Exercises and aids for teaching geoscience

sponsored by

The Greater Capital Region Teacher Center

Union College

 

Originally the exercises presented here were made as parts of workshops on teaching earth science in high schools and college. Several more have been added outside of workshops. This list therefore represents a variety of in-class exercises, labs, use of instrumentation, short courses, and virtual field trips. Unfortunately, the number of exercises, and the rise of XHTML, have made it difficult for me to properly maintain each as a web site. I have therefore taken the liberty to convert many of the web sites to .PDF files that will not be further maintained. Many of the original links may no longer be functional, but associated key words will certainly permit you to search for similar resources. I hope you find something here of value, and I thank the original writers of these works for their efforts

College level exercises using analytical instrumentation

• ICP-MS: Water sampling and interpretation exercise and data set.
• ICP-MS and IC: Dissolution of minerals in water and a curve fitting excel spreadsheet.
• ICP-MS and IC: Analysis and modeling of fresh surface water.
• ICP-MS: Partition coefficients and mathematical modeling.
• ICP-MS: Magma mixing as a geochemical process.
• ICP-MS: Investigating the Oddo-Harkins rule.
• ICP-MS: Eu isotope ratio analyses and counting statistics.
• ICP-MS: Pb-U-Th radiometric dating dating.

K-12 level instructional and visual aid materials

• Handout showing how thin sections are made.
• How thin sections of rocks are made.
  • Movie clip: Decide where to cut the rock
  • Movie clip: Make the first cut
  • Movie clip: Make the second cut
  • Movie clip: Mark the area you want for the section
  • Movie clip: Cut along your marked lines
  • Movie clip: Grind one side flat and smooth
  • Movie clip: Epoxy the chip to the glass slide
  • Movie clip: Cut off the excess chip
  • Movie clip: Grind off most of the remaining rock
  • Movie clip: Check the thickness with a polarizing microscope
  • Movie clip: Grind the remaining rock to 30μm thickness
  • Movie clip: Cement on the coverslip
• Grain size in clastic sedimentary rocks.
• Grain size in igneous rocks.
• Grain size in metamorphic rocks.
• Tectonic framework of New York State.

K-12 lab exercises

• Astronomy
  • Angle of the Sun's rays on the first day of fall.
  • Eratosthenes exercise and Earth's diameter.
  • Sunspot Graphing.
  • Lunar geology overview.
• Environment
  • Water Quality Monitoring.
  • Monitoring the chemistry of a fresh water stream.
• Mineralogy and Geology
  • Crystal Structure Lab.
  • Earthquake plotting.
  • Introduction to Paleontology Lab.
  • Rock density exercise.
  • A Taste of Rock Classification.
  • Mining for Natural Resources.
  • Sediment Deposition Lab.
  • Virtual field trip to the Helderberg escarpment.
• Weather
  • Atmosphere Aloft: Locating the Tropopause.
  • Cloud Formation: a cloud in a bottle.
  • Meteograms, what they show and how they show it.
  • Weather variables lab and Excel worksheet.
  • Weather Patterns and Acid Rain.
  • Weaving Weather Maps with the World Wide Web.
• Other
  • National Park Project.
  • Physical vs. Chemical Change Lab.

Other links to useful information

• Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive.
• Earth Science Student Projects Page.
• National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT).
• New York State Mathematics, Science and Technology Resource Guide.
• Global Change Master Directory (GCMD).
• The World Lecture Hall.
• Teachers at Work.
• Geological Society of America resources for teachers.
• Mineralogical Society of America resources for teachers.
• Evolution: science vs. nonsense.
• Union College virtual field trips.