In this activity, students investigate how scientists monitor changes in Earth's glaciers, ice caps, and ice sheets. The activity is linked to 2009 PBS Nova program entitled Extreme Ice.

In this video segment adapted from Interactive NOVA, astronaut John Young experiences extreme temperatures on the Moon that are a result of the Moon's low gravity and lack of atmosphere.

This video explores what scientists know about how changes in global climate and increasing temperatures affect different extreme weather events.

This video documents the scope of changes in the Arctic, focusing on the impacts of warming and climate change on the indigenous Inuit population.

Students are introduced to sedimentary rocks through field observations and measurements of sediments in different environments. This allows them to proceed from processes to products and engages them through field work in the local area.

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This interactive visualization created by FRED (Free Energy Data), displays energy supply (by source) and demand (by use) for each state in the US from 1960 to 2010; forecasts through 2035 are available as well. FRED is an open platform to help state and local governments, energy planners and policy-makers, private industry, and others to effectively visualize, analyze, and compare energy-use data to make better energy decisions and form sustainable strategies.

In this classroom activity, students work in groups to test a variety of fabrics to determine each one's effectiveness as an insulator. The printable five-page handout includes a series of inquiry-based questions to get students thinking about the conditions in Antarctica and the properties of specialty fabrics, illustrated activity directions and a worksheet that includes areas for recording their experiment data, and questions that prompt students to compare their results against their original hypotheses.

This is the first of three short videos showcasing the dramatic changes in Alaska's marine ecosystems. This introduction to the impacts of climate change in Alaska includes interviews with Alaska Natives, commentary by scientists, and footage from Alaska's Arctic.

This video is the second of three short videos showcasing the dramatic changes in Alaska's marine ecosystems. The video highlights the marine mammals and birds and how they depend on Arctic sea ice, as well as questions about how these animals will cope in the face of climate change.

Research physical scientist, Dr. Dalia Kirschbaum, is featured in this short (~3 min.) video. Dr. Kirschbaum explains how the integration of her initial interest in math and her subsequent interest in the science of natural disasters lead to her career focus of landslide modeling. Now part of the NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) team, she communicates about the GPM mission and data to the public and to others who use it in their work and/or research.

The first problem in this assignment is the culmination of the unit on energy balance and greenhouse gases. The students have already calculated blackbody temperatures as a function of albedo, sun's luminosity and distance from sun. They have also already calculated the magnitude of the greenhouse effect (optical thickness) of the modern atmosphere. In this first problem, the students apply these same calculations to the Faint Young Sun hypothesis and infer what can account for the geological evidence for liquid water on earth since 4.3 Ga. The second problem follows an introductory lecture on radiometric decay and radiometric dating. The students have seen the decay equation and learned what are decay constants and stable versus radioactive isotopes. In this problem, the students apply these concepts to radiocarbon.

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This activity shows how an ordinary ruler can measure human reaction time (RT). Learners will convert a standard ruler into a time ruler (relating time and distance) and measure each others RT. They will also calculate means and variances and the RT required to accomplish a specific task. Additional resources and an extension to this activity are available. This resource is from PUMAS - Practical Uses of Math and Science - a collection of brief examples created by scientists and engineers showing how math and science topics taught in K-12 classes have real world applications.

In this activity, students use theoretical knowledge about family stress theories to analyze family vignettes and make predictions about the level of risk or resilience each family might have should a natural disaster occur. To increase resilience, risk communication strategies are discussed.

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This lesson is a presentation of famous scientist throughout history where the students will learn and take notes about the contributions and discoveries made in science.

In this video from Common Ground and Cleaner Water, Tribby Vice, a Kentucky farmer, talks about the changes he has made on his farm to protect the water quality of the stream running through his property and the watershed in which he lives.

In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, scientists in western Greenland explain how a glacier there is shrinking and moving faster due to increased melting.

This video from a 2005 NOVA program features scientists who study the Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier in western Greenland. The glacier is shrinking and moving faster due to increased melting in recent years. The video includes footage of scientists in the field explaining methods and animation of ice sheet dynamics leading to faster glacier movement.

This short interactive activity has learners to manipulate fault blocks to better understand different types of earthquake-generating faults in different tectonic settings--extensional, convergent, and strike-slip. Fault models aid in visualizing and understanding faulting and plate motions because the instructor and their students can manipulate a three-dimensional model for a true hands-on experience.

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This exercise is based on the information presented in following article:

Bull, W.B., 1984, Tectonic Geomorphology: Journal of Geological Education 32, pp.310-324.

To prepare for the classroom exercise, the instructor briefly presents the concept that measurable landform properties can reflect the intensity of tectonic activity. We discuss that certain landforms and settings are particularly useful in these types of analyses, for example, fault-bounded mountains and piedmonts. The class goes through a quick review of dip-slip faults, fault scarps, and triangular facets, and the Tobin Range is introduced as a typical example of a fault-bounded mountain range. We then ask the question, what are the useful characteristics of these settings in terms of inferring tectonic activity?

To address the question, students work in groups of 2 or 3. Each group is given a set of topographic maps chosen from the following (the region can also be printed from CDs of digital, seamless topo.s, but the quad. names are provided for reference):

7.5 minute quad.s: Home Station Ranch , Jersey Summit , Kennedy Canyon, Mount Tobin , Needle Peak

15-minute quad.s: Mt. Tobin, Buffalo Springs, Cain Mountain

On each map set, two lengths along the fault scarps are marked. One is marked in red and one in purple. Each student group has a map set of a slightly different region, but all map sets have a red fault scarp and a purple fault scarp marked. The red fault scarps in all of the sets are those that have experienced more recent displacement.

Each group is asked to do the following:

1. List physical characteristics of each of the two fault-bounded mountains/piedmonts that are marked on your quad.s with different colors.

2. Decide among yourselves which fault-bounded mountains/piedmont has experienced more recent displacement.

3. Suggest morphometric properties that could be used to differentiate between the more recent and less recent displacement, and explain why each of your properties makes sense. Morphometric properties must be measurable from the topographic maps.

After about 10 minutes, the class reconvenes and we go through the first two questions as a class. Then, each group presents at least one morphometric property and explains their reasoning.

Once we have a list of properties that the class agrees on, the instructor presents and the class discusses the properties that Bull (1984) used in his research of the Tobin Range region, such as sinuosity, the ratio between the valley floor width and the total valley height, the development of triangular facets.
Designed for a geomorphology course
Addresses student fear of quantitative aspect and/or inadequate quantitative skills

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Students interpret data on the faults at Delphi, evaluate the tectonic context of the faults, and explore the proposed connection between faults and the Delphic Oracle of Ancient Greece.

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