Group items tagged

There are many statistical measures that show how productive the U.S. is. Its economy is the largest in the world and grew at a rate of 4.1 percent last quarter, its fastest pace since 2014. The unemployment rate is near the lowest mark in a half century. What can be harder to decipher is how Americans use their land to create wealth. The 48 contiguous states alone are a 1.9 billion-acre jigsaw puzzle of cities, farms, forests and pastures that Americans use to feed themselves, power their economy and extract value for business and pleasure.

cool graphic by xkcd

The left panels show the absolute number of species whose populations have declined in each region; the right panels show the percentage of species that declined in each region. The top panels include all land vertebrates (amphibians, birds, reptiles, and mammals), whereas the bottom panels represent only bird species. Project or distribute the image to engage students. The downloadable Educator Materials PDF, which includes background information, graph interpretation and discussion questions, and the Student Handout, which includes the image and background information, have been remediated to comply with Section 508 of the National Rehabilitation Act for accessibility and can be used with screen readers.

Seems a limited number of kits, and you must register your site first. I managed to get a kit in 2011. The kits themselves are fairly inexpensive through WWMC's site.

Underground water is being pumped so aggressively around the globe that land is sinking, civil wars are being waged, and agriculture is being transformed.

This is my students all time favorite lab. Students don't understand the full economic or scientific impact of the mining industry until they have gone through this simulation. It's sort of like a geologic monopoly game. It is based in part on the ROA activity and similar activities in various earth science books.