Vostok Ice Core: Excel (Mac or PC) part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Mathematical and Statistical Models:Mathematical and Statistical Models Examples
Professor Stephanie Pfirman, Barnard College. Based on data of J. Chapellaz, Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Geophysique de l'Environment, Grenoble. Archived at: Lamont-Dohert Earth Observatory ( This site may be offline. ) . Starting Point page organized by R.M. MacKay.
Students use Excel to graph and analyze Vostok ice core data (160,000 years of Ice core data from Vostok Station). Data includes ice age, ice depth, carbon dioxide, methane, dust, and deuterium isotope relative ...

Half Life Model part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Interactive Lecture Demonstrations:Examples
David N. Steer (steer@uakron.edu)and Kyle Gray (krg10@uakron.edu), University of Akron This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. GEO-0506518.
While working in groups to facilitate peer tutoring, students manipulate a hands-on, physical model to better comprehend the nature of half life. Students use the model to simulate the decay of radionuclides. The ...

Copper Extraction Demonstration Tutorial part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Interactive Lecture Demonstrations:Examples
Summary This demonstration uses sulfuric acid and crushed copper ore (malachite) to produce a solution of copper sulfate and carbonic acid in a beaker. When a freshly sanded nail is dropped into the copper sulfate ...

Petrology in the Field and Laboratory part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Undergraduate Research:Examples
Rachel Beane, Bowdoin College (rbeane@bowdoin.edu)
In this multi-week project, students collect samples in the field, analyze them using various tools and instruments, then present their results and interpretations.

Water Quality-Total Dissolved Solids part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Teaching with Data:Examples
This activity is taken from Earth Science With Vernier by Robyn Johnson, Gretchen Stahmer DeMoss, and Richard Sorensen, Published by , Vernier Software (more info) . This Starting Point page was created by Robert MacKay, of Clark College .
Students use a microcomputer connected to a conductivity probe to measure the total dissolved solids in local area water samples. -

JiTT - Geologic Dating part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Just in Time Teaching:Examples
Laura Guertin, Penn State Brandywine
1) How are zircons formed? 2) Which of the following statements describes relative geologic dating? a) the Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus rex went extinct at the same time b) dinosaurs came later than horseshoe ...

ConcepTest: Change in Porportion of Parent Isotopes Over Time part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:ConcepTests:Examples
Which graph below best represents the change in the proportion of unstable (parent) radioactive isotopes with time? a. A b. B c. C d. D

ConcepTest: Isotopic Dating with Parent to Daughter Ratios part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:ConcepTests:Examples
The half-life of a radioactive isotope is 500 million years. Scientists testing a rock sample discover that the sample contains three times as many daughter isotopes as parent isotopes. What is the age of the rock? ...

ConcepTest: Calculating Rock Age from Parent Radioactive Isotope part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:ConcepTests:Examples
A radioactive (parent) isotope of element X is discovered in different amounts in four rocks (A, B, C, D) of the same composition. Which rock has the oldest calculated age? a. 15% of element X remains in Rock A b. ...

ConcepTest: Isotope Mass and Atomic Number part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:ConcepTests:Examples
The isotope of element X has 15 protons, 17 neutrons, and 15 electrons. The element has an atomic number of ____ and a mass number of ____. a. 15; 32 b. 17; 15 c. 17; 47 d. 15; 30