Use a narrative "science tour" app for the drive up Mt. Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mountains near Tucson, Arizona. Travel from desert to pine forest, listening to the audio guide and watching slideshows and videos. Learn how our world is sustained by natural environments, systems, and cycles.

Educational Objectives

Describe the natural history of Mt. Lemmon with special attention to geology and biology. The tour follows the Catalina Highway to the top of Mt. Lemmon.

See an annotated list of technical tools for creating Virtual Fieldwork Experiences about a site. Tools include smartphone apps for capturing imagery and other data as well as accessing information (ie geologic maps). Desktop and web-based software is also included, as is some hardware.

Educational Objectives

Users will both create and access media to explain why a site looks the way it does.

This kmz file contains basic data on every large tree within the Shale Hills catchment, including species and Diameter at Breast Height (DBH). Explore the data and look for patterns of species distributions by clicking on and off different species. This file is included within the Shale Hills VFE.

Educational Objectives

The listed objectives are suggestive. Teachers may design activities using the dataset with their own objectives.

• Describe how distribution of trees varies by species.
• Speculate what factors determine species' affinity for particular placement within the Shale Hills catchment.
• Design investigations to test hypotheses about species distribution.

The survey can also serve as a model for surveying trees (or other elements) in your local environment.

This webpage serves as an introduction to both CZ science and the use of Virtual Fieldwork Experiences (VFEs) for exploration of the CZ. Embedded within this page you will find VFEs of Shale Hills Susquehanna, Southern Sierra CZO and Luquillo CZOs.

Educational Objectives

• Interpret the environment represented within the VFE you are investigating, including descriptions of why the landscape looks the way it does, and how it has changed over time.
• Create a VFE representing your local environment or a field site you have visited and present it to interested others.

Objectives for specific VFEs are included within those VFEs.

View ten maps of the contiguous 48 states, each highlighting different geographic features. Viewing the maps collectively reveals connections among different Earth systems.

Educational Objectives

• Describe similarities in the geographic distribution of different characteristics of the landscape.
• Speculate on relationships among these different characteristics.

Learn about educational initiatives and resources for teaching CZ Science. This issue includes seven articles that describe approaches to teaching CZ Science, why teaching CZ Science is important, and how such approaches can satisfy NGSS expectations. Full access requires NAGT membership.

Educational Objectives

Describe a range of approaches to, and resources for, teaching CZ Science.

As this is a collection of seven articles, the educational objectives are too numerous to list here. They are listed in the individual entries for each article.

Take a virtual tour of the Reynolds Creek Critical Zone Observatory! Track snowfall and predict soil thickness. Learn about soil carbon and how climate change and sagebrush ecosystems are modeled.

Educational Objectives

Objectives being written.

Tracking Snow:  Measuring Nature’s Water Reservoir.  

Organic Carbon:  The Key Variable in a Changing Climate.  

Inorganic Carbon:  A Different Type of Carbon.  

Predicting Soil Thickness:  Anywhere on a Landscape.  

CORE Sites:  The Most Advanced Ecosystem Measurements Anywhere.  

In the U.S., we burn over a gallon of gasoline per person, per day. What becomes of all that? What does it have to do with the Critical Zone? This blog post investigates these questions with powerful but simple visuals that can be easily translated to classroom use.

Educational Objectives

1. Explain why burning a six pound gallon of gasoline produces 19 pounds of carbon dioxide.
2. Communicate the scale of carbon dioxide emissions by describing the carbon cycle through the story of gasoline.

Explore a range of Virtual Fieldwork Experiences, and resources for their production and use. This site includes examples of highlighted VFEs, selected resources and strategies for using VFEs in teaching and learning, and a large collection of VFEs.

Educational Objectives

This page introduces a range of resources with a wide range of objectives. Selected objectives include:

• Teachers and learners will visit virtual field sites and be able to characterize aspects of the geology and biology of those sites, and aspects of how the biosphere, geosphere, lithosphere, and atmosphere interact at these sites.
• Employ technological tools to capture aspects of environments in ways that those aspects may be shared with others.

Learn about a range of educational initiatives and resources for teaching about the Critical Zone. This issue includes eight articles that describe approaches to teaching CZ Science, why teaching CZ Science is important, and how such approaches can offer excellent ways to satisfy the NGSS.

Educational Objectives

Describe a range of approaches to teaching CZ Science.

As this is a collection of eight articles, the educational objectives are too numerous to list here. They are listed in the individual entries for each article.

A short web page that answers questions like: what is the Critical Zone? Why it is so important? Why does it need to be studied? The page includes text, images, and video.

Educational Objectives

Be able to discuss where the Critical Zone fits on Earth's surface and its importance to Humans and all life. 

Delve into Critical Zone Science (history, future directions, and components) via an annotated bibliography of selected resources (last updated May 2016). Note that access to all of the content requires a subscription to Oxford Bibliographies.

Educational Objectives

This resource is an annotated bibliography of Critical Zone related selected resources, making it a gateway to satisfying a wide range of objectives.

Watch six science lectures that highlight the importance of the Critical Zone on society and environmental sustainability. Many topics are discussed including soil degradation, drought resilience, water security, flooding, landslides, wildfire, ecosystem services, public policy, and more.

Educational Objectives

Viewers will be able to discuss the aspects of the CZ vulnerable to the presence of humanity, and how they may be altered due to global climate and land-use change. 

Use LiDAR data and display software to analyze the effects of a forest fire in New Mexico. LiDAR is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure distances to Earth. It enables the Critical Zone to be explored at fine scales (~1 m) over large areas (>100 km2).

Educational Objectives

• Define or describe LiDAR.
• Use LiDAR datasets to compare and contrast landscape appearance before and after a forest fire.

This activity requires a fast PC computer and basic computer skills.

Investigate how African dust storms transport particles with a unique chemical signature to downwind Caribbean Islands. Download rainwater chemistry data and look for seasonal patterns of Ca inputs. Interpret how this Ca compares with seasonal patterns of Saharan airflow and dust inputs.

Educational Objectives

The objectives of this activity are to demonstrate that:

1. Earth’s ecosystems and Critical Zones are inextricably linked via feedback processes, and,
2. nutrients that feed ecosystems can be derived from outside the system.

The Case of the Muddy Water uses authentic data to investigate the impacts of hydrofracturing. The objective of this lesson is to introduce the potential impacts of natural gas extraction through data analysis.

Educational Objectives

Conceptual Learning Outcomes

• Students are introduced to the potential impacts of natural gas extraction on water resources
• Students learn about topography and water sources in Pennsylvania
• Students develop reasoning and data analysis skills

Practical Learning Outcomes

• Students use HydroClient to discover, download, and view data
• Students answer questions using the Larry's Creek Watershed Profile Fact Sheet from the Susquehanna River Basin Commission
• Students answer questions about and graph turbidity and precipitation

This 15-week upper-level undergraduate course introduces and examines the life-sustaining services and resources provided by the Critical Zone using publicly-available CZO data and literature. This course is hosted by InTeGrate SERC (Science Education Resource Center).

Educational Objectives

At the end of the course students will be able to:

• Analyze technological advances, breakthroughs in interpretation, and new observations to build their understanding of the Critical Zone in and beyond the class.
• Use a large variety of scientific principles to analyze how Earth's land surface works.
• Apply data sets and observations from multiple existing CZO sites to test ideas and summarize Critical Zone services.
• Describe the Critical Zone as a complex system of interacting regolith, water, air, and life.

Find additional information in the course's Instructor Materials. 

The primary goal of this module is to recall, infer, and interpret a wide variety of scientific principles that analyze the Critical Zone as a complex system of interacting regolith, water, air, energy and life. This module is part of a undergraduate course on CZ Science hosted by InTeGrate SERC.

Educational Objectives

By the end of this module students will be able to:

• Accurately define the Critical Zone and the relationship to the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and soil.
• Effectively summarize: 1) the transdisciplinary nature of CZ science and the relationship to system science; 2) the importance (and degraded state) of the CZ to supporting most terrestrial life including humanity; and 3) the importance of long-term observatories to understanding and integrating knowledge of Earth surface processes.

More on this module's objectives can be found here. 

This module introduces methods used for investigations of the natural environment as well as human-induced changes to the environment such as perturbations to the hydrologic cycle, carbon and nutrient cycles and soil degradation. This module is part of a CZ Science course hosted by InTeGrate SERC.

Educational Objectives

By the end of this module students will be able to:

• Organize data from different data sources effectively, including online data sources.
• Interpret spatial and temporal trends from data records.
• Summarize systems modeling and geoscientific research approaches to design a sampling program.
• Infer trends from multiple strands of data to answer questions about Critical Zone services.

More on this module's objectives can be found here.

The goal of this module is a basic understanding of geologic processes and their relationship to Critical Zone processes and science. The focus is on the lithosphere's presence and role in CZ form and function. This module is part of a CZ Science course hosted by InTeGrate SERC.

Educational Objectives

By the end of this module students will be able to:

• Accurately recognize that tectonic processes of uplift and subsidence and the resulting landforms influence surficial processes of erosion, sediment transport and deposition, hill slope movement, and regolith production, and determine the architecture and evolution of the Critical Zone.
• Effectively summarize freely available online resources that provide information on geological mapping and aerial and other remotely sensed imagery that can be used in landscape assessment, and apply those resources to a site evaluation.

More on this module's objectives can be found here.

This module analyzes how energy and carbon flow through the CZ and how they drive CZ processes. Learn how to analyze data and use simple models to interpret spatial and temporal trends in energy flow to answer questions about CZ processes. This module is part of a CZ Science course hosted by SERC.

Educational Objectives

By the end of this module students will be able to:

• Trace primary radiative forcings through the Critical Zone using data derived from a CZO field site.
• Use CZO micro meteorological data to describe the differences between the main atmospheric fluxes at each CZO site.
• Relate carbon flux data collected at various scales to understand the regional exchange of carbon at a CZO site.
• Analyze how energy, carbon, and nutrients flow through the Critical Zone and drive Critical Zone processes.

More on this module's objectives can be found here.

This module teaches how to evaluate the water balance of an ecosystem---a growing challenge as we face increasingly unpredictable water supplies coupled with rising demand for water across all sectors. The module is part of a undergraduate course on CZ Science hosted by InTeGrate SERC.

Educational Objectives

By the end of this module students will be able to:

• Explain the reservoirs and fluxes of water cycling among the different parts of the Critical Zone.
• Analyze the water budget of a catchment that includes both biotic and abiotic processes.
• Calculate water budget components at multiple scales.
• Assess anthropogenic changes to the water cycling in a catchment.

More on this module's objectives can be found here.

This module examines the integrated roles that biology, geology, and chemistry play in the CZ. Use data from real world systems to understand how the CZ is involved in key biogeochemical functions. This module is part of a undergraduate course on CZ Science hosted by InTeGrate SERC.

Educational Objectives

By the end of this module students will be able to:

• Develop a scientific and geoscientific habit of mind through biogeochemical-based activities.
• Evaluate the chemical and biological processes and reactions that govern the composition of the CZ.
• Explain the role of CZ services in supporting terrestrial life, including humanity.
• Explain and use examples of how organisms and biodiversity affect biogeochemical processes.
• Use data, and examples from published scientific literature to explain critical zone functions.
• Explain some of the common methods used in biogeochemical research.
• Explain the effect of differences in land-use on nutrient cycling and critical zone functions.

More on this module's objectives can be found here.

This module examines how geoscientists study processes in the Critical Zone and the interactions between natural processes and human activities that affect it. The module is part of a undergraduate course on CZ Science hosted by InTeGrate SERC.

Educational Objectives

By the end of this module students will be able to:

• Develop scientific and geoscientific habits of mind through geospatial environmental analysis.
• Identify, interpret and develop mediation techniques to address human impacts to the Critical Zone.
• Identify and explain the impacts of various methods of agricultural production on soils.
• Critically examine research proposals and describe how the proposal would address CZ questions and grand challenges.

More on this module's objectives can be found here.