Earth Science Extras (ESE2)
Module 2: Stories of Humans and the Earth
This module examines areas of study where humans and the earth interact, including concepts of sustainablity, erosion, geochemistry of ore deposits and pollutant migration, surface and ground water movement, use of geochemical fingerprinting and statistics to tell stories of archaeology. It includes diescussion of Native American perspectives on science. Some lessons of this module presume a familiarity with ideas presented in Earth Science Essentials (ESE1) which can be accessed from the Earth Science for Teachers homepage
Individual lessons will open in a new page--simply close the page when done and return here.
- Earth Science and Sustainability
- Soils Review and Processes: Lecture
- Soils Review: Textures, Horizons, Orders
- Soils in Stratigraphy, Climate, and Construction Engineering
- Agriculture and Erosion--Discussion Prompts
- Problems in Wind Erosion-Interpreting Published Research: Interactive Text
- Landscape Review with Human Impacts, Effect of Dams: Interactive Text
- Native American Perspectives in the Science Classroom--Discussion Prompts
- Pattern Recognition, Prediction, and the Ojibwe Lunar Calendar--Discussion Prompts
- People and Climate: Modeling and Impacts, with discussion prompts: Interactive Text
- Readings: Indigenous Perspectives on Climate Change--Interactive Text
- Note: Many of the lessons above depend on you doing online research followed by discussion. If you are working through these lessons on your own, make sure you do your research well and try to find someone who will do the same with whom you can discuss the issues.
- Note: Many of the lessons below build on ideas in Modules 2 and 3 of Earth Science Essentials (ESE1), and also require a familiarity with contour maps and how to read and interpret them. Many of the lessons below require you to do significant data processing and graphing outside of the html page. For example, one of the lessons is an on-your-own field trip, and also you can't just 'watch and read through" the porosity and permeability lab--but must record and graph the data, interpretting what it means. This lab includes watching a couple of videos of me doing experiments--you need to record data and do significant calculations which will take at least a couple of hours. It is possible to 'cheat' the lab and not do these calculations, but don't do that as it defeats the whole purpose of getting an education that makes you a better person and better prepared for life and learning.
- Water and Water Issues in Earth Science
- Surface and Ground Water: Lecture
- Surface Water Hydrology: Interactive Text
- Red River Discharge Field Trip: Interactive Text and Field Report Guidelines
- Surface Water Hydrology: Recurrence Interval Graphing Lab
- Ground Water Hydrology: Interactive Text
- Porosity and Permeability: Lab
- Problems in Pollutant Migration: Interactive Text
- Water Rights: Online Reading and Discussion Prompts, Ogallala, Colorado R., Native American perspectives
- Problems in Salt Water Incursion-Human and Climate Effects: Interactive Text, with discussion prompts
- Online Investigation of Environmental Law
- Water Quality Exercises - Part 1, A Survey of EPA Water Quality Criteria: Interactive Text
- Water Quality Exercises - Part 2, Application of Water Quality Criteria to a Real-World Problem: Interactive Text
- Note: The lessons below build on lessons in Earth Science Essentials (ESE1), including ideas at http://EarthSci4Teachers/ESE/gold_pollution_farmland-1.html and http://EarthSci4Teachers/ESE/gold_pollution_farmland-2.html
- Geochemistry: Ore Deposits and the Environment
- Chemistry and Phase Diagrams in Geology: Lecture
- Phase Diagrams in Aqueous Geochemistry: Interactive Text
- Aqueous Geochemistry and Ore Deposits: Interactive Text
- People and Resources: Ore formation and distribution, economics and intangibles, with discussion prompts--Interactive Text)
- Isotopes and Atoms: Lecture
- Isotopes, Geothermometers, and Climate: Interactive Text
- Follow the Carbon--Geochemical Cycling: Interactive Text
- Remote Sensing-Examination of Economic and Environmental Papers: Interactive Text
- Note: The lab in the lessons below require you to capture a data table and graph the data in various ways in a spreadsheet (which you have to figure out how to do). Be prepared to do this, rather than simply clicking through the answers which would be a complete waste of time since the answers have no intrinsic value or meaning in themselves. It is the practice of graphing and interpretting graphs that is the point of the lesson.
- Geochemistry: Statistics, and Geochemical Fingerprinting
- Minnesota Lakes Geochemistry and Statistics: Lab
- Geochemical Fingerprinting and Statistics: Lecture
- Statistics, the Colossi at Memnon, and Forensic Geochemistry: Interactive Text
- Otzi the Ice Man and other Geochemical Fingerprinting Puzzles: Interactive Text
7/21/2023--pictures and text copyright Russ Colson