This activity utilized Visible Geology and Google Earth to help students understand the limitations of using map-view observations of layer offset to interpret types of faulting. Students create and evaluate three fault models in Visible Geology, and compare their results to actual fault offset patterns seen near Las Vegas Bay, NV.

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There are many localities throughout the world where waulsortian mounds have been identified. These mounds are believed to build up through faunal and carbonate mud deposition in areas outside the temperature/latitudinal/salinity realm of coral formation. Students will analyze the mounds to determine whether or not they believe the mounds are waulsortian and discuss possible depositional environments for the mounds in either case. After samples have been collected and described lithologically and faunally, the students will write a report on their findings and conclude with an answer to the question, "Are these waulsortian mounds?"

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This American Museum of Natural History press release, issued in April 2001, announces the discovery of a remarkably well-preserved, 130-million-year-old fossil dinosaur covered from head to tail with downy fluff and primitive feathers. The press release includes details about where the dinosaur was unearthed, and by whom, the significance of the finding, the geologic reasons why the area where this specimen was found has been a treasure trove of fossils and how dinosaurs are related to birds.

This article discusses the many lichens found in the Arctic and Antarctica and their unique characteristics.

This assignment requires students to use analogical reasoning to identify the key attributes, the causal structure, that make a feedback loop positive (by amplifying/accelerating the effect) or negative (by moderating/dampening the effect).

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Do shark feeding frenzies really exist? Will sharks turn into a bunch of cannibals if they start competing for food? In this video, Jonathan wants to find out, and travels to Micronesia for an experiment. You won‰ŰŞt believe the fantastic result! Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.

In this activity, students learn about the urban heat island effect by investigating which areas of their schoolyard have higher temperatures - trees, grass, asphalt, and other materials. Based on their results, they hypothesize how concentrations of surfaces that absorb heat might affect the temperature in cities - the urban heat island effect. Then they analyze data about the history of Los Angeles heat waves and look for patterns in the Los Angeles climate data and explore patterns.

This video on phenology of plants and bees discusses the MODIS satellite finding that springtime greening is happening one half-day earlier each year and correlates this to bee pollination field studies.

This lab uses the remote operation of an Electron Probe Micro-Analysis (EPMA) available through the Florida Center for Analytical Electron Microscopy (FCAEM; https://fcaem.fiu.edu/), at Florida International University, Miami, to explore feldspar mineral chemistry. This lab explores detailed mineral chemistry, data normalization, and plotting compositional ranges on ternary diagrams suitable as an introductory assignment in a Mineralogy, Earth Materials, or Petrology course. This instructor-led interactive demonstration of remote Electron Microprobe use introduces students to microprobe analysis, x-ray analytical techniques, standardization, image analysis, normalization, mineral formulas and composition. The instructor can acquire images (optional) of samples containing feldspar (provided by FCAEM or instructor's samples) then select multiple points for analysis. This activity captivates student's attention and provides a hands-on instrument-led approach to introducing undergraduate students to chemical analysis and vital concepts in mineralogy and petrology.

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Geologists use the term "feldspar" to refer either to a specific mineral or to a group of minerals with similar compositions and atomic structures. All of them are silicate minerals, and together they make up more than half of Earth's crust. Yet even within this closely related group, separate minerals may look very different. One way to recognize their similarity is to determine their physical properties and study their chemical formulas. Another way is to plot their compositions using a triangle diagram. Triangle diagrams allow plotting three coordinates on a planar graph if the values add up to 100%. These characteristics make triangle diagrams convenient for visualizing compositional data.
Student materials for this exercise include a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with with data for alkali, plagioclase, and barium-bearing feldspars and an image file illustrating physical properties (PDF), as well as the instruction sheet. The exercise is divided into three parts.
Part I introduces the concept of a triangle or ternary diagram for plotting data described by three coordinates. Students learn how to read coordinates on such a graph and to describe points, lines, and areas.
In Part II, students work with either actual specimens provided by the instructor or images in the PDF to determine certain properties (color, hardness, cleavage, and striations) of three feldspars (orthoclase, albite, and anorthite). They name the samples and then follow an example to deduce the chemical formulas of these minerals. Finally, they apply knowledge from Part I to develop the classic K-Na-Ca feldspar triangle.
Part III involves working with barium-bearing feldspars including albite, orthoclase, hyalophane, and the pure Ba end member celsian. Students first verify the chemical formulas for the two new feldspars using the concept of charge balance. Then, they interpret a K-Na-Ba triangle diagram by relating compositional data to the four feldspars.

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This is a hands-on inquiry activity using zip-lock plastic bags that allows students to observe the process of fermentation and the challenge of producing ethanol from cellulosic sources. Students are asked to predict outcomes and check their observations with their predictions. Teachers can easily adapt to materials and specific classroom issues.

In a field investigation to Interstate State Park, students determine lava flow boundaries and observe an ancient rift valley. They also examine differential erosion rates that create a waterfall, and examine the local basalts for evidence of glaciation, including the world-famous potholes.

This video segment from the teacher video series Learning That Works uses a case study to highlight the effectiveness of a project-based, real-world approach to teaching science.

This exercise consisted of a five-hour field exercise and subsequent data analysis. In the field, students made individual observation, participated in discussions of evidence, and collected group field data. Data analysis consisted of calculations of sediment yields, channel slopes, and erosive power.
Designed for a geomorphology course
Addresses student fear of quantitative aspect and/or inadequate quantitative skills

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This exercise focuses on field observation and analysis of a debris flow that occurred near our campus in 2002. The strengths of the exercise are its emphasis on field observation, data collection, and synthesis of evidence.

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Sed/Paleo field studies seek to understand the evolution of depositional environments and their life/ecology through time. Students develop paleoecological hypotheses of community paleoecology in the Miocene Choptank Formation and test hypotheses through field data gathering and computer-based analysis. By measuring morphological characters, gathering paleo-community assemblage data, and recording predator-prey and colonization occurrences, students gain collaborative research experience toward defined research goals. Computer applications of data analysis techniques and reports of findings complete the project as a full practice of how field-based science may be conducted in the discipline.

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This is a field guide with road log to the classic Barrovian sequence in Dutchess County, New York. The field trip starts near Poughkeepsie, NY, and ends near the Connecticut border. The guide will lead you to key outcrops starting at the protolith, with one stop each in the chlorite, biotite, garnet, lower staurolite, upper staurolite, kyanite, sillimanite, and silimanite-kspar zones in the regionally metamorphosed pelitic sequence. Files include the road log with stop locations and descriptions, a regional map, and Google Earth .kmz file.

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Students collect from two Devonian field sites. Each student works on their own collections; each genus is identified (and detailed sketches made), preservation noted, relative abundance reported; together with lithological information students are able to ascertain the mode of life of the fossils, and ascertain the depositional environment and whether these are life or death assemblages. The lab addresses the two 'content goals' of the course: assessing mode of life of an organism and determining the paleoenvironmental context.

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Field Notes provides instructors with helpful tips for a successful field trip. The tips include a well-developed literature review for designing and assessing field trips.

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This activity requires students to locate local examples of physical and chemical weathering, as well mass wasting, for which they must identify the type of process involved and describe the resulting effects on landform development. The students must write up their observations in a brief, written report using a technical writing style, which must include labeled photographs and sketches that support their observations and descriptions.

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