Building the Critical Zone part of Teaching Activities
Lily Eligator, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ
Students construct their own model Critical Zones using mason jars and layered materials representing bedrock, saprolite, soil, and vegetation. As each layer is added, facilitators explain its function and ...

Is this feedback loop positive or negative? part of Teaching Activities
Tim Shipley, Temple University; Kim Kastens, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory; Courtney Sheckler, Temple University; Alexandra Davatzes, Temple University
The Feedback Loop Sorting activity is designed to capture student understanding of feedback loops as a general causal pattern that can occur in various contexts throughout nature and in human-made systems. Students ...

Find the Feedback Loop part of Teaching Activities
Kim Kastens, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
This activity is designed build students' capacity to spot and analyze feedback loops that they encounter in real life, outside of school. Students read an instructor-provided article from the popular media ...

Using Causal Loop Diagrams to depict feedback loops part of Teaching Activities
Kim Kastens, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Causal loop diagrams (CLDs) are a form of graphic model used for depicting systems – especially systems involving feedback loops – by means of arrows and text nodes. This student activity provides introductory ...

High-Frequency Sensor Data Quality Control part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Activities
Jonathan Stetler, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
There has been a substantial increase in the availability of high-frequency environmental data in recent years. The rapidly increasing amount of data generated by high-frequency sensors requires that ecologists ...

Rocky the Raccoon explores the Niagara Escarpment part of Teaching Activities
Katie Maloney, Michigan State University
Join Rocky the Raccoon as he learns about rocks, minerals and fossils along the Niagara Escarpment. Rocky is searching for a new home and meets Lily the crinoid fossil. Together they discover that parts of Ontario, ...

Petrified National Forest, Geology & Paleontology, A Virtual Tour part of Teaching Activities
Catherine Rooney, Arizona Western College
Late Triassic Geology and Paleontology in what is now Arizona.This is a virtual field trip that leads the student through the Petrified Forest national Park, with explanations of the: geology; topography; ...

Virtual Field Trip: The Colorado River, its Usage & Crisis in Arizona part of Teaching Activities
Catherine Rooney, Arizona Western College
The Colorado River is over-allocated and the SW U.S. is experiencing the worst drought in 800 years. The 40 million people who depend on the Colorado River for electricity and water should be aware of the basic ...

PIE-Phase Diagram Experiments part of Teaching Activities
Sarah Lambart, University of Utah
Three types of activities are proposed: (1) One short (15-20 min) in-class demonstration to introduce the concept of Eutectic. At this point, the students have no prior knowledge about phase diagram. (2) One full ...

CLASS Question Collection part of Teaching Activities
David McConnell, North Carolina State University
We created more than 1200 questions to support a quizzing tool (CLASS) that we used in a Physical Geology course at NC State University for several years. I am submitting the question collection that includes the ...