Teaching about Hazards in Geoscience; 2010 Deep Horizon Oil Spill

The purpose of this site is to provide access to teaching materials to respond to sudden hazard events, specifically the Deep Horizon Oil spill, in the classroom as well as more generalized materials that will help educators teach about hazards either before or soon after such an event. Resource includes images, videos and visualizations as well as current informational blogs and news reports Educational levels: Middle school, High school, General public

Comment on Hydro Tours

I found the virtual field trip to be very beneficial and a great way to make visually explain an idea to the students.

Marine Mystery: A Watery Who-dunnit!

Students learn about the causes of coral reef destruction by assuming various character roles in this marine murder-mystery. As they determine who killed Seymour Coral, students learn the basics of DNA testing. Suspects include global warming, sedimentation, and other threats facing coral reefs today. This activity is designed for 15 students, but can be modified for 12–24 students. A narrated PowerPoint that provides background information on coral reefs can be shared in advance in a separate lesson. The total class time for the PowerPoint, skit, and pre- and post-surveys is about 100 minutes. Educational levels: Intermediate elementary, Middle school

Dust Bowl in the Classroom

This resource, based on the Ken Burns documentary "The Dust Bowl" presents targeted video segments from the series integrated into lesson activities to highlight subject matter themes and enhance student understanding of the historical period. In addition, The Dust Bowl lesson activities build students’ academic and critical thinking skills and provide opportunities culminating in projects such as documentaries, public forums, and digital storytelling. The lessons are combined with substantive content and standards-based activities. Educational levels: Middle school, High school, General public

Applications of Chemistry Through Climate Science

These lessons are intended for a high school chemistry course as stand-alone topics embedded within existing chemistry curriculum. The goal is not to teach the entirety of climate change but rather to give students an understanding of chemistry through the lens of climate change. Additionally, it is intended to provide students with a better view of how science is done, what other careers are available for students besides "research scientist," and to connect their high school chemistry course with the real world. There are eight units within the module including: black carbon, pollution and aerosols, greenhouse gases, science and careers, isotopes and ice cores, ozone, societal impacts of climate change, and finding solutions to climate change. Each has a unique activity for the students (i.e. jigsaw reading, lab experiments, comic strips, Socratic seminar, etc) and any information given to students is visually-driven (pictures, animations, videos, etc). Educational levels: Middle school, High school

Case Studies in Climate Change

This module is intended to be taught in an AP environmental science introductory unit and consists of 5 case studies. APES students choose one case based on their interest and work in a group to complete. Each case study includes an introduction with a news article or op-ed piece to start students thinking about their own opinions on the issue. Students then have time to research and build their background knowledge. Labs or activities are included to introduce students to methods used by scientists to study issues such as dendrochronology or ice core analysis. Students then analyze a real world set of data and create a presentation to present their findings to their class. Presentations include conclusions and recommendations for action to help solve the issue. Educational levels: Middle school, High school

Comment on Enviropedia

There is no information about enviropedia publishing dates or authors on the actual pages presenting the information. This makes it hard for students to cite information references from data presented there. Authorship and publisher/dates should be on every one of the articles (or there should be a source tag you can click on) on each of the pages. Thanks!

Quantifying Marine Microbes: A Simulation to Introduce Random Sampling

This lesson introduces random sampling, one of the key concepts employed by scientists to study the natural environment, including microbial communities. Students first learn about the abundance and diversity of marine microbes. Colored beads in a bag are then used to represent different types of microbes, with the bag itself representing the ocean. Working in groups, each student randomly samples ten "microbes" from the "ocean", and records the data. To learn about the inherent variability of random sampling, the students then compare the composition of their individual samples, their group'’s pooled sample data, and that of the entire population. Educational levels: Middle school, High school

What Microbe are You? (A personality quiz for students in K-8 )

This online "personality quiz"” helps young learners understand the unconventional concept that most micro-organisms are beneficial; only a fraction are harmful. This activity matches the quiz-taker with the microbe that most closely reflects his or her personality. At the end of the quiz, students are assigned to their microbial matches, and the microbes are given fun code names to circumvent the challenge of pronouncing the microbes' scientific names. Teachers can include this activity as a fun way to begin or end a unit on life sciences. Educational levels: Intermediate elementary, Middle school

Drowning Island

Ocean FEST is a program of hands-on, ocean-themed science activities for students in grades 3-6 and/or their families. Our goals are to: (1) educate participants about ocean and earth science issues that are relevant to their communities; and (2) inspire students--especially those from underrepresented groups--to pursue careers in the ocean and earth sciences. This activity has students, after a discussion about climate change, melt ice cubes within a constructed land-sea model. Educational levels: Intermediate elementary, Middle school