Selecting Sites for Renewable Energy Projects
Glenn Richard, SUNY at Stony Brook
Students use Google Earth to investigate appropriate locations for a variety of renewable energy projects in the United States. These include projects that use solar energy, bioenergy, hydroelectricity, tidal power, wind energy, wave energy, and geothermal energy.

Hometown Geology
Stacey Cochiara, New Jersey City University
This is an extra credit assignment for students to learn details about the geology of their hometown.

Global Fisheries Conservation Stakeholder Interview
Sarah Glaser, College of William and Mary
Students will identify a person who has an economic, ecological, academic, educational, philosophical, or cultural interest in a local fishery (stakeholder). The student will prepare a set of interview questions, ...

The Heat is On: Understanding Local Climate Change
Dan Zalles, SRI International
Students draw conclusions about the extent to which multiple decades of temperature data about Phoenix suggest that a shift in local climate is taking place as opposed to exhibiting nothing more than natural ...

Introduction to Volcanology
Erouscilla Joseph, University of the West Indies
The course will introduce students to Plate tectonics and volcanoes; including the processes that takes place at active volcanoes (eruptive mechanisms, effusive and explosive volcanism); methods and instrumentation ...

Resource Usage Project and Journal
Gina Szablewski, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Students keep track of one resource (water, electricity, gas, etc.) they use for a 7-day period. They summarize their usage patterns, give opinions, and get some self-realization about their habits.

Simulation of international negotiations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
David Hastings, Eckerd College
In order to convey how the international community is responding to climate change, students engage in a simulation of the international negotiation process. Participants learn first hand the interests of different ...

Petroleum Depletion by Inquiry
Andy Johnson, Black Hills State University
This is a draft of a guided inquiry activity to help students become aware of the problem of petroleum depletion or peak oil. Students use existing data to make projections of future discoveries and consumption. It ...

The Tragedy of the Commons Homework
Andy Johnson, Black Hills State University
This is actually a homework assignment that we talk about in class. But when we talk about it I discover how my students are thinking. So it also serves as a formative assessment that I use to find out whether ...

Alternative futures lesson
Dan Zalles, SRI International
This lesson is the culmination of a course on river systems restoration being taught at the University of Washington as part of the Project "Data Sets and Inquiry in Geoscience Environmental Restoration ...