Exercise 3: Reclassifying the New York State Geologic Map
Barb Tewksbury, Hamilton College
Barbara and David Tewksbury, Hamilton College Summary Students download and merge the multiple sheets of the New York State Geologic Map together and reclassify units to create an attractive and legible version of ...

My Favorite Dead Thing
John Dawson, Kirkwood Community College
This is a short writing assignment asking the students to write about their favorite extinct organism. This gives the students a chance to explore something that they find interesting and at the same time link it ...

Aurora Mastodont Project - Matrix Analyses Project
David Voorhees, Waubonsee Community College
This is a laboratory based assignment that is for Introductory level geoscience classes (Physical Geology, Historical Geology, Earth Science) that brings an authentic research experience to your students. In the ...

Observations vs. Explanations
Barry Bickmore, Brigham Young University
In small-group and class discussions, students learn to separate scientific observations from explanations.

Physical Geology: Idaho Field Trip
Simon Kattenhorn, University of Idaho
Optional field trip to local sites of geologic interest/relevance.

Boneyard Creek and other Extra Credit Exercises
Eileen Herrstrom, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Each of these activities takes place outside of class and requires ~0.5 hour to complete. Students review and expand on lecture topics, complete online exercises, discover campus geology, and work with computer ...

Unit 3.3: Formation and distribution of geological resources
Beth Dushman, Howard Community College
In this unit, students learn how some important geological resources form. They then use that knowledge and a series of maps to make predictions about where those resources might be forming today. Next, they use ...

Tapestry of Time: the Evolution of the North American Continent
Scott Johnston, California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
In this lecture activity, groups of students use the Tapestry of Time map printed by the USGS to create cross sections that illustrate the growth of the North American continent.

Hydrocarbon Seal and Migration
Hydrocarbon seal rocks are rock units with low permeability that impede the escape of hydrocarbons from the reservoir rock, like evaporites, chalks and shales. This lesson also explores the question that if given a ...