transmit a signal into the earth and record a returned signal that contains ...

Quantitative Skills: Algebra, Arithmetic/Computation, Spreadsheets, Graphs
Software: Microsoft Excel
Subject: Geoscience: Geoscience:Geology:Geophysics:Exploration Methods:Electrical Conductivity/Resistivity, Environmental Science:Water Quality and Quantity:Surface Water , Wetlands, Point Source Pollution, Environmental Science:Waste:Waste Solid :Landfills, Environmental Science:Sustainability, Ecosystems, Chemistry:Environmental Chemistry, Physics:Other Sciences:Environmental Science
Grade Level: College Lower (13-14):College Introductory
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Nutrient Loading Module
This module was initially developed by Castendyk, D.N., T. Meixner, and C.A. Gibson. 6 June 2015. Project EDDIE: Nutrient Loading. Project EDDIE Module 7, Version 1. Module development was supported by NSF DEB 1245707.
Estimating nutrient loads is a critical concept for students studying water quality in a variety of environmental settings. Many STEM/Environmental science students will be asked to assess the impacts of a proposed anthropogenic activities on human water resources and/or ecosystems as part of their future careers. This module engages students in exploring factors contributing to the actual loads of nitrogen that are transmitted down streams. Nitrogen is a key water quality contaminant contributing to surface water quality issues in fresh, salt, and estuarine environments. Students will utilize real-time nitrate data from the US Geological Survey to calculate nitrate loads for several locations and investigate the interplay of concentration and discharge that contributes to calculated loads.

Quantitative Skills: Spreadsheets, Graphs
Software: Microsoft Excel
Subject: Geoscience: Geoscience:Geology:Environmental Geology, Geoscience:Hydrology:Surface Water:Water Quality/Chemistry , Geoscience:Hydrology, Biology:Biogeochemistry:Nutrient Limitation and Cycling, Biology:Biogeochemistry, Environmental Science:Water Quality and Quantity:Surface Water , Environmental Science:Water Quality and Quantity
Grade Level: College Lower (13-14):College Introductory, College Lower (13-14), College Upper (15-16)
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Prairie Eco Services
Kelly Knight, Houston Community College
As densely populated urban areas continue to expand, human activity is removing much-needed greenspaces from our communities; in turn, we are also removing critical buffers that are needed to combat air and water ...

Quantitative Skills: Models and Modeling, Probability and Statistics:Data Trends, Spreadsheets, Graphs
Software: Microsoft Excel, GIS:ArcGIS, GIS
Subject: Geoscience: Geography, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Geoscience:Geology:Environmental Geology, Geoscience:Hydrology, Soils, Biology:Ecology:Symbiotic Relations, Biology:Ecology, Environmental Science:Land Use and Planning:Urbanization, Environmental Science:Land Use and Planning, Sustainability, Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Environmental Science:Ecosystems:Ecology, Environmental Science:Ecosystems
Grade Level: College Upper (15-16), Graduate/Professional
On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
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Detecting Cascadia's changing shape with GPS | Lessons on Plate Tectonics
Shelley E Olds, EarthScope Consortium; David Thesenga, Alexander Dawson School
Research-grade Global Positioning Systems (GPS) allow students to deduce that Earth's crust is changing shape in measurable ways. From data gathered by EarthScope's Plate Boundary Observatory, students discover that the Pacific Northwest of the United States and coastal British Columbia — the Cascadia region - are geologically active: tectonic plates move and collide; they shift and buckle; continental crust deforms; regions warp; rocks crumple, bend, and will break.

Quantitative Skills: Models and Modeling, Vectors and Matrices, Arithmetic/Computation, Graphs
Subject: Geoscience: Geoscience:Geology:Geophysics:Geodesy, Geoscience:Geology:Tectonics, Geoscience, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards
Grade Level: Middle (6-8), High School (9-12), College Lower (13-14)
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Unit 1: Climate Change and Sea Level: Who Are the Stakeholders?
Bruce Douglas, Indiana University-Bloomington; Susan Kaspari, Central Washington University
How are rising sea levels already influencing different regions? This unit offers case study examples for a coastal developing country (Bangladesh), a major coastal urban area (southern California), and an island ...

Quantitative Skills: Estimation
Subject: Geoscience: Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Geoscience:Geology:Geophysics:Geodesy, Geoscience:Geology:Environmental Geology, Geoscience:Hydrology, Environmental Science:Water Quality and Quantity, Sustainability, Natural Hazards, Global Change and Climate:Sea Level Change, Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Environmental Science
Grade Level: College Upper (15-16)
On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
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GETSI Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the GETSI curricular materials development process.
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Unit 1: Introduction to Flooding
Venkatesh Merwade, Purdue University-Main Campus
Do geoscientists understand the meaning of floods and their role within the broader context of ecological and societal impacts? In this unit, students are introduced to the concept of flooding and the mechanisms ...

Quantitative Skills: Algebra, Probability and Statistics:Probability, Problem Solving:Equations, Spreadsheets, Graphs
Subject: Geoscience: Geoscience:Geology:Geophysics:Geodesy
Grade Level: College Upper (15-16)
On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
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Cross-Scale Interactions
Cayelan Carey, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Kaitlin Farrell, University of Georgia
Environmental phenomena are often driven by multiple factors that interact across different spatial and temporal scales. In freshwater lakes and reservoirs worldwide, phytoplankton blooms are increasing in ...

Quantitative Skills: Models and Modeling, Probability and Statistics, Graphs
Software: R
Subject: Geoscience: Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Geoscience:Geology:Environmental Geology, Biology:Ecology:Food Webs, Habitats:Freshwater, Biology:Ecology, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change, Environmental Science:Ecosystems, Environmental Science
Grade Level: College Upper (15-16), Graduate/Professional
On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
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