This is a spreadsheet that I use in petrology to walk students through calculating Rb-Sr isochrons and talking about isotope heterogeneity and sampling at various scales. The example exercise is the Tuolumne intrusive series. The file, available for download below, contains workbooks (see different tabs) with example isochrons and a spreadsheet of data for the homework problems.

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This short exercise refreshes students memories about converting chemical analyses to mineral formulas, and mineral formulas to oxide and element weight percents.

Students convert between formulae and weight percents, showing all work.
The problem set handout has enough introductory material for students to be able to complete the problems without any instructor lecturing or textbook reading.

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This is a very short exercise designed to get students to understand how the Gibbs energy equation is used to calculate the location of a reaction in P-T space. I use it in-class and have students work on it in groups.

Besides calculating the location of one reactions, students also have to think a bit about the significance of volume and entropy with regard to mineral stability.

This exercise is very straightforward EXCEPT that students get the units (bars, Kbar, cc, etc.) confused.

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In this lab activity, students learn about the relationships between sea level and glaciers during glacial and interglacial periods. First the students need to calculate the maximum sea level rise assuming all water stored in glaciers and ice caps will melt. Then, they are asked to calculate the ice sheet distribution during the last glacial maxima based on the information that sea level dropped by 125 m.

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Science students often have difficulty thinking about large spatial scales. The purpose of the exercise is to redo Eratosthenes' calculation of the radius of the Earth using data from to sites in ancient Egypt. The excercise teaches about the methodology of science - how Eratothenes figured it out - rather than worried about what the "right" answer is. It can also be used to discuss the role of models in geological thinking.

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This is a field based exercise that exposes students to streams as a major agent of erosion and to methods of quantifying stream discharge by collecting data in the field. Students also apply basic navigation skills by using hand-held GPS devices and plotting longitude and latitude of the field sites under investigation.

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Students will map two sections of a stream and calculate the depth, velocity, and discharge of flows required to move the stream bedload. Students will produce two cross-sectional profiles of the stream, one through a pool and one through a riffle section, and one longitudinal profile. Measurements of sediment size, depth, and velocity, will be determined at meter intervals across each cross transect. Students will also calculate the approximate cross-sectional areas across the pool and riffle sections and associated discharges. Students will also determine the stream gradient along the longitudinal profile. From these data, students will employ hydrodynamic equations to calculate the critical shear stress, and mean flow velocity required to move the bedload. Students can then calculate what the discharge and stream width would be at the time of sediment movement, and compare these data with those calculated for "normal-flow" periods.

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Project in which students calculate the magnitude of lunar and solar tidal forces on the earth. They calculate the solar tidal effect relative to the lunar tidal effect and the relative solar tidal effect for spring-tide conditions.

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Prior to assigning this activity in lecture, students gather information about their personal energy consumption so that they can calculate their personal carbon footprint. Specifically they need to determine the gas mileage of their vehicle, the average number of miles they drive in a month, and bring to class an electric bill and a natural gas bill from their apartment. I provide the appropriate information for students living in dorms. Their task during the class period is to assemble this information and calculate how much carbon their activities are responsible for generating. Once this portion of the assignment is complete, they investigate options for reducing their carbon emissions and the costs of those options. The pros and cons of carbon-reduction strategies form the basis for the class discussion. Lastly, students are asked to brain storm a list of potential carbon sources that are not included in this simple exercise, such as the carbon required to make the things we buy (computers, edible dinosaurs, q-tips, etc.).

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An activity where students make a geologic timeline from calculator tape.

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Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum activity. In advance of an actual lab activity, students virtually simulate the calibration of a laboratory micropipettor. QL: Accuracy and precision.

To prepare students to think about the data, assumptions, and interpretations that are part of a phylogenetic analysis. This exercise comes in five parts. The first part is all of the data -- all specimens and age dates for all specimens. This simulates the impossible -- a complete fossil record. The second part has 10% of the specimens randomly removed (an imperfect fossil record), but all age information is provided for the 90% given. Similarly, the third and fourth parts have 20% (different 20%s) of the data randomly removed, and all information is provided for the 80% of remaining specimens (a more imperfect fossil record). The fifth part has dates only for the modern forms -- all other dates are removed. This simulates the situation for a group lacking a fossil record or a situation where the fossil record is ignored.

Depending on the class size, students either individually or in groups develop a phylogeny from their data prior to class time. In class we lay everything out on tables and compare and contrast the various phylogenies and in the process discuss many of the basic assumptions, practices, biases, etc. of phylogenetic reconstruction.

You could make this more complex and have students code things into MacClade, Paup, etc.; however, I use this for the concepts of phylogenetic reconstruction only.

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In this activity, students have an opportunity to learn about the geomorphology and soils of your campus. Within a team, students collect soils information and use it to construct of stratigraphic cross-section and outline major geologic events in the history of a given site.

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Students conduct a greenhouse gas emission inventory for their college or university as a required part of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment.

Students are given an outline map of the campus with no scale indicated. They are to work in small groups to determine the scale. Although rules and tape measures are provided, students are given no instruction on how to best determine the scale and are tasked with devising their own methodology. Students write their scales on the blackboard and we finish the class with a discussion of their various methodologies, sources of error, and why there is some variation among their results.

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Reading and constructing geologic maps is one skill that every geologists has to master. Initially, this means that we have to understand the symbols that are used on geologic maps. Once we know the general meaning of these symbols, we will have to learn how to measure and plot them. The measuring is generally done using a magnetic compass. Finally, we have to plot the data on a map so that others understand the geology based on our mapping.

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Students use GPS units and record the location of some feature of interest on the campus. A shapefile is created from data recorded in an Excel file. This data is incorporated into a map which includes shapefiles and imagery for various campus features.

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Link the college or university operations with local ecology. In this study, students use a tool from urban ecology, the nitrogen budget, to research the inputs, outputs and subsytem transfers of nitrogen on the college or university campus.

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Learn about one town's conflict over the issue of spraying pesticides to combat disease-carrying insects, in this video segment from Greater Boston.

This lesson introduces students to the concept of air pressure. Students will explore how air pressure creates force on an object. They will study the relationship between air pressure and the velocity of moving air.