The Four-Winged Dinosaur
Tasha Dunn, Colby College
This is assignment is completed in two parts: It begins in class with a showing of the Nova documentary "The Four-Winged Dinosaur." It continues as a homework assignment in which students write a short ...

Living Learning Community: Spaceship Earth Research Course
Penelope Boston, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
Freshmen enrolled in the Spaceship Earth Living Learning Community conduct research on a real project that is formulated and conducted during a 2-semester academic year.

How to read elemental soil profiles to investigate the biogeochemical processes in Critical Zone?
Lixin Jin, University of Texas at El Paso
In this exercise, students use elemental chemistry data in a soil profile to explore major biogeochemical processes that dominate in critical zone. Data will be provided, and students calculate and graph the mass ...

Detox Me: How To Reduce Your Exposure To Toxins Found In Everyday Products
Surya Tewari, Bellevue Community College
I use the topic when I am discussing cancer in either nutrition or biology class. Talking about genetic and environmental factors that can increase the incidence of cancer, and the homework, helps students understand how adjusting their environment can help reduce their risk for developing cancer.

Darwin and the Galapagos Islands
Mitchell Colgan, College of Charleston
In this assignment the students read the Chapter 17 "Galapagos Archipelago" from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin, and they examine a website about the Galapagos Islands. The students answer two ...

Environmental Geochemistry poster project
Jodi Ryder, Central Michigan University
This is an independent case study project completed in pairs. The students should investigate an example of natural geochemistry and then use a poster format to share their findings with the class.

Allosaur Survival Game
Teaching Material by American Geological Institute - Starting Point page by R.E. Teed (SERC)
In this online computer game, players must figure out how to keep an Allosaurus from starving or being eaten until it grows to adulthood. -

How much is a million? How big is a billion?
Danita Brandt, Michigan State University
We constructed a geologic timeline along a 5K road-race route across the MSU campus at a scale of 1 meter = 1 million years, using signage to mark important events in the history of life. In addition to over 1500 race participants, numerous casual observers were exposed to the timeline. This project works well in the classroom at a scale of 1 mm = 1 million years, and as a manageable one-day outdoor sidewalk chalk activity at a scale of 1" = 1 million years. Timelines drawn to scale lead the observer to the inescapable conclusions that "simple" life appeared early in Earth history; that it took the bulk of Earth history to achieve the next, multi-cellular stage of development; and that once the metazoan threshold was crossed, subsequent biological diversification-and the resulting fossil record-followed in rapid succession.

Quiz for the Earth System Video
David McConnell, North Carolina State University
This is a pdf of a quiz composed of multiple choice and true/false questions linked to the Earth System video.

Quiz for 8 Reasons for Complex Life on Earth
David McConnell, North Carolina State University
This is a pdf of a quiz composed of multiple choice and True/False questions about the content of the 8 reasons for complex life on Earth video.