This site from SERC's Starting Point explains that active learning is a student centered approach in which the responsibility for learning is placed upon the student, often working in collaboration with classmates. Links to examples of Active Learning techniques are included on the site.

This exercise is intended to connect students to geology and to remind them of the diverse ways in which people, including geoscientists, relate to rocks. Groups of students are asked to examine rock samples from specific perspectives such as sculptors, landowners or geologists, and then present relevant observations and questions. Next, individuals write one-minute papers summarizing what they have learned and evaluating the activity. On this Starting Point page, users can access information about the exercise's learning goals, context for use, teaching notes and tips, teaching materials, assessment ideas, references and topics covered.

In this lab, each student or small student group "adopts" a different outcrop or road cut, describing and interpreting both the outcrop scale features and hand specimens. This website provides a context for the use of this lab, and describes learning goals, teaching notes and assessment. It also includes downloadable handouts and other teaching materials.

These PDF files are Illustrated Lectures from his Earth history class (entitled introductory biology). The PDF files contain a lot of projection-ready graphics that may be useful in introductory Earth Science lectures. Lecture topics include the nature of science, cosmological evolution, biological evolution, life as a chemical function, The Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eons, life and energy and biology and society.

This online computer game deals with why allosaurs hunted as they did, as well as how. The student needs to balance the need for food for energy and growth with the risk of being savaged by one's potential prey or killed outright by another allosaur. The "Big Al" starts out as a 0.2 kg hatchling and ends up as a hunter of sauropods and a parent to the next generation of allosaurs. On this Starting Point page, users can access information about the exercise's learning goals, context for use, teaching notes and tips, teaching materials, assessment ideas, references and topics covered.

Through a higher-order integration of concepts and observations, students can combine information from several field labs, all discussed in the Starting Point collection, to construct an overall geologic history of the local region. This site details the learning goals, teaching notes and materials, method of assessment, and context of use of this lab. It also provides links to additional references and resources.

This site from SERC's Starting Point offers sample rubrics that can be used for informal and formal evaluations of the Gallery Walk. These rubrics range from group participation to the quality of oral and written reports.

This site from SERC describes creative methods that instructors can employ to entice students into answering Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) questions. Responses can be evaluated for accuracy or for completion. A JiTT assessment rubric example is outlined.

Astrobiology Magazine is an online service that provides summaries of scientific articles relevant to astrobiology. Specific topics include microbiology, paleontology, astronomy, climate history, planetary studies and space technology. The website is updated daily and free to access, however users must register to use the site. Users may follow links to an image gallery, book reviews, and a downloadable bibliography of research articles on astrobiology.

In this role-playing activity, students physically act out the motions of P-waves and S-waves in class to help them develop an understanding of how these waves work in the Earth. On this Starting Point page, users can access information about the exercise's learning goals, context for use, teaching notes and tips, teaching materials, assessment ideas, references and topics covered.

This exercise opens up discussion on global biodiversity loss. Students count the number of species they can find in a five-minute block of time in both an urban green space and natural, unmanaged forest area. They will begin to recognize low and high biodiversity areas and understand what affects biodiversity loss. This exercise can be completed in one normal two-hour lab session. This SERC Starting Point site includes learning goals, context for use, teaching tips, assessment, and references.

This Ology game site contains rules and a board for a board game dealing with extinction, particularly the modern biodiversity crisis. The players need to read endangered species facts from the board to answer questions on the spaces that they land in so that they can progress. Users can follow links to what to do and materials needed for the game.

This web article discusses the history of evolutionary genetics. The article highlights important contributors such as Sewall Wright and Dobzhansky as well as current ideas in evolutionary genetics. From this webpage, users can read and download the article and follow links to other useful websites.

This laboratory activity gives an example of the creativity required when teaching non-native rock types. In order to study igneous and metamorphic rocks in central Florida (a huge area consisting solely of sedimentary rock), geology students examined building stones in downtown St. Petersburg. Each student picked a particular rock type used in a particular way (structure, decorative facade, etc.), performed geologic tests on it, read up on its properties, history, and uses, and prepared a paper on it. Part of the way through the project, the entire class held a walking tour, during which each students' building (and its stones) were visited, and the student studying that type of stone told the class what they had found out about it. Building on this context of use, this website describes learning goals, teaching notes and materials, methods of assessment, and additional reference and resource links for this field lab.

This article written for the Maryland Geological Survey discusses the most common stones produced in Maryland quarries. Descriptions of the stones include, not only geologic explanations, but also their history and famous places in which the stones are used.

The Cornell University's Geoscience Information System Project is a major initiative that targets to develop a comprehensive Geoscience Information System for the geosciences Building the Digital Earth is part of that project. This website is a great interactive site containing a great wealth of digital geological and geographical information. Users can access information regarding the Digital Earth project, an interactive mapping tool, data sets and metadata. Users can also access the Discover Earth project, an interactive tool designed to help students learn about a variety of earth science topics. There students can participate in variety of activities dealing with earthquakes, volcanoes, topography, plate tectonics and sea level change. The site also contains links to java applets GEOID, QUEST, virtual experiments and interactive 3D graphics. This is a resource with wide variety of digital data and resources.

The Burd Run Interdisciplinary Watershed Research Laboratory at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania (SU) is a cooperative effort among 13 faculty from the Departments of Geography-Earth Science, Biology, and Teacher Education. The goal of the laboratory is to provide intensive undergraduate field training through collection and analysis of related hydrologic, geologic, biologic, and geographic data from a single watershed, establish a comprehensive statistical and spatial watershed database using a geographic information system, use the accumulated data for student investigations in a wide variety of environmentally related courses, and facilitate similar approaches at other institutions. The project involves equipment acquisition; continuous monitoring of hydrology, water quality, and meteorology; and data collection and analysis in various undergraduate courses. This website is the homepage for the Burd Run Interdisciplinary Watershed Research Laboratory. Users can follow links to a project summary, watershed description and data, GIS data, research projects, curricular material, articles and maps and photos related to the laboratory.

In this activity, students write an essay on the history of scientific discoveries in the field of dinosaur paleontology. The essays are then evaluated via Calibrated Peer Review. On this Starting Point page, users can access information about the exercise's learning goals, context for use, teaching notes and tips, teaching materials, assessment ideas, references and topics covered.

At this website, the Chemistry Learning and Support Studios offers directions for how to use Calibrated Peer Review (CPR). The site links to the CPR homepage (http://cpr.molsci.ucla.edu) for helpful handouts and white paper and FAQ information. They also provide information regarding how to use CPR in the classroom, upcoming CPR workshops, and tips for instructors. Users can also access a Power Point and streaming video overview of CPR.