This interrupted case study is based on current research involving the global transport of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Students are asked to propose several hypotheses and experiments in an attempt to determine how PCBs are transferred globally. As the case unfolds, it becomes clear that the transport mechanism is more complicated than scientists first thought. The case requires minimal background knowledge and is suitable for major and non-major courses in biology, chemistry, and environmental science.

This course introduces students to climate studies, including beginnings of the solar system, time scales, and climate in human history.

The goal of this dilemma case study is to teach students about global climate change. The setting is a faculty meeting where the discussion has turned to a petition circulating in the scientific community against signing the Kyoto Treaty. Students read graphs and interpret data and consider the political, economic, and ethical issues surrounding the controversy. The case would be appropriate for use in a variety of courses, including biology, geology, chemistry, physics, meteorology, economics, political science, and ethics.

Surveys the distribution, chemical composition, and mineral associations in rocks of the earth's crust and upper mantle, and establishes its relation to tectonic environment. Emphasis is on the use of chemistry and physics to interpret rock forming processes. Topics include: dynamics of crust and mantle melting as preserved in the chemical composition of igneous rocks and minerals, the long-term record of global climate change as preserved in the minerals of sedimentary rocks, and the time-temperature-depth record preserved in minerals of metamorphosed crustal rocks.

This course discusses phase transitions in Earth's interior. Phase transitions in Earth materials at high pressures and temperatures cause the seismic discontinuities and affect the convections in the Earth's interior. On the other hand, they enable us to constrain temperature and chemical compositions in the Earth's interior. However, among many known phase transitions in mineral physics, only a few have been investigated in seismology and geodynamics. This course reviews important papers about phase transitions in mantle and core materials.

Students will raise questions about the natural world and seek answers by making careful observations about the weather. Students will measure, record and describe weather conditions using common tools, like thermometer, anemometer, rain gauge and possibly, light meter.

This activity is a field observation and also an in-class discussion/share. Students share observations made outside and are aware of changes in the natural world.

This classroom activity introduces the yearlong topic of phenology and how to use the Weatherguide calendar.

This video introduces photovoltaic energy resources and the related science and engineering research conducted at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

This video reviews how photovoltaic (PV) cells work, noting that technological innovations are decreasing costs and allowing PV use to expand.

To develop an understanding of modern industrial technologies that clean up and prevent air pollution, students build and observe a variety of simple models of engineering pollutant recovery methods: scrubber, electrostatic precipitator, cyclone and baghouse. In an associated literacy activity, students become more aware of global environmental problems and play a part in their solution by writing environmental action campaign letters.

In this short activity, students or groups are tasked to make concept sketches that track the source of electrical power as far back as they can conceive. The concept sketches reveal students' prior conceptions of the power grid and energy mix, and lead naturally into a lesson or discussion about energy resources and power production.

As the number of ice-free days in the seas surrounding Alaska increases over time, so do opportunities. Oil and gas companies are ramping up offshore exploration and drilling in the Arctic and the shipping industry is increasing traffic around and through the region. As a result, Arctic residents may have new opportunities for jobs and development across the region. There’s also a downside to the increased activity. Oil and gas extraction operations occasionally have accidents—events that can result in massive oil spills.

Coral reefs off the west coast of Maui are readily accessible and heavily used by visitors and locals alike. Managers needed a plan to boost the resilience of the reefs so they could continue providing critical habitat for marine species.

The ability to quantify the uncertainty in our models of nature is fundamental to many inference problems in Science and Engineering. In this course, we study advanced methods to represent, sample, update and propagate uncertainty. This is a "hands on" course: Methodology will be coupled with applications. The course will include lectures, invited talks, discussions, reviews and projects and will meet once a week to discuss a method and its applications.

" This course introduces the students to dynamics of large-scale circulations in oceans and atmospheres. Basic concepts include mass and momentum conservation, hydrostatic and geostrophic balance, and pressure and other vertical coordinates. It covers the topics of fundamental conservation and balance principles for large-scale flow, generation and dissipation of quasi-balanced eddies, as well as equilibrated quasi-balanced systems. Examples of oceanic and atmospheric quasi-balanced flows, computational models, and rotating tank experiments can be found in the accompaniment laboratory course 12.804, Large-scale Flow Dynamics Lab."

As the threats of tsunami and sea level rise are joined by real and potential climate impacts, the Quinault community looks to move the lower village of Taholah to higher ground.

Laboratory or field work in earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences. To be arranged with department faculty. Consult with department Education Office. This course introduces fundamentals of radon physics, geology, radiation biology; provides hands on experience of measurement of radon in MIT environments, and discusses current radon research in the fields of geology, environment, building and construction, medicine and health physics.

Why do we care about air? Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in... most, if not all, humans do this automatically. Do we really know what is in the air we breathe? In this activity, students use M&M(TM) candies to create pie graphs that show their understanding of the composition of air. They discuss why knowing this information is important to engineers and how engineers use this information to improve technology to better care for our planet.

Rising seas and coastal erosion are eating away at the barrier island on which the Alaska Native Village of Kivalina rests. Residents and others are making concerted efforts to move the community to safety.