Physical Geology with Virtual Labs and Sims
Price
TBA
Duration
2 Quarters; 1 Semester
Table of Contents
COURSE OBJECTIVE
Have you ever wondered how mountains are formed? Why does the ground shake during an earthquake? Or what fossils can tell us about Earth's history? Physical Geology with Virtual Labs and Sims unlocks the secrets of our planet, exploring the dynamic processes that have shaped its landscapes over time.
Students will spend a minimum of 50% of virtual in-person instructional time engaged in inquiry-based hands-on virtual lab explorations, interactives, and simulations during which they will make observations and predictions, design experiments, analyze data, and support claims with evidence in a collaborative setting.
But why study Physical Geology? Understanding the Earth's physical makeup goes beyond mere curiosity. It holds the key to:
Exciting Career Opportunities: Geologists are in high demand for fields like environmental consulting, energy exploration, natural hazard mitigation, and even space exploration! These careers not only offer the chance to make a real difference but also the potential for high earning potential.
Building a Sustainable Future: Geologists play a vital role in finding resources like water and minerals responsibly, mitigating the effects of natural disasters, and understanding the impact of climate change.
A More Informed Citizen: Knowledge of physical processes helps you make informed decisions about your environment and the impact of human activity.
A Deeper Appreciation for Our Planet: Discover the beauty and complexity of geological formations, from towering mountains to sparkling gemstones.
This course will equip you with the knowledge to:
Analyze minerals and rocks: Learn to identify different rock and mineral types and understand their formation processes.
Grasp the power of Earth's processes: Explore the forces that shape our planet, including plate tectonics, volcanism, earthquakes, and weathering.
Prepare for the future: Gain valuable insights into natural hazards and how we can mitigate their impact.
In this course, you'll learn about minerals, rocks, and dynamic processes, both on and beneath the surface, that have shaped Earth’s surface over time, such as tectonics, volcanism, earthquakes, landslides, streams, and coasts.
Join us on a thrilling journey into the heart of Physical Geology!
COURSE FORMAT
The class meets 90 minutes twice a week (M/W or T/Th) for 20 weeks. Like all other courses in our curriculum, Physical Geology with Virtual Labs and Sims consists of two components: asynchronous and synchronous learning.
We use the Geology 101: Physical Geology course for the asynchronous flipped classroom portion of the course. This makes up 50% of your overall grade.
Your academy instructor will facilitate the virtual in-person synchronous portion of the course. This makes up 50% of your overall grade.
Asynchronous Learning
Geology 101: Physical Geology course on Study.com was created by a panel of expert instructors who break down concepts with bite-sized, animated video lessons organized into topical chapters that improve comprehension and retention, making learning fun and engaging. Each video is approximately 5-10 minutes long and comes with a quick quiz to help you measure your "first exposure learning" during the pre-work phase before the actual class. At the end of each chapter, you will complete a chapter test to see if you're ready to move on or have some material to review.
You should expect to spend 50-70 minutes per week on these homework assignments. The academy intentionally schedules no classes on Fridays to provide dedicated time for homework assignments and out-of-class projects.
Synchronous Learning
Our academy instructor, who will also serve as your Gamemaster, will facilitate the live, virtual classroom sessions, which will supplement and build upon the Geology 101 course. These sessions will incorporate engaging game-based activities to solidify your understanding of geological concepts. Additionally, they will answer any questions you may have about the asynchronous material.
We will utilize the CK-12 Earth Science High School FlexBook 2.0 Textbook, an online interactive resource with videos, PLIX, simulations, adaptive practice problems, and Flexi 2.0 (a powerful AI tutor). This FlexBook is aligned with national standards like CSS, NGSS, and TEKS, and more.
Our in-person sessions are designed to make learning fun and interactive! Here's what you can expect:
Interactive discussions: We will delve deeper into key concepts from the asynchronous material and address any common misconceptions.
Team-based activities: You'll work collaboratively with your fellow students to earn points and badges, and climb the leaderboard as you embark on geological edventures!
Labs and Simulations: We will conduct virtual labs, microscopes and simulations to provide practical experience with geological phenomena.
Virtual Field Trips: Explore geological features around the world through immersive virtual tours.
PLIX: Play, Learn, Interact, and eXplore offer students an interactive and immersive experience exploring physical science concepts by allowing them to adjust variables and observe the effects, facilitating a deeper understanding of the content.
Adaptive Practice Problem Sets: Sharpen your skills with challenging questions that adjust their difficulty, offering real-time feedback, AI support, and progress tracking for mastery.
Exams
There will be a comprehensive mid-term exam over all content covered during the first quarter and a comprehensive final exam over all content covered during the second quarter. Each of these exams is weighted equally.
COURSE TOPICS
Below is a basic outline of the Geology 101: Physical Geology.
Chapters: 20; Lessons: 120
INTERACTIVE DISCUSSION BOARD
Each chapter features an interactive discussion board powered by Discussion Hero, a gamified platform developed by Northwestern University. Students choose between "hero" and "villain" roles and avatars, earning points for their contributions. This fosters a sense of competition and engagement, making discussions even more rewarding.
Benefits of Participating in Discussions:
Develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills: Go beyond memorization and passive learning by analyzing information, evaluating different perspectives, and forming your own conclusions.
Enhance communication skills: Practice clear communication, learn to articulate your ideas effectively, and develop respectful listening and rebuttal skills.
Fosters a collaborative learning environment: Learn from each other, share knowledge, and collaborate on problem-solving, creating a dynamic and enriching learning community.
Deepen your understanding of the content: Actively engaging with the course material through discussion solidifies and expands your understanding beyond lectures and readings.
Provides diverse perspectives: Discussions expose you to different viewpoints and interpretations, encouraging critical thinking and broadening your understanding of the subject matter.
Offers opportunities for self-reflection: Examining your own thoughts and arguments in response to prompts and engaging with others' perspectives helps solidify your learning and identify areas for further exploration.
Apply knowledge to real-world scenarios: Apply course concepts to real-world situations through discussions, enhancing the material's relevance.
Build a digital learning portfolio: Discussions serve as a reference for your learning journey, allowing you to revisit key concepts and track your progress.
Develop digital literacy: Discussions provide a platform to practice online communication etiquette, including respectful disagreement, constructive argumentation, and responsible information sharing.
To actively engage in meaningful learning and reap the benefits mentioned above, participation in each chapter's discussion board is expected and will contribute to your overall grade. Your instructor will provide a clear rubric within Discussion Hero outlining the expectations for participation and how your contributions will be evaluated. This ensures consistent and transparent assessment while allowing you to showcase your understanding and critical thinking skills throughout the course.
PLIX QUESTS
PLIX—which stands for Play, Learn, Interact, and eXplore—offers students an interactive and immersive experience exploring geological concepts. By offering students a chance to adjust different variables and explore the effects, PLIX facilitates a deeper understanding of content.
PLIX helps students:
Review concepts
Explore and gain a deeper understanding of concepts
Interact with a real-world example of geology
Expand a group conversation
Get ready to embark on thrilling geological edventures with your team of fellow Rock Stars! These challenging PLIX quests are designed to be completed within a class period. Divide the work among your team’s 4 or 5 members so each becomes an expert on their respective topic. Then, come together and discuss your findings to arrive at a consensus for your team's answers. Each team quest will be graded as a whole, and the grade will be shared equally among all members. This means every team member will receive the same grade for the quest, so strong teamwork and communication are essential!
Below are the exciting quests your team must conquer to become masters of Upper, Middle, and Lower Earth:
These team quests are just the beginning of your geological edventures! Throughout this course, you'll tackle shorter, solo PLIX side quests. Along the way, you'll earn additional points and badges as you solidify your mastery of Physical Geology.
PHYSICAL GEOLOGY LABS
Become a Rock Detective! Embark on a thrilling expedition into the heart of geology. These hands-on labs will transform you from a curious observer to a skilled detective, cracking the codes hidden within rocks and minerals.
Throughout these edventures, you'll analyze rock samples, conduct virtual tests, and decipher clues to reveal the stories etched in stone. Was this rock forged in the fiery depths of a volcano? Did it transform under immense heat and pressure? Or was it formed from the compressed remains of ancient creatures?
As you progress through these missions, you'll earn points and badges that showcase your growing expertise. Level up from a rookie Rockhound to a seasoned Petrologist (rock scientist)!
ADAPTIVE PRACTICE PROBLEM SETS
Physical Geology with Virtual Labs and Sims incorporates cutting-edge CK-12 Adaptive Practice to take your learning to a whole new level. This innovative system utilizes machine learning to create a personalized learning experience that adapts to your individual needs.
Here's how CK-12 Adaptive Practice empowers you:
Targeted Practice: In addition to CK-12's vast library of practice questions ensuring the practice problems directly reinforce what you're learning in class.
Adaptive Difficulty: As you answer questions, the system adjusts the difficulty level, offering more challenging problems as you progress and providing support with easier questions when needed.
Diverse Question Formats: Expert-crafted questions, including multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, short answer, and drag-and-drop, solidify your grasp of physical geology concepts.
Personalized Guidance: Your built-in AI tutor, Flexi 2.0, offers hints, identifies knowledge gaps, and recommends resources like videos or targeted reading to solidify your understanding.
Real-time Progress Tracking: Monitor your progress through a user-friendly dashboard that visually displays your skill level in various areas (Beginning, Exploring, Developing, Proficient, Mastery).
Detailed Practice Summary: After completing practice sets, review a detailed summary that includes the time spent, streak (number of correct answers in a row), and the difficulty level of the questions answered.
Avoid Guesswork: The system detects random guessing and provides resources like videos or text passages to help you learn and understand the concepts.
COURSE OUTCOMES
Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:
Examine the scientific method, Earth's subsystems and the various branches of geological study.
Compare and contrast the physical properties of metals, minerals and rocks, including sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks and the roles they play in sustaining life on earth.
Analyze the processes of mechanical and chemical weathering, erosion, soil structure and type, the types of stress leading to rock deformation and the causes of various geological folds and faults.
Explain the water cycle, distribution of water, drainage basins, stream flow, groundwater systems, the effect of erosion and deposition on landforms and how landform diagrams depict a landscape's geological progression.
Categorize types of glaciers, glacier movement, glacier budget, erosion, deposition, glaciation and causes of glaciation.
Summarize the structure of the ocean, marine organisms, oceanic ridge systems, basins, as well as active and passive continental margins.
Identify characteristics of deserts in general and those in the Southwest U.S. in particular.
Break down the internal and external forces that shape Earth by looking at the four spheres of Earth, the mechanism of plate tectonics and continental drift, and the cause of earthquakes.
PREREQUISITES
There are no prerequisites for this course.
COLLEGE / DUAL CREDIT
Geology 101: Physical Geology has been evaluated and recommended by the American College of Education (ACE) for 3 semester hours and may be transferred to over 2,000 colleges and universities. If you're seeking college credit, after completing this course, you can take the proctored final exam at any time for an additional fee.
Your Instructor
TBD
