Activities from Teach the Earth for
Ocean Warming Is Wiping Out Southern California's Mussel Beds

Population & Community Ecology part of CUREnet:CURE Collection
Students in a Population and Community Ecology class participate in coastal marine research focused on understanding factors determining population sizes and community interactions, particularly in the context of species that appear to be shifting their ranges with climate change. Students participate in all aspects of the research from making observations and collecting data in the field to defining questions, stating hypothesis, designing and completing statistical analysis, and interpreting and presenting results. The outcomes are a research proposal, research paper, and poster presentation. All are intended to be at a level appropriate for use as a writing sample or presentation at undergraduate conferences. Results are incorporated into the ongoing research project led by the course instructor and graduate student teaching assistant.

Don't move a mussel: Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis for detecting aquatic invasive species part of Curriculum for the Bioregion:Activities
Students will learn field sampling and laboratory techniques to utilize environmental DNA (eDNA) as an early detection tool for invasive or rare species, with a focus on zebra mussels.

Analyzing Real-Time and Historical Wave and Sea Surface Data part of Introductory Courses:Activities
Students gather and analyze real-time and historical wave height, and sea surface temperature data with emphasis on U.S. west coast and Southern California locations. Analysis of the wave height data allows ...

The 2014 La Habra earthquake: Teaching Risk and Resilience in Southern California with Citizen Science part of Integrate:Workshops and Webinars:Teaching about Risk and Resilience:Activities
This exercise uses the example of the March 28, 2014 M5.1 La Habra earthquake to teach about earthquake risk and resilience in southern California. Students will examine seismic waveforms recording during the earthquake, as well as read reports from scientific agencies and news outlets to answer basic questions regarding earthquake risk and resilience.

Food Rheology; Folding Fun part of Structural Geology and Tectonics:Structure, Geophysics, and Tectonics 2012:Activities
In this activity students analyze the rheologic and structural properties of various foods (everything from pudding to white bread) and think about how they expect them to behave under lateral pressure and how they ...

Developing a local stratigraphy part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Field Labs:Field Lab Examples
Students use field lab periods to construct a composite stratigraphic section of the area surrounding their campus. -

Using GPS data to analyze crustal strain -or- Where is the boundary between the Pacific and North American plates? part of Integrate:Workshops and Webinars:Engineering, Sustainability, and the Geosciences:Activities
Students determine and interpret crustal strain along the Pacific/North American plate boundary in southern California. They do this by using GPS time series data to plot strain ellipses in the study area, first by hand (to understand how the method works) and then by using provided Matlab code.

Natural Hazards on the Island of Hawai‘i part of Hawaiian Volcanoes
In this jigsaw activity, students discover four different aspects of natural hazards on the Island of Hawaii. The goal for students is to design a hazard zone map that combines these four topics and that could be ...

A field trip to explore rock formation and tectonics of southern California part of Geoscience in the Field:Activities
In this contribution, we provide an example of a one-day trip to examine Proterozoic metamorphic and Mesozoic intrusive igneous rocks that are easily accessible along and near roads in southern California. The ...

Natural Hazards on the Island of Hawaii part of Environmental Geology:Activities
In this jigsaw activity, students discover four different aspects of natural hazards on the Island of Hawaii. The goal for students is to design a hazard zone map that combines these four topics and that could be ...

Quantification of Critical Shear Stress part of Sedimentary Geology:Sedimentology, Geomorphology, and Paleontology 2014:Activities
This is a lab activity designed to give students experience with the concept and quantification of critical shear stress.

Unit 1 Hazards at Transform Plate Boundaries part of Living on the Edge
This unit uses scientific data to quantify the geologic hazard that earthquakes represent along transform plate boundaries. Students will document the characteristics of the Pacific/North American plate boundary in ...