Interactions between Water, Earth's Surface, and Human Activity
Document Type
Curriculum
Publication Date
2015
Keywords
Hydrologic cycle, Geoscience, Water resources
Abstract
This two-week (~10-hour) module focuses on water and its importance to humans, both as a limited resource and in shaping Earth's surface. Water's flow through the hydrologic cycle is driven by Earth's external energy source – the Sun. Running water also moves and deposits sediment that ultimately becomes part of the rock cycle, whose energy source also includes Earth's internal heat energy. Students see that river systems change shape over time, are influenced by climate and by human activity, and affect human activity, for example through flooding. Students develop their understanding while working in small groups, through interaction with simplified physical models of complicated systems, with Google Earth images of stream profiles in different climates, and with real river flooding data sets. Activities within this module are aimed at content courses for pre-service teachers, but they also could be adapted to other undergraduate introductory geoscience or environmental science courses.
Publication Title
InTeGrate: Interdisciplinary Teaching about Earth for a Sustainable Future
Sponsorship/Conference/Institution
Science Education Resource Center @ Carleton College
Recommended Citation
DeBari, S.M, K. Gray, J. Monet (2015) Interactions between Water, Earth’s Surface, and Human Activity, InTeGrate’s Earth-focused Modules and Courses for the Undergraduate Classroom, http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/energy_and_processes/index.html
Subjects - Topical (LCSH)
Hydrology--Study and teaching (Higher)
Genre/Form
lectures
Type
Text
Rights
Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.
Rights Statement
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
