Phil Resor

Unit 1: Energy, Space, and Earth's Effective Temperature part of Earths Thermostat
This unit is designed to engage students by introducing them to patterns in recent climate and investigating possible reasons for recent changes. Students work in small groups to plot and analyze real-world ...

Unit 6: Capstone: A modern catastrophic volcanic eruption? part of Earths Thermostat
This unit is the module's capstone project: developing a conceptual model of the climatic and societal effects of a catastrophic volcanic eruption occurring in modern times. Through independent research and ...

Unit 5: Circulation in the atmosphere - a map and cross section based jigsaw part of Earths Thermostat
In this optional activity, students analyze maps of wind patterns from three levels in the atmosphere in order to infer global atmospheric circulation patterns and their role in balancing the radiation budget they ...

Unit 5: Balancing the Radiation Budget: A Jigsaw Exploration of the Global Climate System (Part 2) part of Earths Thermostat
In this two-day activity spanning Units 4 and 5, students analyze spatial variation in climate through a map-based jigsaw exploration of NASA's Earth's Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) data. By the end ...

Unit 4: Earth's radiation balance - a map and graph-based jigsaw part of Earths Thermostat
In this two-day activity spanning Units 4 and 5, students analyze spatial variation in climate through a map-based jigsaw exploration of NASA's Earth's Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) data. By the end ...

Unit 2: Earth's Atmosphere and Its Influence on Temperature part of Earths Thermostat
This unit investigates the role of the atmosphere on incoming solar and outgoing terrestrial radiation and analyzes modern trends in greenhouse gas concentrations. Students first investigate radiation spectra to ...

Unit 3: Energy Flows and Feedback Processes part of Earths Thermostat
In this unit, we use energy flows within the climate system to introduce climate feedbacks and system diagrams. The class session uses an interactive lecture approach having students work on multiple tasks ...

Getting inside the black box part of Teaching Computation with MATLAB:MATLAB Workshop 2016:Teaching Activities
In this problem set students apply the finite difference method to develop a simple box model and then explore the impact of anthropogenic changes to the modeled system.

Viscous Buckle Folding part of Structural Geology and Tectonics:Activities
This activity introduces students to viscous flow and analog modeling of viscous buckle folding. Students perform a series of experiments to explore the relationship between layer thickness and fold wavelength.

Cracking and Crumbling: Exploring Mechanisms of Dike Emplacement part of Structural Geology and Tectonics:Activities
Students explore the shape of basaltic dikes intruded into shale near Shiprock, New Mexico using published maps and a simple mechanical model. Students get practice in making quantitative measurements, evaluating ...

Teaching Computation in the Geosciences Using MATLAB part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2019:Program:Afternoon Mini-Workshops
This mini-workshop is for anyone interested in teaching computation: data analysis, algorithm development, or numerical modeling, using the MATLAB programming platform. The workshop will include hands-on ...

Using Societally Relevant Problems to Engage Students in Structural Geology part of 2018 Structure and Tectonics Forum:Abstracts
Phillip Resor, Wesleyan University Barbara Tewksbury, Hamilton College , , , Most students in structural geology courses do not go on to specialize in structural geology or tectonics and this course is likely to ...

Phillip G. Resor: Using Earth's Thermostat in Dynamic Earth at Wesleyan University part of Earths Thermostat
My course is an introductory physical geology course that blends hands-on activities that might bet traditionally covered in a separate lab with lecture. I believe that an understanding of the climate system is important for my students in order to understand surface processes, and global change. The interactive and hands-on nature of the module led students to develop a clear understanding of Earth's radiation balance and the importance of the atmosphere in maintaining this balance. Students successfully applied this knowledge later in the semester when discussing temporal and spatial patterns of weathering and sedimentary environments.