Exemplary Teaching Activities
Beginning in 2011, On the Cutting Edge began a process to review the extensive collection of activities submitted by workshop participants and members of the geoscience community. With the transition of the On the Cutting Edge program into NAGT the review process is now being used to broadly review online teaching activities relevant to NAGT's community of Earth educators. Through this review processes activities are scored on 5 elements: scientific veracity; alignment of goals, activity, and assessment; pedagogical effectiveness; robustness; and completeness of the description. The activities that score very highly in these areas become part of the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection and are featured below.
You may also be interested in the full collection of teaching activities.
Subject: Geoscience Show all
Theme: Teach the Earth Show all
- Water 13 matches
- Weather 2 matches
Teach the Earth > Teaching Topics
Grade Level
Results 1 - 10 of 13 matches
Lesson 2: My Water Footprint (Middle School) part of Teaching Activities
Kai Olson-Sawyer, GRACE Communications Foundation
This lesson centers on a deeper exploration of the water footprint associated with food. Students learned in Lesson 1 that virtual water, especially as it relates to food, typically makes up the majority of their ...
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Prairie Eco Services part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules
Kelly Knight, Houston Community College System
As densely populated urban areas continue to expand, human activity is removing much-needed greenspaces from our communities; in turn, we are also removing critical buffers that are needed to combat air and water ...
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Justice, Power, and Activism: What the Goldman Environmental Prize Winners Teach Us About Resilience and Democracy part of Curriculum for the Bioregion:Activities
Jason Lambacher, University of Washington-Tacoma Campus
This activity is a set of student-centered exercises that enable students to learn about the individual stories of Goldman environmental prize winners, the activism and organizing that grounds their work, and the underlying political and social contexts from which their struggles emerge. The lesson inspires critical reflection about justice, power, and democracy in green politics, and encourages ways to make personal connections to activism and environmental work.
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Unit 3: Crops and Irrigation Patterns in the United States part of Water, Agriculture, Sustainability
Chris Sinton, Ithaca College
This unit is designed to allow students to quantitatively assess how much water is used for irrigating crops and how this varies across the United States. This unit also has students link water use to the economic ...
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Learn more about this review process.
Unit 1: What is Sustainability in the Context of Water? part of Water, Agriculture, Sustainability
Robert Turner, University of Washington-Bothell Campus
In this three to four class unit, students will: Assess the case for a global water crisis and its relevance in America. Expand their understanding of sustainability as a contestable concept and movement. Consider ...
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Learn more about this review process.
Unit 2: Water Footprints part of Water, Agriculture, Sustainability
Robert Turner, University of Washington-Bothell Campus
Unit 2 opens a window into water accounting and reveals intensive water use that few people think about. How much water goes into common commodities? Have you considered how much water it takes to support our ...
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Learn more about this review process.
Unit 4: Case Study Analysis part of Mapping the Environment with Sensory Perception
Lisa Phillips, Texas Tech University; Kate Darby, Western Washington University; Michael Phillips, Illinois Valley Community College
In this unit, student groups will evaluate different environmental case studies to critically investigate qualitative and quantitative data analysis, collection, and inquiry. Students will begin to consider ...
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Learn more about this review process.
Exploring Climate Change Effects on Water Availability and Agriculture part of Curriculum for the Bioregion:Activities
Betsy Bancroft, Gonzaga University
This activity has students work together to summarize regional effects of climate change and other environmental issues, which a focus on how these issues may influence agriculture and water availability. Students present a region to the group and create a layperson summary of the effects of climate change and other environmental change on their region.
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Environmental Geochemistry Class Project part of Hydrogeology:Hydrogeology, Soils, Geochemistry 2013:Activities
Carey Gazis, Central Washington University
This is a inquiry-driven class research project on a local environmental geochemistry question that is accomplished during three-hour laboratory sessions each week. Students are divided into groups that will share ...
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Basic Chemistry Review part of Hydrogeology:Hydrogeology, Soils, Geochemistry 2013:Activities
Thomas Meixner, The University of Arizona
This assignment reviews basic of chemistry for students who should have had 2 introductory semesters of basic chemistry prior to enrolling in the Fundamental of Water Quality course for which the assignment is ...
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