Alaska GPS Analysis of Plate Tectonics and Earthquakes
Beth Pratt-Sitaula, EarthScope
This activity introduces students to high precision GPS as it is used in geoscience research. Students build "gumdrop" GPS units and study data from three Alaska GPS stations from the Plate Boundary Observatory network. They learn how Alaska's south central region is "locked and loading" as the Pacific Plate pushes into North America and builds up energy that will be released in the future in other earthquakes such as the 1964 Alaska earthquake.

Reef Builders through Time
Peg Yacobucci, Bowling Green State University-Main Campus
Students will use the Paleobiology Database (PBDB) to explore the history of reef-building animals through time. They will document diversity and extinction patterns through time for seven reef-building marine ...

Did Early Farmers Alter Climate?
Sue Swanson, Beloit College
The overarching goal of this exercise is for students to explore the early anthropogenic hypothesis, which claims that early agriculture had a substantial impact on greenhouse gases and global climate thousands of ...

Interactive Anti-Harassment/Discrimination Training
Michael Hubenthal, EarthScope
An interactive workshop designed to encourage a more inclusive geoscience culture that is resistant to harassment and discrimination by educating and empowering undergraduate students. The curriculum is targeted ...

The Thunderstorm and Wind Gods of Japan
Dennis Edgell, University of North Carolina at Pembroke
This activity includes a PowerPoint slide show (or PDF version) of a special topic lecture and in-class handout for students. Students listen to a lecture, then answer questions on the handout, either individually ...

Linking Earthquakes and Geologic Time by Paleoseismology
Martin Farley, University of North Carolina at Pembroke
In teaching general education Earth Science lecture, to make connections between separate topics I have created a paleoseismology activity that requires students to apply principles of relative geologic time to the ...

Magma Degassing and Eruption Style 2
Jessica Larsen, University of Alaska Fairbanks
This activity provides an opportunity for students to work with real data collected from samples from the 2008 eruption of Okmok volcano, Alaska. The homework activity explores how magma gas content can be ...

Fossil Identification
Connie Soja, Colgate University, csoja@colgate.edu
This activity asks students to identify examples of types of fossils amongst the exhibits at the Museum of the Earth at the Paleontological Research Institution in Ithaca, New York. Students will build on their ...

Arctic Coastal Oceanography
Maddie Smith, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
This unit combines classroom sessions with an in-person field day to teach fundamentals of Arctic Coastal Oceanography. The approach integrates sensor preparation and deployment with scientific concepts and ...

Learning Assessment #1 - Plate Tectonics
Michelle Speta, University of Calgary; Leslie Reid, University of Calgary
An in-class activity that tests students' understanding of the basic concepts of plate tectonics.