Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Bot Ec: Energy Released in an Earthquake
A magnitude 8.5 earthquake (such as the 1964 Good Friday earthquake in Alaska) releases about 1x1018 joules of energy. The atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima released about 1.5x1013 joules of energy. How many Hiroshima bombs would one...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Bot Ec: Weight of Gold
Let's suppose that you have a shoe box full of water (the box is waterproof, of course). The shoe box weighs about 9 kg (19.8 pounds). Suppose you emptied the box and filled it completely with rock (little or no air space). How much...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Bot Ec: Rate of Lava Flow
In 1983, an eruption began at Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii that has proved to be the largest and longest-lived eruption since records began in 1823. Lava has poured out of the volcano at an average rate of about 160 million m3 per year. To...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Bot Ec: The San Andreas Fault's Rate of Movement
The San Andrea is an active fault zone, marked by frequent earthquake activity. The crust southwest of this strike-slip fault (including Los Angeles) is sliding to the northwest relative to the other side. It is possible to estimate the...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Geo Logic: Dinosaur Trackways
Using GEOLogic questions and puzzles, students associate different dinosaur trackways with their locations and the rock formations containing the trackways based on clues given from various points of view.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Geo Logic: The Big Five Mass Extinctions
Using GEOLogic puzzles, students are asked to match the five largest mass extinction events with their relative dates, approximate duration, and severity based on clues given from various perspectives.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Geo Logic: Lagerstatten and Unique Fossils
With GEOLogic questions, learners are asked to match several unique fossils with the sites and locations where they were found, as well as their geologic age.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Geo Logic: Museums and Their Dinosaur Displays
Using GEOLogic questions, learners match five top museums with two fossils that they have on display based on clues presented from various points of view.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Geo Logic: Terrestrial and Jovian Planets
Through GEOLogic puzzles, learners are given clues about properties about the terrestrial and Jovian planets respectively, and challenged to match the planet with the correct equatorial radius, mean orbital velocity, and period of rotation.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Geo Logic: Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics
Using the skills of a paleontologist, students are asked to match up lecturers with what day and time they teach, and how many students they have based on clues given from several different perspectives. In the second part of the...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Geo Logic: State Fossils
With the use of GEOLogic questions, young scholars are asked to identify states with their respective state fossils, and determine the year in which it was declared, based on clues given from various points of view.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Geo Logic: How Much of the State Is Wet
Using investigation and inquiry skills, students match classmates with their home state, and their states with the area and percentage of area of surface water that they contain, as well as where each of the states rank nationally in...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Geo Logic: The Three Stooges and Their Pet Dinosaurs
With GEOLogic puzzles, students are asked to match each of the Three Stooges with their favorite group and species of dinosaur based on clues given from different perspectives.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Geo Logic: Stream Discharge Rates Rappahannock River Station
Using problem solving methods and GEOLogic questions, students are asked to convert measurements in cubic feet per hour to cubic feet per second, and then match the names of the researchers measuring the flows at a river station with the...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Geo Logic: Volcanologists
With the help of GEOLogic puzzles, students are asked to resolve how many days each of several volcanologists spent at a volcano and what day they started for the volcano.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Question of the Day: Anwr Drilling Policy
Students will examine two policy positions regarding oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The students also determine their viewpoint on the issue and quantitatively analyze the cases for oil drilling in the ANWR...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Cycles of the Sun and Moon
Young scholars download sunrise and sunset data along with moon phase data, and graph these data sets together in a spreadsheet in order to visualize the cycles of the seasons and the moon.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Introduction to Texas Hurricanes
In this activity, students are asked to graph data about some 20th century hurricanes that hit the Texas coastline. For each graph, they are asked several questions about any apparent correlation between the different variables. Students...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Visualizing Topography
This module helps students learn to identify terrain features on topographic maps. Students manipulate animations of hills, valleys, and cliffs to see the terrain from various angles. The module also provides instruction on how to read...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Bottle Biology
This activity book explores science and the environment through soda bottles and other recyclable materials. Sections include bottle basics, decomposition column, kimchee (fermentation), soil meditations, predator-prey column, TerrAqua...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Intimate Strangers: Unseen Life on Earth
This PBS documentary provides an overview of the microbial world and offers an exciting glimpse into the field of microbiology. Meet scientists from around the world investigating the microbial world in diverse locations, from a...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Winogradsky Column Unit: Chemical and Physical Change
This two-part lesson explores chemical change using Winogradsky Columns. Part 1 constructs student concepts concerning chemical and physical changes. Part 2 asks young scholars to compare physical versus chemical changes and observe...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: A Data Rich Exercise for Discovering Plate Boundary Processes
This article in the Journal of Geoscience Education describes a classroom exercise based on four world maps containing earthquake, volcano, topographical and seafloor age data. Learners participate in this exercise by using a "jigsaw"...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Nasa Astrobiology Institute
Information is provided on the official website for the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI), supplying comprehensive information, news articles, sections for teachers and students, and an Ask An Expert section.