This module introduces students who are already familiar with GIS to doing comparative analyses with large-scale community science (often called citizen science) data sets. Students will explore how we can use community science data to examine the spread and distribution of invasive species in different geographic locations. In the final step, students will identify different invasive species and determine if community science data accurately maps the threat these species pose.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Instruction on use of Fisher statistics to determine the mean and 95% confidence interval of geological vectors, lines or planes, with examples, problems and an Excel spreadsheet for computation.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This document includes two activities related to earthquake base isolation. Learners explore earthquake hazards and damage to buildings by constructing model buildings and subjecting the buildings to ground vibration (shaking similar to earthquake vibrations) on a small shake table. Base isolation a powerful tool for earthquake engineering. It is meant to enable a building to survive a potentially devastating seismic impact through a proper initial design or subsequent modifications. The buildings are constructed by two- or three-person learner teams.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This is an Excel spreadsheet and graph that illustrates standard "batch" and Rayleigh decarbonation models and how they can be used to detect fluid infiltration during metamorphism of carbonates. It makes a good lecture demonstration, but with a few modifications can be turned into a laboratory exercise. Key variables are "hotlinked" directly into the batch and Rayleigh models so students can adjust them to get a feel for the influence of different model parameters. The included carbon isotope data are from marbles in the Jervois region, central Australia (Cartwright et al., 1997). Oxygen isotope data are also included in the spreadsheet.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

A Beautiful Mind won the Academy Award for best picture in 2001 and it chronicles the life of John Nash who is noted for his pioneering work on general equilibrium theory. This scene is a great way to discuss self-interest and contrast it with the social optimum. Nash's work has augmented Adam Smith's "invisible hand" theory by extending how self-interest is modeled. This scene is must viewing even though the scene itself contains flawed economics (explaining why the scene is NOT a Nash equilibrium helps students learn the concept in greater depth).

Students are given the task of predicting where parasequence boundaries would exist within a vertical section of the Blackhawk Formation, Utah. This activity challenges students to apply their knowledge of bedforms in order to interpret the facies they observe. The students work in groups of two as they make their observations. The vertical section consists of four main outcrops to be observed by the students. After making their observations and interpretations of these four outcrops, the students then make predictions of what should be found up section. Students begin down section by observing the lowest section of the four outcrops. The students make observations about lithology, grain size, sedimentary structures and trace fossils. After recording their observations in their field notebook the class gathers for a discussion. Students are called on randomly to discuss what they observed. The class creates a group stratigraphic column on a white board and includes their observations to the right of the drawn profile. They are then asked to interpret what facies these observations represent. The students defend their interpretations and, as a group, agree upon an interpretation. The facies interpretation is then added to the white board and the group moves to the next outcrop up section. After observing, describing and interpreting each of the four outcrops the students are challenged to use all of the information gathered thus far to predict what facies should be observed further up section. This exercise provides an opportunity for the students to make and defend observations and interpretations. They also get a sense for the importance of Walther's Law and how it relates to sequence stratigraphy.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

In this exercise, students will use the Neotoma database and ArcGIS Online to create a distribution map of modern collection localities of beetle taxa associated with an assemblage of fossil beetles from the Conklin Quarry site in eastern Iowa.

a data rich exercise to help students discover how organisms move in response to climate change

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This resource consists of a Java applet and expository text. The applet is a simulation of Bertrand's experiment: a random chord on a circle The event of interest is whether the length of the chord is larger than the length of the inscribed equilateral triangle. Three models for generating the random chord can be used.

This resource consists of a Java applet and expository text. The applet illustrates Bayesian estimation of the probability of heads for a coin. The prior beta distribution, true probability of heads, and the sample size can be specified. The applet shows the posterior beta distribution.

This resource consists of a Java applet and expository text. The applet simulates a random sample from a beta distribution, and computes standard point estimates of the left and right parameters. The bias and mean square error are also computed.

This resource consists of a Java applet and expository text. The applet simulates Bernoulli trials in terms of random points on a timeline. The random variables of interest are the number of successes and the proportion of successes. The number of trials and the probability of success can be varied. This applet illustrates the law of large numbers, the central limit theorem, and the binomial distribution.

This resource consists of a Java applet and expository text. The applet simulates the bivariate normal distribution. The means are set at 0, but the standard deviations and the correlation can be varied. Simulated points from the distribution are shown as dots in a scatterplot.

This resource consists of a Java applet and expository text. The Java applet illustrates the bivariate uniform distribution on three types of regions: a square, a circle, and a triangle. Simulated points from the distribution are shown as dots in a scatterplot.

Storms can have devastating impacts on coastal communities. Typically, tropical storms like hurricanes get the most attention, but there are other types of storms that occur at more northern latitudes that can be just as destructive. For example, in January of 2018, Winter Storm Grayson caused more than 300,000 power outages and $1.1 billion in damage, and resulted in 22 confirmed casualties along the eastern seaboard. In this module, students will learn how barometric pressure changes during a storm, analyze the effect of storms on oceanographic variables, classify a storm as a bomb cyclone, and compare a bomb cyclone to a hurricane. Ultimately students will use their quantitative reasoning skills to manipulate and visualize data during storms in the northeastern United States.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

In Bootstrap:Data Science, students form their own questions about the world around them, analyze data using multiple methods, and write a research paper about their findings. The module covers functions, looping and iteration, data visualization, linear regression, and more. Social studies, science, and business teachers can utilize this module to help students make inferences from data. Math teachers can use this module to introduce foundational concepts in statistics, and it is aligned to state and national standards.

Preparation requires lecture and/or reading material on stereonet methods in plotting small circles, and on making stereonet rotations along small circles. In lab, students are given a description of the problem, along with a schematic cross section on the blackboard showing how the dip of the eastern fold limb is not constrained, but how the orientation of cross beds in an unoriented core are the only data available to help constrain the dip of the fold limb. Students are then given a while (~20 minutes) to think about and discuss how a solution can be made. An open class discussion follows, and then I guide the students through the answer. An alternative method is to let the students take a week to think about and solve the problem with little or no help.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Question In many high-grade metamorphic belts around the world, rocks were buried 20-30 km beneath the surface during deformation and metamorphism. How deep is that relative to the cruising altitude of a typical commercial airplane flying across the country?

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Question
Over the last 70 million years or so, the Hawaiian Hot Spot has been pumping out lava, a total of about 775,000 km3 worth. As the Pacific Plate has moved over the hot spot, the volcanic peaks and plateaus of the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain have formed. If all of that lava had erupted in California, how deeply would California be buried in lava?

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Question Suppose that you are building a new house. It will take about 90 kg (198 pounds) of copper to do the electrical wiring. In order to get the copper in the first place, someone needs to mine solid rock that contains copper, extract the copper minerals, throw away the waste rock, and smelt the copper minerals to produce copper metal. Rocks mined for copper typically contain only very small percentages of copper -- about 0.7% in the case of most of the big porphyry copper deposits of the world. How much rock would someone have to mine in order to extract enough copper to wire your new house?

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Question In 1983, an eruption began at Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii that has proved to be the largest and longest-lived eruption since records began in 1823. Lava has poured out of the volcano at an average rate of about 160 million m3 per year. To put those flow rates into perspective, let's suppose that the volcano was erupting directly into your classroom. At these flow rates, how long would it take to fill your classroom with lava?

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)