Teaching Activities

5. Passive Designs part of Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability
Randolph Chambers, College of William and Mary
In this module, we consider how the actual design and placement of buildings can be important considerations for energy efficiency, thereby optimizing winter heating and summer cooling needs. One of the simplest ...

Grade Level: College Upper (15-16), College Lower (13-14)
Resource Type: Activities: Course Module, Activities:Classroom Activity:Short Activity:Think-Pair-Share, Activities
Subject: Environmental Science:Sustainability, Land Use and Planning, Energy, Energy:Efficiency and Energy Conservation
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Unit 2: Soil Characteristics and Their Relationship to Land Use Practices part of A Growing Concern
Hannah Scherer, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ; Martha Murphy, Santa Rosa Junior College; Sarah Fortner, Carleton College
In a hands-on exploration, students will learn to describe and quantify the porosity and permeability of soil models representative of both agricultural and natural environments. Students will use this information ...

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14):College Introductory
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Classroom Activity:Short Activity:Think-Pair-Share, Course Module, Activities:Classroom Activity:Short Activity:Demonstration, Activities:Writing Assignment
Subject: Geoscience:Geology:Environmental Geology, Geoscience:Hydrology, Soils, Environmental Science:Soils and Agriculture, Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:Weathering/Soils:Soils, Environmental Science:Land Use and Planning
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary, Passed Peer Review

Unit 4: Using SoilWebTMto Investigate the Soil Beneath You part of A Growing Concern
Hannah Scherer, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ; Martha Murphy, Santa Rosa Junior College; Sarah Fortner, Carleton College
Students will use SoilWeb™, a smartphone and web application that pulls detailed soil survey data from both the 1:24,0000 Soil Survey Geographic database (SSURGO) and the 1:250,000 scale State Soil Geographic ...

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14):College Introductory
Resource Type: Activities: Course Module, Activities:Problem Set, Datasets and Tools:Tools, Activities:Classroom Activity:Short Activity:Think-Pair-Share
Subject: Geoscience:Soils, Environmental Science:Soils and Agriculture, Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:Weathering/Soils:Soils, Environmental Science:Land Use and Planning
Activity Review: Passed Peer Review, Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Unit 3: Natural and Agricultural Erosion Rates part of A Growing Concern
Sarah Fortner, Carleton College; Martha Murphy, Santa Rosa Junior College; Hannah Scherer, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ
Students will identify their perceptions of erosion by examining images of mountain and agricultural landscapes and discussing which environment is more erosive. They will use geospatial figures to compare erosion ...

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14):College Introductory
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Classroom Activity:Short Activity:Think-Pair-Share, Activities:Problem Set, Datasets and Tools:Datasets with Teaching Activities, Course Module
Subject: Geoscience:Soils, Environmental Science:Soils and Agriculture, Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:Weathering/Soils:Soils, Environmental Science:Land Use and Planning
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Unit 5: Predicting the Effects of Climate Change on Soil Loss part of A Growing Concern
Hannah Scherer, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ; Martha Murphy, Santa Rosa Junior College; Sarah Fortner, Carleton College
Students will investigate how the factors that influence erosion work together to produce an overall erosion rate. In agricultural areas, these factors are rainfall-runoff erosivity, soil erodibility, slope ...

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14):College Introductory
Resource Type: Activities: Course Module, Activities:Problem Set, Classroom Activity:Jigsaw, Short Activity:Think-Pair-Share
Subject: Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:Weathering/Soils:Soils, Environmental Science:Land Use and Planning, Soils and Agriculture, Geoscience:Soils
Activity Review: Passed Peer Review, Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Unit 2.2: Mitigation Using Low Impact Development (LID) Controls part of An Ecosystem Services Approach to Water Resources
John Ritter, Wittenberg University; Ed Barbanell, University of Utah; Meghann Jarchow, University of South Dakota
In this activity, students model the impact of changes in land cover on stormwater runoff using the EPA's National Stormwater Calculator. Students mitigate increased stormwater runoff resulting from ...

Grade Level: College Upper (15-16), College Lower (13-14)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Classroom Activity:Short Activity:Think-Pair-Share, Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Hydrology:Surface Water, Geoscience:Geology:Environmental Geology, Geography:Physical, Environmental Science:Water Quality and Quantity:Surface Water , Geoscience:Hydrology:Surface Water:Water Quality/Chemistry , Environmental Science:Land Use and Planning, Water Quality and Quantity, Natural Hazards:Floods/Fluvial Processes, Environmental Science:Land Use and Planning:Urbanization
Activity Review: Passed Peer Review