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.
Results 31 - 40 of 342 matches
Unit 1: Exploring the Reservoirs and Pathways and Methods to Measure the Hydrologic Cycle part of Eyes on the Hydrosphere: Tracking Water Resources
Jon Harvey (Fort Lewis College) and Becca Walker (Mt. San Antonio College)
How does water move throughout the Earth system? How do scientists measure the amount of water that moves through these pathways? This unit provides an alternative way for students to learn the major components of ...
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Unit 3: Glaciers, GPS, and Sea Level Rise part of Measuring the Earth with GPS
Karen M. Kortz (Community College of Rhode Island)
Jessica J. Smay (San Jose City College)
GPS data can measure bedrock elevation change in response to the changing mass of glaciers. In this module, students will learn how to read GPS data to interpret how the mass of glaciers in Alaska and Greenland is ...
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Unit 4: Comparing risks at different volcanoes part of Monitoring Volcanoes and Communicating Risks
Rachel Teasdale (California State University Chico) and Kaatje van der Hoeven Kraft (Whatcom Community College)
Students assess the risks from three different volcanoes based on the Risk Equation, Risk = Hazard x Value x Vulnerability. The three volcanoes--Fuego Guatemala, Rinjani Indonesia, and Moana Loa Hawaii--have ...
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Climate Change: Past & Present, Local & Global part of Guided Inquiry Introductory Geology Labs:Activities
Cheryl Manning, OrbWeaver Consulting, LLC; Rondi Davies, CUNY Queensborough Community College
Average inquiry level: Guided inquiry In this laboratory exercise for introductory geology or environmental science courses, students use data to examine climate change in their local environment. They compare ...
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Sedimentation Provenance Problem Set part of Sedimentary Geology:Activities
Man-Yin Tsang, University of Toronto
Introduce students the concept of Sedimentation Provenance and how it can be studied from rock samples. Teach students to visualize mineral distributions in a basin and draw ternary QFR (quartz-feldspar-rock ...
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Unit 3: Field Geophysical Measurements part of Evaluating the Health of an Urban Wetland Using Electrical Resistivity
Compiled by Lee Slater, Rutgers University Newark (lslater@newark.rutgers.edu)
Download a ZIP file of this Unit
Near-surface geophysical measurements are performed by moving sensors across the earth's surface. Active geophysical sensors transmit a signal into the earth and record a returned signal that contains ...
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3D View from a Drone | Make a 3D Model From Your Photos part of Geodesy:Activities
Shelley E Olds, EarthScope Consortium
Using cameras mounted to drones, students will design and construct an experiment to take enough photos to make a 3-dimensional image of an outcrop or landform in a process called structure from motion (SfM). This activity has both a hands-on component (collecting data with the drone) and a computer-based component (creating the 3-dimensional model).___________________Drones can take photos that can be analyzed later. By planning ahead to have enough overlap between photos, you take those individual photos and make a 3-dimensional image!In this activity, you guide the students to identify an outcrop or landform to study later or over repeat visits. They go through the process to plan, conduct, and analyze an investigation to help answer their science question.The Challenge: Design and conduct an experiment to take enough photos to make a 3-dimensional image of an outcrop or landform, then analyze the image and interpret the resulting 3-d image.For instance they might wish to study a hillside that has been changed from a previous forest fire. How is the hillside starting to shift after rainstorms or snows? Monitoring an area over many months can lead to discoveries about how the erosional processes happen and also provide homeowners, park rangers, planners, and others valuable information to take action to stabilize areas to prevent landslides.
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Unit 4: Groundwater, GPS, and Water Resources part of Measuring the Earth with GPS
Karen M. Kortz (Community College of Rhode Island)
Jessica J. Smay (San Jose City College)
GPS data can measure ground elevation change in response to the changing amount of groundwater in valleys and snow cover in mountains. In this module, students will learn how to read GPS data to interpret how the ...
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Visualizing Relationships with Data: Exploring plate boundaries with Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and GPS Data in the Western U.S. & Alaska | Lessons on Plate Tectonics part of Geodesy:Activities
Shelley E Olds, EarthScope Consortium
Learners use the GPS Velocity Viewer, or the included map packet to visualize relationships between earthquakes, volcanoes, and plate boundaries as a jigsaw activity.
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Erosion in a River part of GET Spatial Learning:Teaching Activities
Nicole LaDue, Northern Illinois University
× Formative assessment questions using a classroom response system ("clickers") can be used to reveal students' spatial understanding. Students are shown these diagrams and instructed to ...
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