Mineral Classification Exercise
Dexter Perkins, University of North Dakota-Main Campus
This exercise gets students thinking about mineral classification and the properties that are most useful for classifying and identifying minerals.

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.

Landscape Evolution Debate
Amanda Schmidt, Oberlin College
Students are assigned to read one of the three papers on tectonic geomorphology (landscape evolution) published by Nature in 2003 (Burbank et al., Dadson et al., and Reiners et al.). All also read the editorial by ...

Using deformed critters to determine angular shear and shear strain
Angela Moore, Guilford College
This activity provides a step by step example to help students figure out how to determine the angular shear and shear strain, using fossils with bilateral symmetry. Students first complete the work on an idealized ...

Sand, Sieves, and Fracking
Margaret McMillan, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Students analyze the physical characteristics of sand to determine if it is suitable for use in hydraulic fracturing.

Exploring Earthquake Hazards with GIS
Constantin Cranganu, CUNY Brooklyn College
This activity is a straightforward application of GIS to assessment of earthquake hazards. The students get more modeling skills with GIS and a better understanding of earthquake hazards.

Hierarchical Alignment of Timelines
Ilyse Resnick, University of Delaware
In the hierarchical alignment activity students progressively and hierarchically align scale information to a spatial linear representation. The progressive alignment of scales may alleviate the conceptual ...

Heads Up Physical Geology Edition
Lisa Gilbert, Cabrillo College
This activity combines elements of two classic games: Heads Up and 20 Questions. Students have fun while engaging in rock and mineral identification retrieval practice. The activity can be set up quickly and done ...

In William Smith's footsteps: a modern take on regional stratigraphy
Myra Keep, University of Western Australia
This activity uses modern Google Earth to view 3D geological cross sections from the British Geological Survey, in order to trace the units that formed William Smith's 'Map That Changed The World". ...

Igneous Rock Compositions and Plate Tectonics
Allen Glazner, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
In this exercise, students use whole-rock major- and trace-element compositions of igneous rocks from a variety of tectonic settings and locations to explore the importance of plate setting in determining magma ...