Designing GIS and Remote Sensing Courses, Modules, and Activities for Teaching Geoscience Students   part of Course Design:Workshop 2011
An online workshop with opportunities for face-to-face interaction   Beginning March 2011 and ending October 2011. Registration is closed for this workshop.   Finding the time, energy, and inspiration to ...

Teaching geologic time and rates of landscape evolution with dice part of Rates and Time:GSA Activity Posters
Landscape evolution provides a convenient framework for understanding geologic time and rates because students can observe how processes like erosion and deposition shape their surroundings. In this example, students build 3-D sandbox models based on topographic maps and design and stage a "virtual adventure race." Sandbox landscapes are used to illustrate erosional processes,while local examples are used to discuss landscapes as transient or steady over different time- and length scales. Dice experiments illustrate radioactive decay and the shape of the age equation curve, and 14C dating, geochronology and thermochronology are introduced as "stopwatches" that start when a plant dies, a crystal forms, or a rock nears the surface and cools to a certain temperature. The sandbox model and thermochronometer "stopwatches" are combined to measure erosion rates and rates of landscape change. Ultimately, model rates (cm/hour) calculated from stopwatch times on the order of seconds can be related to geologic rates (km/My) calculated from real million-year-old samples.

Examples of student posters part of Early Career:Developing a Research Program
Here are a few examples of posters created by students in Greg Hancock's Surface Processes class, along with Greg's descriptions of the projects they summarize. Clicking on a picture of a poster will ...

Teaching with Google Earth part of Teaching Methods:Teaching with Google Earth
Created by Glenn A. Richard, Mineral Physics Institute, Stony Brook University Updates by Diana Krupnick and Beth Pratt-Sitaula, UNAVCO A Guide to Using Google Earth in the Geoscience Classroom What is Google ...

Learning About Thinking and Thinking About Learning part of Affective Domain:Activities
A document about learning provides background information for classroom activities to help students be more intentional about their thinking and learning

Teaching Geologic Map Interpretation Using Google Earth part of Structural Geology and Tectonics:Geologic Map Interpretation with Google Earth
Resources in this collection A highly effective, non-traditional approach for using Google Earth to teach strike, dip, and geologic map interpretation, with assignments and activities (Barbara Tewksbury, Hamilton ...

Jigsaws part of Teaching Methods:Jigsaws
Developed by Barbara Tewksbury, Hamilton College "When efforts are structured cooperatively, there is considerable evidence that students will exert more effort to achieve - learn more, use higher-level ...

ConcepTests part of Teaching Methods:ConcepTests
ConcepTests are conceptual multiple-choice questions that focus on one key concept of an instructor's learning goals for a lesson. When coupled with student interaction through peer instruction, ConcepTests represent a rapid method of formative assessment of student understanding.

Structured Academic Controversy part of Teaching Methods:Structured Academic Controversy
Developed by Claudia Khourey-Bowers, Kent State University What is Structured Academic Controversy? A Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) is a type of cooperative learning strategy in which small teams of ...

Guided Discovery Problems part of Teaching Methods:Guided Discovery Problems
Developed by Ann Bykerk-Kauffman . Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, California State University, Chico What are Guided Discovery Problems? Deep down inside, why are you a scientist? I'll ...