Unit 5: Modern CO2 Accumulation
Pamela Gore, Georgia State University
Students will examine data that record the modern increase in carbon dioxide concentrations and the associated increase in average temperatures, and they will investigate the effects of carbon dioxide on various ...

Renewable Energy Virtual Field Trip
Evan Heeg, University of Wisconsin-Madison
This is a virtual field trip on the subject of renewable energy. The Google Earth slideshow will take you around the world to different key renewable energy sites across the world. Each site will have a quick ...

Oil Drilling Game
Jordan Makower, Pegasus Ed. Svcs (Private Earth Science Consultancy)
Students are each given 100 feet of drilling, to be used on a 144 mile square map under which is an oil trap. Working in teams, they construct cross-sections, based on stratigraphic and fossil data collected by ...

Working with State, National, and Global Petroleum Data
Eileen Herrstrom, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
This activity takes place in a laboratory setting and requires ~1.5-2 hours to complete. Students work with data on oil production in Illinois, the United States, and the world, creating graphs to interpret data on ...

Unit 3: Geologic Record of Past Climate
Callan Bentley, Piedmont Virginia Community College
Students will be introduced to a few of the different methods used in paleoclimatology, including isotopic ratios as paleotemperature proxies. They will investigate the greenhouse gas connections of two ancient ...

How Households in 4 Different U.S. States Use Energy
Diane Doser, University of Texas at El Paso
Students use energy information from the U.S. Energy Information Administration in 2009 (most recent household compilation) in a jigsaw activity. Each student examines usage in a particular state and then the group ...

Modeling the carbon cycle of the anthropocene
Heather Stoll, ETH Zurich
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.

Design an electric utility resource plan for 2025 and beyond
Rik Gran, University of Minnesota-Duluth
Students will design the integration of renewable or carbon neutral energy sources into the electricity generation mix of an example utility. The structure is a budget or a design or maybe even a puzzle where all ...

Carbon Footprint Exercise
Cinzia Cervato, Iowa State University
We designed a three-step assignment for students in introductory geoscience that asks them to calculate their carbon footprint during one specific week. The goal of the assignment is to increase student awareness ...

From Grid to Home
Lisa Gardiner; Marie Johnson, United States Military Academy; Jonathan Hoffman, University of Wyoming
This one-period classroom activity is designed to have students analyze energy use, cost, and source patterns from household to regional scales and relate these patterns to CO2 emissions. This idea was generated at ...