Illinois through time
Surangi Punyasena, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
This assignment serves as an introduction to geologic time, using Illinois as an example. It uses the Paleo Portal website to illustrate each geologic period.

Activity for the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca, New York
Richard Kendrick, SUNY Cortland, Richard.Kendrick@cortland.edu
This is an in-depth assignment to explore and write about the history of life as represented at the Museum of the Earth at the Paleontological Research Institution in Ithaca, New York. Students will examine several ...

Old Sticks in the Mud: Hazards of Lahars from Mount Rainier Volcano
Patrick Pringle, Centralia College
Volcanic debris flows (lahars) flow long distances, bury and aggrade river valleys, and cause long-term stream disturbances and dramatic landscape changes. Students will evaluate the nature, scale, and history of ...

Power of the Story: Interpreting oral histories
Kaatje van der Hoeven Kraft, Whatcom Community College
This activity asks students to find a narrative that depicts a geologic event (preferably from non-dominant cultural oral histories) and interpret it applying the knowledge they have gained in class. This writing ...

The Cosmic Calendar
Erika Grundstrom, Vanderbilt University
In this activity, one takes ALL of time, from the beginning of time (i.e., the Big Bang) all the way up to today, but one compresses it into one year. One can do this for all levels of students depending on how ...

Worksheet for the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca, New York
Liz Balko, Cornell University-Endowed Colleges
Students will go to the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca, New York and use the exhibits to answer questions about paleontology, paleobiology, evolution, the history of life.

Hometown Geology
Stacey Cochiara, New Jersey City University
This is an extra credit assignment for students to learn details about the geology of their hometown.

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 ...

A Toast to a Scientist - Celebrating Identity and Accomplishments
Laura Guertin, Penn State Brandywine
To bring attention to a more inclusive population of scientists and to help students develop their own science identity, students are assigned to write a speech that could be given as a "toast" at an ...