This Computer Technology lab is designed to engage students in the process of organizing and presenting data in a visual way so that they can then summarize in writing their conclusions about the relationships between the data.

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This unit applies a spreadsheet, based on the storm water hydrograph modeling module, that applies the widely utilized Rational Method to estimate hydrographs and flooding for urban watersheds. The specific structure of the model is based on assumptions encoded for Maricopa County, Arizona, which is an urbanized area in the Desert Southwest of the USA, so the model is directly applicable to any similar climate. The model is broadly applicable to urban watersheds anywhere in the world, if appropriate adjustments are made to model parameters and if the necessary input data can be obtained. This model is designed to be utilized in parallel with a modeling guide by the same authors and alongside conceptual instruction in the hydrological concepts of rainfall and runoff processes in undergraduate classrooms. Hydrology and/or computational learning outcomes are assessed using a validated pre/post assessment instrument included with the unit.

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Welcome to this Quantitative Reasoning resource in Spanish. This resource can be used as an alternative to a traditional mathematics textbook for a one-semester course. It consists of free resources available to all users such as YouTube, Khan Academy in Spanish and much more. This resource is intended for Spanish-speaking students, but it does contain some resources in English which can be translated by the student as needed, or for videos in English, instructions are provided so students can view subtitles in English. 

This set of problems involves calculations of changes in radiogenic isotope ratios. It requires students to understand the concept of an isochron and how isotope ratios change (or do not change) during magma mixing and crystal fractionation.

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Use a topographic map to deliniate a watershed, draw a map bar scale, and calculate a map ratio scale.

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This is a short experimental study of what happens to aluminum hydroxide, silicic acid, magnesium oxide, and calcium carbonate (or reagents of instructors choice) when they are heated to 110 and 1200 degrees.

Students determine the formula and calculate the mole percent and weight percent of each element and oxide in each reagent.
They heat the samples and calculate percentage weight loss or gain.
Finally, they write a lab report summarizing their results.

Be sure to have students save their samples for later use in a lab that introduces X-ray diffraction.

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The inquiry method and meteorological and astronomical online data can be used to elicit the inconsistencies of students' naÃve ideas about the "real" reasons for the seasons. The first phase of this two-part investigation uses online meteorological data to identify factors that might explain differences of seasonal temperatures among cities These factors are used to hypothesize why differences of seasonal temperatures occur among cities. During the second phase, the variables and hypotheses that were previously identified in part one are used to design and conduct an inquiry-oriented investigation. Astronomical data is used as part of the investigation to "test" students' hypotheses -- conclusions are drawn then communicated.

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In this activity, students replicate the slope failure experiment
presented by Densmore et al. (1997) in the journal Science. They are given the original article and the slope failure apparatus (along with all associated materials) and then they need to figure out how to replicate the experiment. Once they have completed an experimental run of sufficient length, they compile and analyze their data and compare it to the article's results.

After completing this portion of the lab, the students read the discussion and reply (Aalto et al., 1998; Densmore et al., 1998) and critically evaluate they results of the experiment and its applicability to the real world and landscape evolution.

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Students are presented with a real-life problem of flooding and erosion in the town of Simonton. They must use historical dischage data to determine the future risk of flooding. They must also use historical map data to asses the risk of future losses due to erosion. Using these data, they must dertermine the feasibility of levee systems proposed by the Corp of Engineers. Lastly, they must discuss their assumption and possible sources of error.

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Student materials for this exercise include a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with peak discharge data for the Hillsborough River and Curiosity Creek, a .zip file containing two versions (PDF and JPG) of the topographic map of the Sulphur Springs quadrangle, and a simplified sketch map of the quadrangle. The exercise is divided into three parts.
In Part I, students study the Sulphur Springs topographic quadrangle to gain a general idea of the landscape. The students identify drainage divides on the quadrangle and outline the drainage basins on the sketch map.
Part II includes calculating the frequency and probability of various sized floods and creating a recurrence curve using Microsoft Excel charts. Students apply their knowledge to decide whether to buy a house on the floodplain of the Hillsborough River.
In Part III, students use their results to interpret the potential for flooding along the main river and one of its tributaries. Students compare recurrence curves to deduce that having more years of data leads to a more reliable flood forecast. They search online to determine the reasons for particular floods and contrast the effects on the two streams.

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This workshop entails the reading of a highly quantitative article, summarizing it for a different audience, and reflecting upon what choices and opportunities audience presents for quantitative writers.

After having talked about the geologic time scale (Precambrian: prior to 570 Ma; Paleozoic: 570-245 Ma; Mesozoic: 245-65 Ma; Cenozoic: 65 Ma - Present), I ask for two volunteers from the class to hold a rope that is 50 feet long. I say that one end is the beginning of the Earth (4.6 billion years ago), and the other is today. I then give out 16 clothes pins and ask various students to put a cloths pin on the 'time line' at various 'geologic events'. For example, I ask them to put one where the dinosaurs died out (end of the Mesozoic). They almost invariably put it much too old (65 Ma is less than 2% of Earth history!). Then I ask them to put one on their birthday (they now laugh). Then I ask them to put one where we think hominoids (humans) evolved (~3-4 Ma), and they realize that we have not been here very long geologically. Then I ask them to put one at the end of the Precambrian, where life took off in terms of the numbers of species, etc. They are amazed that this only represents less than 15% of Earth history. Throughout the activity I have a quiz going on where the students calculate percentages of Earth History for major geologic events, and compare it to their own ages. On their time scale, the dinosaurs died only about two 'months' ago! The exercise is very effective at letting them get a sense of how long geologic time is, and how 'recently' some major geologic events happened when you consider a time scale that is the age of the earth.

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This exercise is a second or familiarization exercise in spreadsheeting, but is also a mathematical model for slope evolution. It uses the concept of "erosivity" (generally, the relative ratio of driving and resisting forces) and slope angle to reshape an initial topography. Finally, it asks the students themselves to come up with a real-world situation worth modeling.

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Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module/Geology of National Parks course. Students work with salmon-trace streambed data to study whether removal of a spawning run barrier was effective

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The activity allows for learning about salt marshes ecosystem and practicing of basic math in estimations.

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In this module, students are asked to look at how long it takes for planets and moons to complete their orbits, and how fast they are going.

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In this exercise students work with light, temperature, and phytoplankton biomass proxy (chlorophyll a concentration) data to;

Become more skilled in reading and interpreting semi log graphs, temperature profiles, and time series plots.
Practice unit conversions.
Gain an understanding of k, the attenuation coefficient for nondirectional light.
See how the depth of the photic zone and the surface mixed layer varies seasonally at temperate latitudes and how this relates to seasonal phytoplankton productivity dynamics.

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An activity/lab where students determine the changes in 100-year flood determinations for 2 streams over time.

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This activity helps students develop a better understanding and stronger reasoning skills about the Central Limit Theorem and normal distributions.

Key words: Sample, Normal Distribution, Model, Distribution, Variability, Central Limit Theorem (CLT)

This activity allows students to plot arrival times for direct and head waves in a simple refraction system (2 or 3 layers, assuming horizontal interfaces). Students use provided MATLAB functions to investigate the effects of changing layer thicknesses and velocities on arrival times and crossover distances.

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