Earth Sciences: Environmental Change DIFUSE Module

Contributors: Sarah Lee (GR), Elisabeth Baumann ('22), Bob Hawley (Professor of Earth Sciences), Petra Bonfert-Taylor (DIFUSE PI, Professor of Engineering), Lorie Loeb (DIFUSE PI, Professor of Computer Science), Scott Pauls (DIFUSE PI, Professor of Mathematics), Laura Ray (DIFUSE PI, Professor of Engineering)

This module was developed through the DIFUSE project at Dartmouth College and funded by the National Science Foundation award IUSE-1917002.

	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Module Overview

Module Objective

Students will grapple with environmental change through direct collection of local data in conjunction with analysis of existing data sets. Visualizing relationships between data allow students to make predictions and draw conclusions.

Student Learning Objectives

1. Make actual measurements of current environmental change
2. Estimate the uncertainty associated with your measurements
3. Formulate a hypothesis as to the nature of the change
4. Test a hypothesis
5. Draw conclusions
6. Collaborate with fellow students to share data, work, and ideas
7. Communicate your findings in both written and oral form

Module Description

Through this project, the students will have the opportunity to measure environmental change. Students will also be exposed to temperature and insolation related public datasets. The project is appropriate for courses in introductory environmental sciences, earth sciences, and any other courses related to the climate. It is designed to be done on students’ own time outside of the classroom throughout the course of a term or semester. There is an option to use one class time to show video abstracts that students will have created by the end.

Data

Students collect data on solar incidence angle and use public climate and weather data from Dartmouth and other sources.

Platform

The module uses Google Sheets or Excel to collate and analyze data.

Schedule and Links

Use this page to get an idea of the timeline of the module, what components are involved, and what documents are related to each component. This is the schedule intended for module deployment by the DIFUSE team, though instructors are welcome to modify the timeline to fit their course environment.

Module Outline

1. Students complete a pre-project questionnaire
2. Students work in groups to complete the term project.
3. Students take daily measurements of the incidence angle of the sun to create a data set for analysis which is stored in excel.
4. Students analyze public data on climate and insolation variable.
5. Deliverable: Preliminary data and hypothesis report (1 page)
6. Deliverable: Final Project Report (Manuscript)
7. Deliverable: Video Abstract (1-3 minutes)
8. Deliverable: Reflection (1 paragraph)

Module Timeline

Item	Schedule
Instructor Notes	Read in preparation
Construct calibration stations	Before term
Pre-project questionairre and instructions	Beginning of the term
Create Google Sheets for each group	Before data collection
Measure shoe at calibration station	As needed throughout the term
Measure and record incidence angle	Daily
Preliminary data and hypothesis (Example results)	Due determined by feedback cycle
Final project report	End of term
Video Abstract	End of term
Reflections	End of term

Course Information

The module was developed for an introductory Earth Sciences course, Environmental Change, at Dartmouth College which explores natural and human induced changes to the environment. As it is introductory, students are not expected to have any particular set of background preparation. But for this project, it is expected that the students have familiarity with terms associated with the environment and climate. If not, some lecture time should be taken to establish knowledge of determinants of climate and weather. It will also be beneficial if the students have prior knowledge of the scientific method as they will be exercising it throughout the project.

	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

For instructors and interested parties, the history of this repository (with detailed commits), can be found here.