1) What do you think it means for a fossil resource to be "abused"?

2) What's the issue with fossil hunting on federal land (such as National Parks)? Explain what your interpretation of the conflict is.

3) Do you think commercial dealers and scientists can work together? How? Is this a good idea?

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This is a JiTT exercise in which students apply introductory-level macroeconomic analysis to the question of how large the stimulus package put forward to Congress in early 2009 needed to be to close the recessionary gap facing the U.S. economy at that time. In particular, this exercise asks students to bring together the concepts of potential and actual GDP, recessionary gaps, fiscal policy, spending and taxing multipliers, and effects of changes in aggregate spending on employment and output.

1) How are zircons formed?

2) Which of the following statements describes relative geologic dating?
a) the Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus rex went extinct at the same time
b) dinosaurs came later than horseshoe crabs
c) the southern Atlantic Ocean began forming 20 million years after Pangaea split apart
d) the oldest piece of Atlantic Ocean crust is ~135 million years old, while the oldest piece of Pacific Ocean crust is ~165 million years old
e) orangutans separated from the hominid lineage 14 million years ago

3) Which of the following statements describes absolute geologic dating?
a) the Triceratops evolved after the Stegosaurus
b) the dinosaurs died out 60 million years before humans split from chimps
c) gorillas evolved before chimps
d) the northern Atlantic Ocean formed before the southern Atlantic Ocean
e) the Ice Ages ended 10,000 years ago, before the Cambrian Explosion ~545 million years ago

4) Why are zircons the most reliable timepiece we have for looking at Earth's early history?

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A "Just in Time Teaching" question about he scientific method with follow-up class room activities and an exam question.

Provenance: Zebra Canyon, Utah. Photo by Diane Greer; used with permission.
Reuse: If you wish to use this item outside this site in ways that exceed fair use (see http://fairuse.stanford.edu/) you must seek permission from its creator.
Formative assessment questions using a classroom response system ("clickers") can be used to reveal students' spatial understanding. Students are shown this diagram and instructed to click in the box where they expect to find the same layer as the one labeled with a dot. Click on the image to see a larger version.

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This is an interactive powerpoint lecture on the science of electricity followed by a laboratory investigation where students dissect a disposable camera.

The purpose of this exercise is to learn how to think about gravity, learn about scientific methodology, and transition from the Aristotelian to Newtonian to Einsteinian understanding of gravity.

The purpose of this exercise is to learn how to think about gravity, learn about scientific methodology, and transition from the Aristotelian to the Newtonian understanding of gravity.

A presentation for more advanced students who already have an understanding of personas and cognitive walkthroughs. Good for introducing gender-inclusive design.

This activity is an introduction to the concept of levers, the classes, and their parts using the musculoskeletal system.

Lecture Objective: Introduce students to the super simple Solow model. By the end of the lesson, students should be able to identify inputs to growth, solve for the steady state, and identify the factors that lead to conditional convergence.

The lesson incorporates a number of MRU’s videos about the Solow model and conditional convergence from our Principles of Macroeconomics video course. We also mix in discussion prompts, exercises, practice questions, graphs and charts, and pre- and post-class assignments. Finally, we provide supplementary resources such as additional data sources, relevant articles and blog posts, an episode of Planet Money, and even an interview with Robert Solow himself.

Lecture Objective: Students are able to identify incentives and factors that increase the production of ideas, and list the costs and benefits of using patents, prizes, and subsidies to increase idea creation.

The lesson incorporates a number of MRU’s videos about the economics of ideas from our Principles of Macroeconomics video course, as well as a TED-talk on the topic. We also mix in discussion prompts, exercises, practice questions, graphs and charts, and pre- and post-class assignments. Finally, we provide supplementary resources such as additional data sources, relevant articles and blog posts, a few episodes of Planet Money, and even an interview with Robert Solow himself.

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What is Marginal Revolution University (MRU)?

Many of us can remember our first great economics teacher who fundamentally changed how we see the world. At MRU, we try and deliver that experience to millions worldwide through video.

Founded as a nonprofit in 2012 by George Mason University economics professors Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok, MRU is building the world’s largest online library of free economics education videos -- currently weighing in at more than 800 videos.

A short activity using goldenrod copy paper as an indicator to introduce neutralization reactions. Students describe what they beleive happens during this reaction.

This JiTT exercise uses a real-life example to pose a question to students about the nature of "rationality" as typically used in economics. In this case, the focus is on fixed vs. marginal costs and the use of marginal analysis by economists to make "rational" economic decisions.

In this activity, a six-foot length of nylon rope is suspended at both ends to model a mathematical curve known as the hyperbolic cosine. In a write-pair-share activity, students are asked to make a conjecture concerning the nature of the curve and then embark on a guided discovery in which they attempt to determine a precise mathematical description of the curve using function notation.

These exercises target student misconceptions about how to properly measure voltage and current in simple DC circuits by letting them investigate different meter arrangements without fear of damaging equipment. These activities also are designed to lead to other investigations about simple DC circuits.

Included in the activity description
Metacognitive components of the activity
Describing one's thoughts to another person requires the problem-solver to listen and attend to their own thoughts as well. The questions and clarifications that the listener describes is yet another window into the problem-solver's thinking.
Metacognitive goals for this activity:
Promote reflective thinking, communication skills, better reasoning, listening skills, and better problem-solving and conceptual understanding.
Assessing students' metacognition
There have been several studies of this instructional strategy. I have used it in my own instruction of mathematics and science for more than 25 years.

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