Modeling the carbon cycle of the anthropocene part of Activity Collection
Students use an Excel sheet to complete forward and inverse models of changes in carbon distribution between atmosphere, ocean and the biosphere from 1751 to the present and several centuries into the future. The model is given as a mostly complete package, into which students input emissions data in various sensitivity tests.

The Changing Geographic Distribution of Malaria with Global Climate Warming part of Activity Collection
In this exercise, students analyze climate data to find areas in the southern United States that are now close to having conditions in which the malaria parasite and its mosquito hosts thrive and then attempt to forecast when areas might become climatically suitable.

An Assessment of Hillslope Stability Using the Factor of Safety part of Activity Collection
In this homework assignment students are asked to consider the balance of forces on a hill slope using the Factor of Safety.

Comparing Carbon Calculators part of Teaching Methods:Teaching with Data:Examples
Carbon calculators, no matter how well intended as tools to help measure energy footprints, tend to be black boxes and can produce wildly different results, depending on the calculations used to weigh various ...

Glacier (?) National Park part of Teaching Methods:Teaching with SSAC:Examples
Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum/Geology of National Parks module. Students examine data about the disappearing glaciers in the park; after calculating percentage change in the number of glaciers from 1850 to 2000, they interpolate to estimate when Grinnell glacier will be gone.

Chemical Equilibrium Misconceptions part of Teaching Methods:Mathematical and Statistical Models:Examples
This STELLA modeling and writing assignment helps students confront and replace common misconceptions about chemical equilibrium.

Carbon Sequestration in Campus Trees part of Teaching Methods:Teaching with SSAC:Examples
Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module. Students use allometric relationships to calculate tree mass from trunk diameter in a stand of trees in the Pacific Northwest.

Vostok Ice Core: Excel (Mac or PC) part of Teaching Methods:Mathematical and Statistical Models:Examples
Students use Excel to graph and analyze Vostok ice core data (160,000 years of Ice core data from Vostok Station). Data includes ice age, ice depth, carbon dioxide, methane, dust, and deuterium isotope relative abundance.

Using a Mass Balance Model to Understand Carbon Dioxide and its Connection to Global Warming part of Activity Collection
Students explore the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 40 years with an interactive on-line model.

Estimating Exchange Rates of Water in Embayments using Simple Budget Equations. part of Activity Collection
Simple budgets may be used to estimate the exchange of water in embayments that capitalize on the concept of steady state and conservation principals. This is especially true for bays that experience a significant exchange of freshwater. This exchange of freshwater may reduce the average salt concentration in the bay compared to seawater if it involves addition of freshwater from rivers, R, and/or precipitation, P. Alternatively, it may increase the average salt concentration in the bay compared to seawater if there is relatively little river input and high evaporation, E. Since freshwater input changes the salt concentration in the bay, and salt is a conservative material, it is possible to combine two steady state budgets for a bay, one for salt and one for water, to solve for the magnitude of the water flows that enter and exit the bay mouth. Students will make actual calculations for the inflow and outflow of water to Puget Sound, Washington and the Mediterranean Sea and compare them to actual measured values.