The Iowa Geoscience Education Information Network

Explore Iowa Geology

Geologic Resources of Iowa for Teachers    

Syllabus -  Spring 2023

Learning objectives
A. Discover Iowa’s diverse geology & the benefits of their subsequent natural resources, while obtaining a basic proficiency in their identification
B. Develop your own mineral, rock and fossil classroom collections
C.  Focus on the significance of these items in understanding and interpreting Earth’s history and the geology of Iowa.
D. Using the National Generation Science Standards and Iowa Core Curriculum explore effective pathways of addressing Earth and Environmental Science standards.
E. Learn the various economic and environmental aspects of Iowa geology.

Session 1 (March 7, 2023)  Recording (whole session) , Rock cycle video with Energy, -  Background presentation on Plate Tectonics )  , Links for further exploration - Sci. Method UnderstandingScience.org , Understanding and Teaching Evolution , Earth Science Literacy 'Big Ideas'

Session 2 (March 21, 2023) Not Live - Previously Recording (whole session)  Iowa's Bedrock , Extra - The Cambrian Life 'Explosion' short presentation

Session 3 (April 4, 2023)   Recording (whole session) Iowa's Bedrock Part 2 Ordovician to Creataceous, here is a cool video about the K-T Mass Extinction that you can turn in to a classroom, Thanks for sharing Veranda :-) There are activity sheets to go along with the video too.

Session 4 (April 18, 2023)  Recording (whole session),  Minerals, Rocks and Economic Geology in Iowa. Photo of the Iowa Coal Palace. , Info. about the Coal Palace that stood for only 2 years

Offline prep for general knowledge and next session prep: Panopto - Exploring resources from the Iowa Geological Survey

Session 5 (May 2, 2023) Recording (whole session) - Q and A, Teacher - Student Pathways over difficult barriers, Logistics and Iowa's Surficial Geology - The Quaternary 

Lecture slides

Session 1 - Part 1 History and the Importance of Geology in Iowa PDF slides ( Powerpoint )

Session 1 - Part 2 Geology Concepts, Principles and Tools PDF slides ( Powerpoint )

Session 2 - Iowa's Bedrock / Geoloigic History PDF slides ( Powerpoint 

Session 3 - Iowa's Bedrock Part 2 - Ordovician to Cretaceous

Session 4- Iowa's Minerals and Rocks   Slides (PDF) / ( Powerpoint ), Economic Geology in Iowa Slides (PDF) / ( Powerpoint )

Session 5 - Iowa's Quaternary Geology slides ( PDF )  

Making lava and rocks in a 'lab' setting...

Homework (HW) - Try to upload your homework to the shared google drive folders, if that does not work send them to my e-mail chad.heinzel@uni.edu , if you cannot make that deadline, just let me know, I know you are all busy, but try to stay up to date

PreQuiz HW- Due on or before March 13

Session 1 -Homework #1 Due on or before March 20, based on content from Session 1

Session 2 - Homework #2 , Due on or before April 3rd, 2023, content from the Not Live session 2 - Iowa's Geologic History Precambrian to Ordovician.

Session 3 - No homework

Session 4 Homework #4 , Handouts =  Mineral ID  and Rock ID, Ideally due on or before April 17 Place samples on a piece of labeled paper then take a photo and submit to the shared google drive folder - Photo 1 - Separate your minerals from rocks , Photo 2 - Name your minerals, Photo 3 - Name your rocks. Then there are some questions about using digital resources from the Iowa Geological Survey , This is also really useful and cool, but I have already asked you a lot of questions. If you have time check out their Interactive Maps

Session 5 -   Homework #5 Due on or before June 14, 2023. You can place your work in the provided google drive folder just click on your name here, also looking for some input here too..

News/comments/answers

Plate tectonics

Blog series about our developing understanding of plate tectonics, interesting

NY Times - Animated Pangea Video http://nyti.ms/1vSxPq6

Evolution and deep time

Science, Evolution and Creationism (National Academy of Sciences)

Here is another link for helping people understand the accuracy of radiometric dating http://ncse.com/cej/3/2/answers-to-creationist-attacks-carbon-14-dating

One of my favorite podcasts, that outlines my personal outlook on science and religion, Link to the Krista Tippett interview of Xavier Le Pichon You can download the podcast here

Links

National Center for Science Education (NCSE) - Defedning the Teaching of Evolution and Climate Science

Iowa Geological Survey

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Climate Change 2013 - The Physical Science Basis)

Earth Science Literacy

This website is excellent too, please check it out !!! www.understandingscience.org