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HideAllison Dunn
Earth, Environment, and Physics
Worcester State University
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Course Modules (7)
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 ...
Learn more about this review process.
Learn more about this review process.
Activities (2)
Google Earth, Streams, and Glaciers part of Introductory Courses:Activities
In this assignment, students download Google Earth and use it to investigate some of the fluvial and glacial processes introduced in lecture.
Net Radiation and Temperature part of Introductory Courses:Activities
This assignment helps students think about how net radiation affects surface temperature.
Course (1)
Allison Dunn: Using Earth's Thermostat in Physical Geography at Worcester State University part of Earths Thermostat
Capturing students' interest with real data I teach Physical Geography, a survey class that introduces students to the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. I incorporated the Earth's Thermostat module in lieu of my typical coverage of chapters on Earth's energy balance, temperature, and climate change. My students really responded to the in-class activities, and you could hear an excited buzz as different groups worked their way through the material for each activity. I think this module is especially powerful because it lets students directly engage with the data behind a major societal issue (climate change). By working with the data itself, instead of reading about it in a text, they felt a greater ownership and understanding of this challenge facing our society.