Martha Conklin

Module 5: Water transfer through the critical zone part of Critical Zone Science
Martha Conklin, SSCZO staff and students (University of California, Merced) Summary and Overview This module will teach students about Critical Zone water transfers at multiple scales. First, students calculate a ...

Unit 5.1 - Water Balance of a Tree part of Critical Zone Science
The assignment is to calculate an annual water balance for a tree using data gathered at the Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory. In the framework of experimental design, students will organize around a ...

Unit 5.2 - Water Balance Impacts part of Critical Zone Science
This is the second module of a two week-long unit on hydrology in an upper-level undergraduate course on the Critical Zone. After Unit 5.1, students should have a basic understanding of the fluxes and reservoirs in ...

Implementing InTeGrate Critical Zone Science materials in an undergraduate geoscience curriculum part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2017:Program:Poster Sessions:Friday
The InTeGrate course "Introduction to the Critical Zone Science" was developed by an interdisciplinary team from a variety of institutions to introduce and examine the life-sustaining services and ...

Martha Conklin: Critical Zone Science at University of California-Merced part of Critical Zone Science
Turning students on to the "critical zone" My course is an upper level multidisciplinary course that uses the critical zone (the zone between bedrock and the tops of trees) to illustrate the synergy between the lithosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. This course was taught with short lectures, online readings and group activities both in and out of class. It culminated with a research paper and a 10-min presentation of the research paper. The students were incredibly engaged throughout the class. The class was open to all majors – so there was a fraction of seniors trying to fill in a last course. I was excited about the level of participation. The in-class exercises helped students to become comfortable with the material. We had an optional fieldtrip to the Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory and it was right after we had dug a number of soil pits – so the students could see the in situ heterogeneity. I think this class helps students synthesize the interconnectedness of critical zone processes (from soil forming to the role vegetation plays in the water balance) and the role those processes play in their lives.