Sea Ice Predictive Model part of Teaching Activities
Joceline Boucher, Maine Maritime Academy
This is a quick (~25 min) classroom activity designed to stimulate thinking about sea ice, climate change, and differences between Arctic and Antarctic conditions.

Comparing Human Population Trends part of Teaching Activities
Diane Doser, University of Texas at El Paso
This activity uses demographic information from the United Nations publication "World Population Prospects" to explore the differences in population trends for the United States to Uganda including ...

Unit 6.1 - Biogeochemical Modeling Framework part of Critical Zone Science
Adam Wymore, University of New Hampshire-Main Campus
In this unit, students will learn about the dynamic movement of nutrients among and within ecosystems primarily through the reading and discussion of scientific literature. This unit is generally subdivided into ...

Unit 1.1 - CZ Overview part of Critical Zone Science
Tim White, Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus
The Critical Zone encompasses the external or near-surface Earth extending from the top of the vegetation canopy down to and including the subsurface zone of freely circulating fresh groundwater. Complex ...

Unit 7.2 - Agricultural Impacts part of Critical Zone Science
Ashlee Dere, University of Nebraska at Omaha; Susan Gill, Stroud Water Research Center
Humans not only reside in the Critical Zone, they depend upon the land and water to provide sustenance. This unit will examine how humans affect soil resources and ecosystem services in the Critical Zone through ...

Unit 2.2 - Basic Critical Zone Concepts part of Critical Zone Science
Ashlee Dere, University of Nebraska at Omaha; Susan Gill, Stroud Water Research Center
Students will learn about geoscience-specific methods used to analyze data in the Critical Zone from data-driven activities and short presentations by their peers. The topics include the use of carbon isotopes, ...

Unit 5.1 - Water Balance of a Tree part of Critical Zone Science
Martha Conklin, University of California-Merced
The assignment is to calculate an annual water balance for a tree using data gathered at the Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory. In the framework of experimental design, students will organize around a ...

Campus Garbage Project part of Curriculum for the Bioregion:Activities
Jennifer Zovar, Whatcom Community College
Students are asked to design and conduct an archaeological survey of the modern college campus, focusing on the provenience of litter and other trash, which is collected, sorted, and analyzed. Students develop a research question about college culture, waste management practices, and/or sustainability more generally and prepare an academic poster presenting their results.

Unit 5: The Sixth Extinction part of Changing Biosphere
Camille Holmgren, SUNY Buffalo State University
In this unit, students will prepare by reading a couple of articles describing the causes and rates of mass extinctions, including the current "Sixth Extinction," and why conservation is important to ...

Unit 1: Introduction to the Geologic Timeline & Mass Extinctions part of Changing Biosphere
Rebecca Teed, Wright State University-Main Campus
In this unit, students will identify mass extinctions as paleontologists have done and recognize and understand the "pull of the recent," that is, the human tendency to know more about events closer to ...