In this activity, the teacher will construct a "comet" from ingredients that closely resemble the substances which make up a real comet. A list of ingredients, materials, and instructions are provided. Students can watch the comet as it melts, releasing jets of carbon dioxide and becoming pitted with craters in much the same way as a real one. Full description.

This website contains class notes from a 100 level Calculus course at University of British Columbia. The site outlines the use of differential equations and solutions in the context of population growth. The lecture notes contain questions for consideration, detailed explanation of necessary equations and additional resources on the topic. Full description.

This PowerPoint presentation addresses research on the thinking and learning processes of students and how increased knowledge of these processes can be used to structure lectures in a manner that will change the way students learn. It covers methods for course redesign, classroom assessment techniques, levels of learning and goals in general education courses. Among other things, it was found that ... Full description.

The Wildland Fire Management RD&A gathered statistics from the Wildland Fire Management Decision Support System (WFDSS) and other sources to build a comparative summary of the 2011 and 2012 fire seasons. (The comparison only included federal fires occurring on federal lands throughout each fiscal year.) The purpose of this information is to illustrate potential contributing environmental factors ... Full description.

The goal of this presentation is to introduce effective questions and provide evidence-based information to build an understanding of science related to the Marcellus Shale, a black shale formation extending deep underground from Ohio and West Virginia northeast into Pennsylvania and southern New York. Recent technological advances and elevated natural gas pricing has made extraction very attractive ... Full description.

This demonstration introduces the concept of water phases and cycling to younger students through observation, drawing, and writing. They will be able to explain how the Earth's water supply is recycled, form a hypothesis as to how/why the water cycle works, and use writing and drawing to explain how the cycle works. Full description.

This PowerPoint presentation on the fundamentals of wind tunnel testing provides ideas for sample experiments; explanations of lift, drag, governing equations, how to make measurements, flow visualization techniques, and types of wind tunnels; and reasons for testing in wind tunnels. Full description.

These demonstrations are designed to help students develop a conceptual understanding of geophysical principles. The concepts covered in these demonstrations include rheology, seismic waves, reflection, standing waves, velocity, earthquakes, Earth density, magnetic field, resonance, precession, the shadow zone, and Curie temperature. Each demonstration provides background information and a complete ... Full description.

This presentation of digital images illustrates the origins of the glacial record in New York. It is designed for classroom use, and contains narrative for each slide, images of glacial features in New York, classic examples of glacial features from around the country, and diagrams of glacial processes. Full description.

This easily built classroom apparatus is ideal for gaining a better understanding of how earthquakes work and how they are recorded. The apparatus consists of a heavy object that is dragged steadily with an elastic cord. Although pulled with a constant velocity, the heavy object repeatedly slides and then stops. A small vibration sensor, attached to a computer display, graphically monitors this motion, ... Full description.