Students in an area remote from igneous and metamorphic rocks wrote papers on the properties of locally used building stones and gave a walking tour in which they presented their results.

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This assignment, depending on the level and depth of implementation, seeks to challenge students by asking them to look beyond "greenwashed" advertisements and buzzwords to grapple with what sustainability means, whether it can be achieved, and what kinds of questions communities must confront in a search for sustainability.

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Educators with an interest in hands-on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines will receive introductory instructions on how to design, engineer and build a fully functional underwater ROV.

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Facies models are often abstract and difficult for undergraduate students to fully understand. As a result, they tend to memorize idealized diagrams from text books that can be reproduced for an exam, then forgotten.

The purpose of this exercise is to help students understand a model by "building" it "piece by piece" and relating the various components to concepts they learned earlier in the semester, such as energy relationships, base level, facies, facies associations, and Walther's Law. It is designed to begin as an in-class discussion led by the instructor using a black or white board, followed by group collaboration, out-of-class exercises, and concluding with a formal examination.

The example provided here is for a prograding shoreface system; however, the same approach can be applied to any depositional system.

Students build a stratigraphic column for a pre-selected area through the compilation of a series of individual research projects. Students are required to conduct introductory field research as well as a literature search to become "experts" on a selected stratigraphic unit. In addition to a final report, students will present their information at an outcrop on an end-of-semester field trip.

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The center of this sequence of assignments is a collaborative, "New Media" writing project that involves publishing to a wiki a synthesis of knowledge about how humans inhabit places. Writers work in groups with others interested in a common sub-topic and develop information related to local places that local audiences who are invited to join the wiki may use.

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The purpose of this exercise is to guide students through the process of constructing a stratigraphic sequence based on understanding relationships between the production of space and filling that space with sediment.

In this activity, students look at how sediments compact as they are buried in a subduction zone and explore how rapid burial can lead to increased water pressure.

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The assignment pre-tests student understanding of the CCD, lysocline, calcareous ooze, and the deposition of marine sediments near mid-ocean ridges and ocean basins.

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There is growing body of evidence to support that students who directly experience authentic scientific research are more likely to continue onto advanced degrees and careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). In an effort to introduce more students to the benefits of scientific research we have drawn on an ongoing research project aimed at understanding how Corals Respond to the Environment (CRE) to develop an interdisciplinary laboratory course based on Authentic Research Experiences (ARE). A small cohort of undergraduate students enrolled in a semester-long course, entitled CREARE, perform biochemical experiments in the laboratory, analyze environmental data by R statistical software and prepared a report modeled after a research manuscript to present their work. The impact of CREARE on student learning gains and attitudes towards science is being measured, as is the impact of CREARE on participants' career choices and retention in STEM. This multidisciplinary research program addresses the impact of climate change on the health of a critically endangered coral species, ultimately leading to a better stewardship of this invaluable resource. Furthermore, CREARE offers a unique experience for students, one that may serve as a model for the development of more research-based courses, leading to improved retention in our STEM departments.

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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 minerals present in a system and nutrient (Ca) availability

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This exercise uses a number of Excel spreadsheets to calculate mineral formulae from compositional (microprobe) data. Numerous computational models are presented for most mineral groups (e.g. amphiboles, pyroxenes, micas), and students must critically evaluate which of these models is most applicable. Stoichiometry and charge balance are used to determine ferric/ferrous ratios--which is important for further applications such as geothermobarometry. Students are also asked directed questions about: compositional variation of the rock-forming mineral groups; representative complete, limited, and coupled solid solutions; site occupancy of major elements, as determined by the various computational models used; graphical representation of the calculated mineral formulae; and the composition and significance of certain varieties of these rock-forming minerals are addressed.

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In this lab exercise, students examine one or more metamorphic rocks and use various approaches to estimating and calculating the pressure-temperature conditions at which the rocks equilibrated. The exercise involves hand sample description, petrography, interpretation of phase diagrams, and calculations of a phase diagram or P-T conditions from given equations.

This in class activity allows students to calculate rates of change from graphs of glacial-interglacial temperatures and CO2 and modern temperatures and CO2.

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This is a spreadsheet that I use in petrology to walk students through calculating Rb-Sr isochrons and talking about isotope heterogeneity and sampling at various scales. The example exercise is the Tuolumne intrusive series. The file, available for download below, contains workbooks (see different tabs) with example isochrons and a spreadsheet of data for the homework problems.

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This short exercise refreshes students memories about converting chemical analyses to mineral formulas, and mineral formulas to oxide and element weight percents.

Students convert between formulae and weight percents, showing all work.
The problem set handout has enough introductory material for students to be able to complete the problems without any instructor lecturing or textbook reading.

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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 groups.

Besides calculating the location of one reactions, students also have to think a bit about the significance of volume and entropy with regard to mineral stability.

This exercise is very straightforward EXCEPT that students get the units (bars, Kbar, cc, etc.) confused.

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In this lab activity, students learn about the relationships between sea level and glaciers during glacial and interglacial periods. First the students need to calculate the maximum sea level rise assuming all water stored in glaciers and ice caps will melt. Then, they are asked to calculate the ice sheet distribution during the last glacial maxima based on the information that sea level dropped by 125 m.

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In this lab, students are walked through a hands-on exercise converting digital numbers to at sensor brightness temperatures using Level 1B Landsat ETM+ thermal imagery acquired over Tallahassee, Florida, USA on November 06, 1999.