Category Archives: Uncategorized

The last quarter of a school year is often the most challenging- for both students and teachers. The end is in sight, but we still have a lot of content to cover. School activities ramp up- prom, Advanced Placement tests, … Continue reading →

Wikipedia can be a great first stop when beginning research. Mainly it is a great first stop if the article is well cited. Wikipedia can lead you to top scientific papers on a subject. However, if an article is incomplete, poorly … Continue reading →

The Midwest is not known for its obvious geologic charms- the highest point in Wisconsin, for example, is Timm’s Hill, which only stretches 1,951 feet above sea level. Wisconsin landscapes lack the breathtaking scenery of snow-capped mountains or the alien … Continue reading →

EDIT: Seems to be some trouble with embedding YouTube videos. Sorry for the inconvenience. Last week the Tectonics class I’m TAing had an extra “throwaway” lecture. We decided to let the students build their own experiments to gain some intuition about … Continue reading →

“Science, Earth and Space, Performance Standards E Grade 12 By the end of grade twelve, students will: ENERGY IN THE EARTH SYSTEM E. 12.1 Using the science themes*, distinguish between internal energies* (decay of radioactive isotopes, gravity) and external energies … Continue reading →

I suspect that every teacher has heard “why do we have to learn this, anyway”? about their subject material. I struggle with how to answer this question from my students- kids who likely won’t pursue any further science education beyond … Continue reading →

Like many high school science teachers*, I have a bachelors degree in science and then I went back to school to add my teaching certifications** after a few years of working. My own BS is in ecology and environmental science, … Continue reading →

“Whoa! Ms. Parker, is that uranium?” one of my students shouts at me as he enters the room after lunch, eyeing the beakers of yellow liquid on the front table. Students don’t seem to struggle with relative dating- stratigraphy, at … Continue reading →

Bedrock (noun): 1) Solid rock underlying loose deposits such as soil or alluvium 2) The fundamental principles on which something is based It is the third week of the semester, and one of my unruliest classes of high school students … Continue reading →

Having found my feet here, Chris @highlyallochthonous has kindly given me a space of my own on all-geo.org. I’ve a stack of posts ready to go, so posting will be less erratic. Hop on over and have a look. At … Continue reading →