Little River Canyon 
Field School

Jacksonville State University
246 Martin Hall
700 Pelham Road North
Jacksonville, AL 36265
(256) 782-5697

Earth Science

Earth science is a big category filled with plenty of opportunities for you and your classroom. Here you will find information on maps, hints for using compass and GPS activities, geology, fossils, water and weather.

Maps and Views from Space

What better way is there to develop a sense of place than to look at and study maps and aerial photographs? It is really fun to look at the variety of historical maps of your state and area. Consider assigning different teams of students or classes to various eras of maps for your region to discover changes in roads, names, and so on. Try to find your area on satellite or astronaut photographs.

http://terraserver.microsoft.com/
Satellite views of the entire US

http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/states/states.html
Map Atlas of the US – features every state

http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/index.html
Access to the map library at the University of Alabama

http://www.lib.utk.edu/cic/
University of Tennessee map library

http://scarlett.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/maps.html
University of Georgia rare historic maps

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/gmdhome.html
Library of Congress Map collection

http://www.cgrer.uiowa.edu/servers/servers_references.html
Vast array of map site links

http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/efs/
Over a half a million photographs taken by astronauts while in space

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov
Click on data and images to see the entire planet by temperature, chlorophyll, and many other parameters.

Compass and GPS

Use compasses and GPS units to teach students how things are mapped and located. Below is a brief description of how we develop our course. Please email us if you need additional details. Using a compass or GPS unit develops math and geography skills. Your students will love and learn from these activities.

Compass Course Construction

1. Get bricks or blocks to paint on letters for your course. I got broken pieces of edger pavings from Wal-Mart for pennies.
2. Paint on letters with a bright colored exterior paint to create the vocabulary words for your puzzles
3. Layout your letters around the field. Use a mattock, shovel, and/or pick to set your lettered blocks into the ground so they can be mowed over.
        Sample course:
   
4. Puzzles you can make with these letters:
         Ecology, Biology, Geology, History, the best, 
         Blights, Heights, Schools, Relics, Stories, etc.
          (see the Word Document sample puzzle page)
5. Use a string to stretch from letter to letter (spelling your words), and measure the exact bearing or degrees by setting your compass on the string. Use the arrow on the compass body to align with the string. Find the degrees by turning the outer dial to line up the magnetic arrow with the two white marks or outline of the arrow. Write down the degrees or bearing and repeat until you’ve spelled each word.
6. Use a tape to measure the distance from letter to letter. Consider using metric distances to have students learn those types of measurements.
7. Set up a 100 foot or meter pacing station near your course for students to calculate the number of paces they need to take between letters.

GPS and Compass Course Resources

http://www.thegpsstore.com
One source of GPS devices

http://www.science.org.au/nova/066/066act.htm
A variety of GPS activities with links

http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/space_geodesy/ATLAS/classroom.html
Classroom GPS activities

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/longitude/gps.html
On-line game to learn how GPS works

http://www.geocaching.com/
Game of finding spots all over the world. Even if you don’t have school GPS units, you could borrow one and set up a geocache on your school grounds and see how many people find it. These caches contain logbooks.

http://eduscapes.com/geocaching/kids.htm
Site on using GPS with students

http://www.letterboxing.org/
A hide and seek game developed in England, and becoming more popular in the U.S.

http://www.williams.edu/Biology/orienteering/o~index.html
Site on using compasses with students

http://www.learn-orienteering.org/old/
How to use a compass instructions

http://www.silva.se/
Quick time movies on compass use.

http://www.carolina.com/ or http://www.acornnaturalists.com/store/
Sources for Brunton's Map and Compass Instruction Kit – set of 24 for about $300

Geology

Rock out with your students. No matter where you teach you have access to rocks. Learn about your local geology. The links below will carry you to state specific sites. Don’t forget to look into your local gem and mineral clubs. These folks typically love to work with students. A link of club listings is also included.

http://geology.er.usgs.gov/states/southeast.html
This site has several topics on SE geology

http://www.lapidaryjournal.com/archive/clubs.cfm
Find out if you have a gem and mineral club in your area at this site.

http://www.gsa.state.al.us/
This is the site for the Geologic Survey of Alabama. These folks are very helpful and offer teacher programs and workshops.

http://www.gly.uga.edu/GAGeology.html
Nice site loaded with information on Georgia Geology from the UGA geology department.

http://www.gpc.peachnet.edu/~pgore/online/physical2.php
Good physical Georgia geology online course. Great reference for your students.

http://www.state.tn.us/environment/tdg/index.html
The Tennessee Division of Geology site has links to maps and teacher resources

http://www.nycenet.edu/DIS/mst/rocks/index.html
A crayon based rock cycle activity complete with handouts, objectives and so on are found at this NY site.

http://home.earthlink.net/~mjkrech/Krech/rocks.htm
Crayon and other rock cycle activities are at this site.

http://www.spacegrant.hawaii.edu/class_acts/index.html
Terrific site with wonderful activities and links – developed from a summer teacher workshop in Hawaii.

http://www.beloit.edu/~SEPM/activity-age.html
Page which list many Earth Science activities by grade level.

Soils

http://ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/globe/pvg/chartoc.htm
Extensive set of soil lessons and field experiences.

http://ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/globe/tbf/tbfguide.htm
Printable field guide to soil texture

http://nesoil.com/properties/horizons/
Power point presentation on soil horizons or layers

http://www.soils.umn.edu/academics/classes/soil2125/doc/slab3hzn.htm
High School level soils lesson online

Fossils

http://bcrc.bio.umass.edu/crinoid/
Crinoid project from Iowa – claims to have a K-8 program.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explorations/tours/fossil/index.html
NSF sponsored fossil site – complete with lesson plans.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/
Learn from the fossil record with these activities for all ages.

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/education/fossilfocus/printable/print.html
Printable fossil guide from the British Geologic Society

http://geology.er.usgs.gov/paleo/eduinfo.shtml
Several printable USGS guides and lesson plans

Water and River Studies

The students we teach today are likely to face water shortages in their lifetime. Water quality and supply are already major issues in many parts of today’s world. Having your students involved in studying water will give them a valuable perspective on this growing global issue. Think about getting involved! Below are sites for testing equipment and materials, as well as programs and lessons.

http://www.lamotte.com/
Source of many water testing kits including the Alabama Water Watch kit, and other simpler and less expensive options.

http://www.auburn.edu/aww/
Alabama water watch home page. Has pdf documents with protocols. Also contains data on streams your students could analyze.

http://www.micrologylabs.com/
Source of coligel, the E. coli test medium.

http://www.uwex.edu/erc/gwah/
Fully downloadable guide for this excellent program from the University of Wisconsin - Environmental Resources Center. Support for Give Water a Hand is provided by National Fish and Wildlife Foundation; the US Department of Agriculture, CSREES and NRCS; Church & Dwight, Co., Inc., and the University of Wisconsin.

http://www.streamkeeper.org/
Site for Adopt-a-Stream, contains many teacher resources.

http://www.projectwet.org/
This international program has wonderful classroom and outdoor activities.

Weather Stations

Today most of these are automated, but a manual station provides more opportunity for students to make actual readings and measurements for themselves. There are many possible designs and potential instruments to include. What follows is a general description or design.

Central to the manual weather station is the Stevenson screen (named for Robert Lewis Stevenson’s father who was an engineer). The typical size is 700 mm wide, 530 mm from back to front, and 600 mm high. The roof of the box is double, with a clear space between, and the sides are louvered like shutters to provide for ventilation. The bottom and inner ceiling can be louvered or perforated with drilled holes. The box is oriented exactly North/South, with a wide side facing North and hinged at the bottom so sunlight never enters the box when it is opened. The box or screen is placed on a stand or base that is between 1.2 and 2 m high. Steps to reach the box will be needed for children. Ideally the freestanding container is at least 10 m from buildings placed on a lawn. These are available for purchase (primarily from England and Australia) but could be built by a parent or local cabinet shop.

Inside the Stevenson screen are wet bulb and dry bulb thermometers placed vertically. Maximum and minimum thermometers are placed horizontally. A hygrometer and barometer can also be placed in the box. An advanced class might want to include a thermohygrograph to give a long term continual readings.

Other instruments you would want for your weather station include a rain gauge. The plastic type found in stores has been found to be as accurate as more expensive types from scientific suppliers. A cup anemometer can be used to measure wind speed (learn to make one at http://sln.fi.edu/tfi/units/energy/dixie.html or buy a good quality one at http://www.davisnet.com/weather/products/weather_product.asp?pnum=7911 for about $120). A simple wind vane or windsock can be used to determine direction.

You might consider soil thermometers. Soil temperatures can be measured at several depths. There are thermometers made for placing in soil (for about $12 you can purchase one from http://www.frostproof.com/catalog/t019.html), but ordinary mercury or alcohol base thermometers will also work, although they should be protected from the sun. Pipes can be placed in the soil and thermometers lowered down to depths of up to one meter by a string to get deep soil temperatures provided the pipes are prevented from filling with rain. http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/uf/lab_exercises/compar_soil.htm describes a shade verses sunny soil temperature lab/experiment.

Another interesting measurement is the duration of bright sunshine with a Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder. They can be made with a 500 mL round flask filled with water, but would have to be protected from freezing in winter. To see one visit - http://www.novalynx.com/240-1070.html

Web resources and examples

http://www.brixworth.demon.co.uk/weather17.htm (school station)

http://www.amingtonheath.staffs.sch.uk/setting_up.htm (school with Stevenson Screen)

Learn to make a simple, elementary weather station at -
http://www.fi.edu/weather/todo/todo.html or http://www.miamisci.org/hurricane/weatherstation.html