To demonstrate how unimportant inertia is in plate tectonic problems, as part of a lecture, we calculate momentum and moment of inertia of both a supertanker and a plate. A supertanker running into a dock will do more than a million times more damage than a plate. This activity addresses student misconceptions and has a small quantitative component.

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Students will individually produce a written introduction for a paper about the presence of drumlins on Mars - this introduction describes different models for drumlin formation on earth. To prepare for this assignment, students work in groups to do library research to find and read articles. The groups summarize their findings for each other. Each student then writes an introduction incorporating material from all the groups.
Designed for a geomorphology course
Uses geomorphology to solve problems in other fields

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This activity is a bioassay lab where students tested the effect of an environmental toxin (fertilizer) on the growth rate of Duckweed.

Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module/Geology of National Parks course. Students estimate the volume of sand in Hoosier Slide, a large dome-shaped dune quarried away in the 1920s from what is now Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. They also estimate the number of boxcars to carry the sand, and the number of Ball jars produced from it.

This exercise allows students to quantify advection and dispersion of an environmentally-friendly dye as it floats down a local stream. Digital images of the resulting plume are captured using a "remote aerial tramway" setup by the instructor. Students develop a conceptual model of contaminant transport, test it, then quantify results using a variety of spatial and temporal methods. By the end of the exercise, students should have an appreciation for the complexity of contaminant transport, and appreciate the challenges hydrogeologists face as they monitor plumes in the subsurface.

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The Dynamic Integrated Climate Change (DICE) model assumes a single world producer must chose levels for three simultaneously determined variables: current consumption, investment, and greenhouse gases reduction. The model is freely available in both a GAMS and Excel version. DICE allows both science and economics instructors to integrate a sophisticated economic model of climate change into their courses. The simulation is for upper-division courses where students have some background in microeconomics. The principle developer is William Nordhaus at Yale University.

This is an in-class activity analyzing our drinking water reservoir, but would apply to any reservoir for which there are basic crest/elevation data and maps available.

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In this jigsaw, students will graph various Bald Eagle population numbers and determine the impact humans have had on the eagle. Specifically, they will investigate why the Bald Eagle was listed as endangered, the affects of DDT on eagles, and the affects of lead. Based on an original activity titled "Bald Eagle Population Graphing" from The Raptor Center, University of Minnesota http://www.cvm.umn.edu/raptor/prod/groups/cvm/@pub/@cvm/documents/asset/cvm_66866.pdf

Field Geology is an investigative course conducted in the field and computer laboratory without formal exams. The field excursions challenge groups of students to apply understanding to new or unknown geologic environments preserved in Vermont.
Students complete several professional-style reports that synthesize geologic information collected by teams of 2-3 students.

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DATA: EarthScope GPS Data.
TOOLS: Spreadsheet, Google Maps.
SUMMARY: Learn how GPS monuments make precise measurements of Earth's surface. Graph motion data and map velocity vectors to explore tectonic motion and surface deformation in the Pacific Northwest.

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DATA: Planetary images and geodesy data. TOOL: UNAVCO's Jules Verne Voyager Map Server. SUMMARY: Generate maps of Earth or any of 19 other planets and moons. Save and import images into presentations or reports.

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DATA: Global Digital Elevation Model (DEM) TOOLS: GeoMapApp, Spreadsheet SUMMARY: Use GeoMapApp to search for evidence of glacial expansion and retreat. Produce a research report of your findings modeled on peer-reviewed papers in the field of glaciology.

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DATA: Sea Floor Age, Volcano and Earthquake Distributions. TOOL: My World GIS. SUMMARY: Identify relationships among sea-floor age, earthquakes, and volcanoes to understand how they support the theory of plate tectonics.

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DATA: NASA Aura nitrogen dioxide data. TOOL: Google Earth. SUMMARY: Learn about photochemical smog. Explore the relationships among human population density, nitrogen dioxide concentrations, and geography.

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DATA: Worldwide Wetlands Inventory. TOOL: Ramsar International Wetlands Data Gateway. SUMMARY: Learn about wetlands around the world. Perform a series of searches to identify wetland areas that need protection.

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DATA: Precipitation, streamflow, and topographic data TOOLS: Google Earth & My World GIS SUMMARY: Explore a semi-arid watershed in Arizona. Investigate the effect of summer thunderstorms on streamflow.

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DATA: Digital Elevation Model Data. TOOL: GeoMapApp. SUMMARY: Explore a timeline about how we have learned about the oceans. Construct a profile across the Atlantic Ocean and create 3-D visualizations of the seafloor.

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DATA: GOES Weather Images. TOOL: ImageJ. SUMMARY: Transform a time series of GOES images into an animation. Plot a storm track and determine storm speed.

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DATA: SHALDRIL Core Data; NOAA Pollen data TOOL: GeoMapApp SUMMARY: Import Antarctic sediment core data files into GeoMapApp to create maps and graphs. Use data to infer past climate conditions based on current vegetation distributions.

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DATA: Recent and Historical Earthquake Data. TOOL: ArcExplorer Java Edition for Education GIS. SUMMARY: Explore earthquake data and import them into a Geographic Information System (GIS). Analyze the data to predict where the next big earthquake will occur.

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