Using Carbon Isotopes in Astrobiology: Origin of Life and beyond part of Teach the Earth:Teaching Activities
Phoebe Cohen, Williams College
Carbon isotopes are used in many different ways by scientists to reconstruct Earth's past. For example, we can use carbon isotopes to determine when life first evolved on Earth, and to learn more about what ...

Creating a Partial Pressure Diagram for the Cu-CO2-O2-H2O System part of Teach the Earth:Teaching Activities
Terri Woods, East Carolina University
Students will be guided through the procedure for creating a partial-pressure diagram in the low-temperature system Cu-CO2-O2-H2O system for the minerals cuprite, tenorite, native copper, azurite, and malachite. ...

Environmental Geochemistry Class Project part of Hydrogeology:Hydrogeology, Soils, 2013:Activities
Carey Gazis, Central Washington University
This is a inquiry-driven class research project on a local environmental geochemistry question that is accomplished during three-hour laboratory sessions each week. Students are divided into groups that will share ...

Soil Ecology Lab part of Hydrogeology:Hydrogeology, Soils, 2013:Activities
Becky Ball, Arizona State University at the West Campus
Students collect soil samples from places of interest around campus and run a series of basic soil analyses to make conclusions about how soil fertility relates to the biological community and human management.

"ZirChron" Virtual Zircon Analysis App part of Petrology:Teaching Examples
Mark Schmitz, Boise State University
This web-based app is designed to help students evaluate a radioisotopic age and its uncertainty based upon the collection of data, the application of statistics, and the interpretation of geological and analytical ...

Marine Oxygen Isotopes and Changes in Global Ice Volume part of Climate Change:Activities
Ben Laabs, North Dakota State University-Main Campus
Students explore marine oxygen-isotope data from cores collected by the Ocean Drilling Program. The activity gives students access to real paleoclimate data, develops their skills in organizing and graphing data, ...

Monitoring Lead in an Urban Community Garden part of Service Learning:Activities
Jennifer Latimer, Indiana State University
Each spring, students in a 300-level field course collect samples from urban community gardens to monitor soil lead concentrations.

Introduction to Carbonate Equilibrium part of Hydrogeology:Hydrogeology, Soils, 2013:Activities
Michael Stapleton, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania
The activity asks students to make observations about what occurs when two effervescent antacid tablets are placed into a beaker of water. The Students work together in groups. There are three parts to the ...

Exploring Cation Exchange Capacity through the use of the Soil Survey part of Hydrogeology:Hydrogeology, Soils, 2013:Activities
Scott Werts, Winthrop University
This assignment allows students to utilize real soil data/information presented online to learn how the some of the physical properties of the soil influence the chemistry of the soil and health of the ecosystem.

Calcium (Ca) availability to ecosystems: Weathering of limestone, apatite, and Ca-plagioclase (anorthite) part of Hydrogeology:Hydrogeology, Soils, 2013:Activities
Abir Biswas, The Evergreen State College
Sequence of laboratory activities to develop familiarity with geochemistry bench laboratory experimental methods; demonstration of different weathering rates of different Ca-bearing minerals; connection between ...

Modeling Exsolution (and Perthite Formation) as an Example of Complex-System Behavior part of Complex Systems:Teaching Activities
Dave Mogk, Montana State University-Bozeman; Barb Dutrow, Louisiana State University
Students use a physical model, computer simulation, examples from the natural world, visualizations, and overarching thought experiments to explore this phenomenon. Exsolution embodies attributes of a complex ...

Chemistry of Cave Formation part of Introductory Courses:Activities
Carol Ormand Ph.D., Carleton College
Students investigate what happens to calcium carbonate in an aqueous solution when the pH of the water changes.

Half Life Model part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Interactive Lecture Demonstrations:Examples
David N. Steer (steer@uakron.edu)and Kyle Gray (krg10@uakron.edu), University of Akron This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. GEO-0506518.
While working in groups to facilitate peer tutoring, students manipulate a hands-on, physical model to better comprehend the nature of half life. Students use the model to simulate the decay of radionuclides. The ...

Extending Mineralogy by Electron Microprobe Analysis part of Petrology:Teaching Examples
John Goodge, University of Minnesota-Duluth
This lab is designed to be a highly interactive lab session for a petrology course, where instructors provide a minimal level of essential background and then the entire group works together to explore mineral ...

Calculating a Simple Phase Diagram: Diamond=Graphite part of Petrology:Teaching Examples
Dexter Perkins, University of North Dakota-Main Campus
This is a very short exercise designed to get students to understand how the Gibbs energy equation is used to calculate the location of a reaction in P-T space. I use it in-class and have students work on it in ...