23 September 2017 Earth Science Sites of the Week
Francek, Mark
Hello everyone,
This week’s 23 September 2017 Earth Science Sites of the Week feature the following resources:
Editor’s Picks: 1) Global Paleogeography Maps, 2) Turbidities and Graded Bedding, 3) ****Earth Winds Superimposed on a Globe (Interactive), 4) Video: Dust Devil in Norway, 5) *Video: Vertical Sorting / Graded Bedding Demonstration, 5) Why Has Date Changed for Start of Spring? 6) Learning Science through Inquiry Video Series, 7) 5 E Model for Lesson Delivery.
Geology and Geography
1. Global Paleogeography Maps
2. A Bucket for a Pot Hole
3. Turbidities and Graded Bedding
4. A Peek at the Past Fossil Patterns: Gradualism and Punctuated Equilibria
5. Patterns in Time the Staggered Origins of Vertebrate Fossils in Familiar Time
Weather
1. Earth Winds Superimposed on a Globe (Interactive)
2. Video: Dust Devil in Norway
Water
1. Video: Vertical Sorting / Graded Bedding Demonstration
2. USGS Education- Learn About Water
3. Archive: Lionfish Reddit “Ask Us Anything”
Space
1. Meet the Women Who Just Made American Space History
2. Why Has Date Changed for Start of spring?
General
1. What Makes a Genius?
2. WSW Construction Feb 1 2017
3. Science Can't Afford to be Slowed Down by Unrealistic Standards While Politics Runs Around the House Naked
Environment
1. The Deforestation of Madagascar and its Similarities to America- Matt Sargent
2. Plastic Oceans
Teaching
1. Learning Science Through Inquiry Video Series
2.
Computers
1. Diehard Coders Just Rescued NASA’S Earth Science Data
Inspiration
1. Train of Life
Geology and Geography
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Site Name |
Global Paleogeography Maps |
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Site URL |
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Site Author |
Ron Blakey |
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Suggested By |
James Ebert |
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Description |
“Paleogeographic maps have multiple uses. Paleogeography is a synthesis and can only be accomplished from extensive geologic data. Therefore, paleogeographic maps portray immense amounts of data in a single view. This may be their single greatest value. They also show this data in a way that is interpretable to non-geologists. When used in time sequence, they show trend and pattern through geologic time. They readily display distribution of ancient geologic features at the surface of Earth. They teach both geologists and non-geologists broad patterns of Earth history. They help satisfy our curiosity concerning what the Earth used to look like – they educate and stimulate.” |
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Site Name |
A Bucket for a Pot Hole |
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Site URL |
http://www.earthlearningidea.com/PDF/259_Bucket_pothole.pdf |
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Site Author |
Earth Learning Idea |
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Suggested By |
Virginia Malone |
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Description |
“An activity that uses a little math to model the formation of a pothole. The identification of assumptions strengthens this activity. The instructions are easy to follow. If you do not have buckets, gallon milk containers with the tops cut down should work as well.” |
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Site Name |
Turbidities and Graded Bedding |
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Site URL |
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2016/04/turbidites-and-graded-bedding.html |
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Site Author |
David K. Lynch |
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Suggested By |
Zach Miller |
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Description |
“A turbidite is a sedimentary formation resulting when sudden underwater landslides send a slurry of gravel, sand and silt down a slope. As the mixture reaches a nearly level seafloor, the flow slows down and rocks begin to settle to the bottom. The first to settle are the largest followed successively by smaller and smaller grains until finally only the smallest, silty particles settle on top. This leads to graded bedding, a formation in which the particles becomes systematically smaller with increasing height.” |
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Site Name |
A Peek at the Past Fossil Patterns: Gradualism and Punctuated Equilibria |
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Site URL |
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Site Author |
ENSI- Evolution and the Nature of Science Institutes |
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Suggested By |
Donna Antonucci |
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Description |
“Two sets of simulated fossils (caminalcules) are provided as cutouts. Students arrange them on two time scales. One set produces a visual example of “gradualism,” the other shows “punctuated equilibria.” |
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Site Name |
Patterns in Time the Staggered Origins of Vertebrate Fossils in Familiar Time |
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Site URL |
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Site Author |
Larry Flammer |
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Suggested By |
Larry Flammer |
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Description |
“PART 1: Students gradually build a realistic sense of deep geological time from familiar linear analogs, e.g., calendars, millimeters and football fields, relative to their short lifetimes. They learn that if we equate 10 years of their life to 1mm, a million years will equal a football field, and 500 million years will equal 30 miles – all distances with which they are familiar. PART 2: They also learn to associate the earliest member of each group of vertebrates with the geologic time of its emergence, on their “familiar scale” of relative distances from their school. PART 3: The stair-step pattern of emergence revealed by this activity leads naturally to an inquiry for an explanation, with the hypothesis that each group (class) originated from a preceding group. In order to test this idea, students are guided to seek further clues, e.g., the possession of common features, with a few new features added with each new class, and some of the many transitional fossils showing gradual changes of features. And they find them.” |
Weather
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Site Name |
Earth Winds Superimposed on a Globe (Interactive) |
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Site URL |
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Site Author |
Earth Wind Map |
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Suggested By |
Patrick Prusinowski |
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Description |
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Site Name |
Video: Dust Devil in Norway |
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Site URL |
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Site Author |
Acid-Yo |
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Suggested By |
Jim Ronda |
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Description |
Check out this tornado-like figure of dust whipping through a parking lot and soccer field. |
Water
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Site Name |
Video: Vertical Sorting / Graded Bedding Demonstration |
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Site URL |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k65hPHfiK1w&feature=youtu.be |
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Site Author |
Gazdonian Productions |
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Suggested By |
Tom Gazda |
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Description |
“I just put together this video of vertical sorting/graded bedding from footage I filmed last year.” |
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Site Name |
USGS Education- Learn About Water |
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Site URL |
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Site Author |
USGS |
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Suggested By |
Mike Passow |
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Description |
“Water is one of six science mission areas of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Water's mission is to collect and disseminate reliable, impartial, and timely information that is needed to understand the Nation's water resources.” |
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Site Name |
Archive: Lionfish Reddit “Ask Us Anything” |
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Site URL |
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/mar17/reddit-lionfish.html |
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Site Author |
NOAA |
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Suggested By |
Kelly Drinnen |
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Description |
“In recent years, Indo-Pacific lionfish have been found in coral reefs throughout the southeast Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean. While scientists are unsure exactly how they got there, they believe that people have been dumping unwanted lionfish from home aquariums into the Atlantic Ocean for more than two decades. Because of their voracious appetites, rapid reproduction rate, and lack of natural predators, these invasive lionfish post a serious threat to coral reefs, with potential long-term consequences for native fish communities, habitats, and entire ecosystems. This is your chance to chat with three scientists on what they know about lionfish and what NOAA is doing to address this threat during the March 3, 2017 Reddit Ask Us Anything.” |
Space
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Site Name |
Meet the Women Who Just Made American Space History |
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Site URL |
http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/24/technology/peggy-whitson-nasa-record/index.html |
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Site Author |
Rachel Crane and Lawrence Crook III |
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Suggested By |
Heather Renyck |
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Description |
“In November 2016, Whitson and two other astronauts, from Russia and the European Space Agency, blasted off for the International Space Station to conduct hundreds of experiments in biology, earth science, even how lighting affects the crew.” Read this interesting article about a record-setting 57 year old women astronaut to learn more about her experience in space. |
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Site Name |
Why Has Date Changed for Start of Spring? |
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Site URL |
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Site Author |
Joe Rao |
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Suggested By |
Heather Renyck |
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Description |
Read this interesting article to learn why our seasons are changing in date, and in length. |
General
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Site Name |
What Makes a Genius? |
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Site URL |
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Site Author |
Claudia Kalb |
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Suggested By |
Mike Nolan |
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Description |
“Some minds are so exceptional they change the world. We don’t know exactly why these people soar above the rest of us, but science offers us clues.” Click the link to learn more. |
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Site Name |
Science Can't Afford to be Slowed Down by Unrealistic Standards While Politics Runs Around the House Naked |
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Site URL |
http://www.zmescience.com/science/science-vs-politics-climate-17112016/ |
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Site Author |
ZMEscience |
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Suggested By |
Virginia Malone |
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Description |
“The title pretty much says it all.” |
Environment
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Site Name |
The Deforestation of Madagascar and its Similarities to America- Matt Sargent |
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Site URL |
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Site Author |
Theodore Steinberg |
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Suggested By |
Orven E. Williams “Gene” |
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Description |
“The impacts of deforestation in Madagascar are massive. They include climate change, loss of plant life, but most importantly, and what will be focused on in this blog, soil erosion. What’s most interesting about deforestation in Madagascar is how similar it is to deforestation in America and how similar the environmental effects of abusing the land in Madagascar are to the effects in America.” Read the article to learn more. |
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Site Name |
Plastic Oceans |
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Site URL |
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Site Author |
Plastic Oceans Foundation |
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Suggested By |
Mike Nolan |
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Description |
“A Plastic Ocean documents the newest science, proving how plastics, once they enter the oceans, break up into small particulates that enter the food chain where they attract toxins like a magnet. These toxins are stored in seafood’s fatty tissues, and eventually consumed by us.” |
Teaching
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Site Name |
Getting Students to Remember Steps for a Procedure |
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Site Author |
Art Lieberman |
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Suggested By |
Mark Francek |
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Description |
Are you familiar with the 5 E model of lesson delivery? I love it. It works for a variety of subject areas. Here’s the sequence: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. Let’s just look at the first part, Engage. To engage is to get the learner’s attention by exciting curiosity. This can be done with a simple set of prepared questions or a demonstration. For instance, if you are teaching the idea of viscosity, how about offering 5 different liquids that can be touched? Then, ask students to describe the differences. During the engage portion of the lesson there are no wrong answers. It’s all about the curiosity. This sets them up to be able to understand the content. For more teaching tips, listen to The One Teaching Tip podcast at bit.ly/1tipnow. |
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Site Name |
Learning Science Through Inquiry Video Series |
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Site URL |
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Site Author |
Annenberg Learner |
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Suggested By |
Dawna Schweitzer |
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Description |
“Annenberg Learner's multimedia resources help teachers increase their expertise in their fields and assist them in improving their teaching methods. Many programs are also intended for students in the classroom and viewers at home. All Annenberg Learner videos exemplify excellent teaching.” |
Computer
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Site Name |
Diehard Coders Just Rescued NASA’S Earth Science Data |
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Site URL |
https://www.wired.com/2017/02/diehard-coders-just-saved-nasas-earth-science-data/ |
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Site Author |
Megan Molteni |
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Suggested By |
Chad Wiekierak |
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Description |
Click the link to read an interesting article about two hundred computer coders determined to save important information they believe the Trump administration is deleting off of governmental websites. |
Inspiration
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Site Name |
Train of Life |
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Site URL |
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Site Author |
Humbert and Shirley Fernandez |
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Suggested By |
Bibiana Nowacki |
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Description |
“THIS IS VERY BEAUTIFUL AND I AM HONORED TO HAVE RECEIVED IT. NOW, ON TO YOU MY FRIEND!
At birth we boarded the train and met our parents, and we believe they will always travel on our side.
However, at some station our parents will step down from the train, leaving us on this journey alone.
As time goes by, other people will board the train; and they will be significant i.e. our siblings, friends, children, and even the love of your life.
Many will step down and leave a permanent vacuum. Others will go so unnoticed that we don't realize they vacated their seats.
This train ride will be full of joy, sorrow, fantasy, expectations, hellos, goodbyes, and farewells.
Success consists of having a good relationship with all passengers requiring that we give the best of ourselves.
The mystery to everyone is: We do not know at which station we ourselves will step down. So, we must live in the best way, love, forgive, and offer the best of who we are.
It is important to do this because when the time comes for us to step down and leave our seat empty we should leave behind beautiful memories for those who will continue to travel on the train of life.
I wish you a joyful journey on the train of life. Reap success and give lots of love. More importantly, thank God for the journey. Lastly, I thank you for being one of the passengers on my train. |
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Mark Francek, Interim Chair
Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies,
Teaching Fellow - Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Dow 285 or 296D
Central Michigan University
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859
Phone: (989) 774 7617 Fax: (989) 774-2907
fall 2017 Student Hours: M 11-12, T 2-3, W 11-12, Th 2-3, F 1-2 or by appt.
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