Physics: Permafrost part of PENGUIN:PENGUIN Modules
Penny Rowe, NorthWest Research Associates
Students learn what permafrost is, the implications of permafrost thawing due to climate change, and how to calculate heat diffusion through permafrost. Student activities include watching a video about permafrost, ...

Quantum mechanics: Polar spectra part of PENGUIN:PENGUIN Modules
Penny Rowe, NorthWest Research Associates
Students learn about the greenhouse effect by examining a "forbidden" rovibrational band in the infrared emission spectra of Earth's atmosphere, recorded from the surface at South Pole Station. By ...

Thermodynamics: Sea ice melt part of PENGUIN:PENGUIN Modules
Penny Rowe, NorthWest Research Associates
Students learn about thermodynamics topics through calculation of the amount of heat required to melt Arctic sea ice. They start by watching an online animation of changing polar ice with time. They next download ...

Unit 2.4: Power part of TIDeS:TIDeS Teaching Materials:Physical Science
Sandra Penny, Russell Sage College
In this unit, students explore the relationship between energy and power when they design an experiment to measure and calculate their maximum power output by running up a staircase at a fast, medium, and slow ...

Unit 4.3 Nature and machine: implementation of forces part of TIDeS:TIDeS Teaching Materials:Physical Science
Natalie Bursztyn, University of Montana
How do forces cause Earth's crust to collide and divide? Students plan, design, and construct a model of plate tectonics to further develop a concept that they began to investigate back in Unit 3. Then, ...

Kinetics of Herbicide Photodegradation part of Teaching Computation with MATLAB:MATLAB Workshop 2019:Activities
Kristi Closser, California State University-Fresno
This lab activity is designed to connect student's knowledge of reaction rates to actual data and an unfamiliar system (photodegradation of phenylurea herbicides in the presence of various catalysts). Students ...

Human Health and Particulate Pollution in Wildfire Smoke: Fluid Flow and Wind Velocity Vectors in Physics part of Curriculum for the Bioregion:Activities
John Schaub, South Puget Sound Community College
Students learn about particulate matter pollution (PM 2.5 and PM 10) in wildfire smoke and its impacts on human health, as well as how it disproportionately affects marginalized groups and ways that individuals and communities can address these issues. They apply free body diagrams, Newton's second law, Bernoulli's equation, and vectors to study the atmospheric transport of particulate matter pollutants during a local smoke event. Students create an infographic, comic, poem, short story,or other artifact to contribute to a class zine to illustrate what they have learned.

Sonar Demonstration -- Human Sound Wave part of Oceanography:Activities
Kent Syverson, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Sonar technology allowed scientists to produce high-resolution maps of the sea floor for the first time. This sonar demonstration uses a Human Sound Wave to image the "sea floor" in a lecture hall. In ...

Unit 3.1 How can we observe the unobservable? part of TIDeS:TIDeS Teaching Materials:Physical Science
Natalie Bursztyn, University of Montana
Matter is made of atoms, but we cannot see them. How can we observe the "unobservable"? Students will observe the changing behavior of objects to interpret atomic structure and practice 'observing ...

Karst Study Using Geophysics at Bracken Bat Cave Preserve​ part of CUREnet:Institutes:Ad-Hoc CURE Institutes:Examples
Evelynn Mitchell, St. Marys University
South Central Texas depends on deep seated aquifers to maintain a water supply for over 5 million people. Much of this water supply is recharged through karst features in the Texas Hill Country. Understanding the features on a property helps determine the appropriate level of development, but geophysical methods have limitations on interpreting feature size. Students in this project built on previous work to examine the error of two common geophysical methods when detecting humanly accessible shallow karst features. They gained skills in site analysis using spatial software and high-resolution GPS collection, field work planning, data collection and analysis.