Intro to Graphing part of Undergraduate Research:2014 Workshop:Activities
Intro to Graphing is a 2-phase exercise that introduces students to Excel for the purposes of properly storing their data and producing graphs.

Introduction to well logs for use in the petroleum industry part of Sedimentary Geology:Sedimentology, Geomorphology, and Paleontology 2014:Activities
This exercise uses a suite of well logs (aka electric logs) to interpret lithology within a stratigraphic section and to determine fluid content within borehole rocks.

Relating Late-Quaternary Plant and Animal Distributions to Past and Future Climate part of Neotoma:Teaching Activities
A guided activity for students to explore the relationship between climate and plant and animal distributions in the past, present, and future. Students use the Neotoma Paleoecology Database, USDA Climate Change Tree Atlas, USGS Atlas of Relations Between Climatic Parameters and Distributions of Important Trees and Shrubs in North America (Professional Paper 1650 A/B), and climate model output.

Arctic Climate Curriculum, Activity 1: Exploring the Arctic part of Climate Change:Activities
This activity introduces students to the Arctic, including different definitions of the Arctic and exploration of the Arctic environment and Arctic people. Students set out on a virtual exploration of the geography ...

Arctic Climate Curriculum, Activity 3: Exploring Arctic Climate Data part of Climate Change:Activities
Students dig into authentic Arctic climate data to unravel some causes and effects related to the seasonal melting of the snowpack. In particular, students learn about albedo and its relationship to snowmelt. This ...

Seasonal variation in light, mixing depth and primary productivity in temperate northern hemisphere waters part of Oceanography:Activities
In this exercise students work with light, temperature, and phytoplankton biomass proxy (chlorophyll a concentration) data to; Become more skilled in reading and interpreting semi log graphs, temperature profiles, ...

Understanding Uncertainty in Ecological Forecasts part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules
Ecological forecasting is a tool that can be used for understanding and predicting changes in populations, communities, and ecosystems. Ecological forecasting is an emerging approach which provides an estimate of ...

GLOBE and My NASA Data Collection, Visualization and Analysis through Concept Mapping part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules
Through the use of GLOBE Observer app, and My NASA data, students will explore the acquisition, visualization and analysis of data. Students will follow the scientific method to better understand the steps in the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data. Students will be exposed to the value of citizen science and the role of science in our lives. Students will learn to identify basic cloud types and features with the My NASA cloud sorting cloud activity and sky watcher cloud chart (background knowledge), utilize the GLOBE Observer app to collect cloud and dust data across different locations and time frames (data acquisition), upload the data to the GLOBE NASA database, and then work with the Earth System Data Explorer to visualize, analyze, and interpret how these different kinds of data are used by scientists to understand the natural world and complex processes and interactions of Earth's spheres (data visualization and analysis). Finally, students will produce a series of cumulative concept maps as they evaluate the steps in the data acquisition, analysis and interpretation process through the GLOBE app, and My NASA site's Earth System Data Explorer.

Using Data to Improve Ecological Forecasts part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules
How can we use data to improve ecological forecasts? To be useful for management, ecological forecasts need to be both accurate enough for managers to be able to rely on them for decision-making and include a ...

Introduction to Ecological Forecasting part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules
Ecological forecasting is a tool that can be used for understanding and predicting changes in populations, communities, and ecosystems. Ecological forecasting is an emerging approach which provides an estimate of ...

Green Infrastructure/Green Roofs part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules
Runoff in urban areas is an increasingly important issue when it comes to water quality. It is a major hydrologic issue in New York City, as urban infrastructure creates excess runoff and impervious surfaces ...

Exploring diatom biodiversity in the Everglades and Caribbean wetlands part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules
Water quality assessments frequently include biological indicators to evaluate aquatic ecosystem habitat type and health. Because diatoms are ubiquitous and are found in habitats where macroinvertebrates are not, ...

Tracking hot spots and hot moments in an urban freshwater estuary part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules
This module explores the hydrology and biogeochemistry of the St. Louis River Estuary (Duluth, Minnesota). The overarching question of the module is: when, and where, is the estuary acting as a source vs. a sink ...

Soil Respiration Module part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules
Soils hold more carbon (C) than any other component of the terrestrial biosphere! In this module, students will explore high-frequency, sensor-based datasets documenting climate variables and the emissions of C (as ...

Exploring the relationship between periphyton and water quality in karstic wetlands part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules
Physicochemical properties and nutrients drive aquatic processes that sustain biota. Therefore, aquatic assessments usually investigate these variables as well as biological indicators to gain a better ...

Exploring the Global Carbon Budget part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules
How much carbon is emitted each year due to human activity? How does that number compare to rates of exchange between carbon cycle reservoirs? Where do our carbon emissions go? In this module, students will explore global carbon budget data to 1) determine the rate of change in carbon emissions, 2) explore changes in carbon cycle sinks over time to investigate where carbon emissions end up, and 3) determine what kinds of rates of change are needed to reduce carbon emissions to zero in the future.

How Do We Measure Biodiversity: Exploring Biodiversity Metrics Using Avian Communities part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules
This activity is designed to illustrate various ways that biodiversity can be measured and to highlight what we can learn about an ecological community from different metrics. Students will explore biodiversity metrics (i.e., species richness and Shannon diversity) using point count data on birds collected from the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long Term Ecological Research program. Specifically, students will investigate how bird richness and abundance have changed over time and create figures to compare abundance across landscapes and time.

Rivers and Floods in Tampa FL on the Sulphur Springs Quadrangle part of Hydrogeology:Activities
This activity takes place in a laboratory setting and requires ~1.5-2 hours to complete. Students study a topographic map, draw drainage divides, calculate recurrence intervals for two streams, create a recurrence ...

Module 3: Understanding Climate Patterns in North America part of Neotoma:Teaching Activities
Understanding the broad patterns of global climate helps in understanding more specific North American climate patterns. Understanding these climate patterns is necessary to understand the modern and past distributions of plants and animals in North America. In this activity, students are introduced to concepts of weather and climate (particularly North American temperature and precipitation patterns). Students complete a series of exercises where they analyze temperature and precipitation maps as well as historical data to learn about geographic and temporal changes in weather and climate. Part of the Neotoma Education Modules for Biotic Response to Climate Change.

Module 1: An Ecology/Climate Scenario part of Neotoma:Teaching Activities
In this module, participants read a short scenario and answer a series of questions to emulate the scientific process of making observations and hypotheses. Entitled "Gotta find a better place to fish...", the scenario details observations of biological, environmental, and ecological changes to a mountain stream over time. Participants answer questions that ask them to hypothesize why some of these changes might be occurring and how they are related. Part of the Neotoma Education Modules for Biotic Response to Climate Change.