8 Earth & Environmental Sciences
Book Collections & Textbooks
- American Environmental History: This text surveys findings of the new field of Environmental History about how the environment of the Americas influenced the actions of people here and how people affected their environments, from prehistory to the present.
- Climate Toolkit 2.0: The Climate Toolkit is a resource manual designed to help the reader navigate the complex and perplexing issue of climate change by providing tools and strategies to explore the underlying science. Contains a collection of activities developed by research groups and public agencies to include web-based climate models, climate data archives, interactive atlases, policy papers, and “solution” catalogs.
- Environmental Biology: Covers environmental issues from a biological perspective; studies scientific foundation of environmental topics to help students develop a nuanced understanding of today’s most pressing environmental issues.
- Digging into Canadian Soils: “Written entirely by members of the Canadian Society of Soil Science, “Digging into Canadian Soils: An Introduction to Soil Science” provides an introduction to the core disciplines of soil science, and introduces the concepts and vocabulary needed by students just beginning their soil science journey. Provides supplementary materials specific to regions in Canada; also intended to introduce students to the Canadian System of Soil Classification.
- Project Gutenberg Geography Bookshelves: Bookshelves include: Africa, Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, Egypt, and more
- World Regional Geography: People, Places and Globalization: Takes a regional approach to globalization and world geography, as each chapter focuses on one subject or region; focuses on the primary issues that have created our cultural and societal structures; basic spatial concepts are also tracked throughout the text to connect ideas and apply concepts to every region of the world.
- OpenGeology Textbooks: Introduction to Geology; Historical Geology; Introduction to Mineralogy
- The Story of Earth: An Observational Guide: This is an open-access lab manual for a historical geology lab focused on student observations.
- Environment and Sustainability Titles: A collection of Environment and Sustainability books from Taylor & Francis
- Virtual Lab and Science Resource Directory: Earth Science: This directory was created in response to the post-secondary science community’s requests for help with the hands-on portions of their courses in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtual labs and science resources were identified by BCcampus, then vetted by subject matter experts. The resources in this directory are intended to support remote science education, either by supplementing concepts or replacing physical labs.
- Laboratory Manual for Introductory Geology: This manual “assists readers through the beginning topics and nomenclature of Geology to familiarize them with Geology’s version of the scientific methods. Readers will learn the various uses of the scientific method in geological terms. These include the time tested steps of observation, measurement, testing, and creating a hypothesis and ultimately various theories about diverse Geological fields. Readers will encounter a comprehensive yet straightforward style and flow as they journey through this text. They will comprehend the various spheres of Geology and begin to master Geological outcomes which are derived from a growing knowledge of the tools and subjects which this text covers in great detail.” A collaboration of Affordable Learning Georgia and the University of North Georgia Press.
Repositories & Research
- ENV 101: Environmental Sci w/Lab: Environmental Sci w/Lab guide from Colorado Community College System (CCCS)/ CCCOnline; Materials have been librarian-curated from a variety of sources and vetted for content and alignment by subject matter experts.
- GEY111 Physical Geology w/Lab: Guide from Colorado Community College System (CCCS) – CCCOnline. Materials have been librarian-curated from a variety of sources and vetted for content and alignment by subject matter experts.
- myFOSSIL eMuseum: The mission of the myFOSSIL eMuseum is to advance scientific understanding by digitally repositing personal specimens to be used in scientific research. These are created through collaboration between professional and avocational paleontologists & educators; includes Fossil Specimens, 3D Gallery, and Exhibits.
- Natural Earth : Natural Earth is a public domain map dataset available at 1:10m, 1:50m, and 1:110 million scales. Featuring tightly integrated vector and raster data, with Natural Earth you can make a variety of visually pleasing, well-crafted maps with cartography or GIS software; a collaboration supported by NACIS (North American Cartographic Information Society), and free for use in any type of project.
- Macrostrat: “Macrostrat is a platform for the aggregation and distribution of geological data relevant to the spatial and temporal distribution of sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks as well as data extracted from them. It is linked to the xDD (formly GeoDeepDive) digital library and machine reading system, and it aims to become a community resource for the addition, editing, and distribution of new stratigraphic, lithological, environmental, and economic data. Interactive applications built upon Macrostrat are designed for educational and research purposes.”
- Radiant Earth Foundation: “Radiant Earth Foundation is a non-profit organization actively working to develop Earth observation machine learning libraries and models through an open source hub that supports global missions like agriculture, conservation, and climate change. Radiant Earth also fosters a community of practice to develop standards around machine learning for Earth observation and provide information on the progress and innovation in the Earth observation marketplace.”
- NOAA ESRL Global Monitoring Laboratory: “The Global Monitoring Laboratory (GML) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration conducts research that addresses three major challenges: greenhouse gas and carbon cycle feedbacks, changes in clouds, aerosols, and surface radiation, and recovery of stratospheric ozone.”
- GeoDIL Images Collection: The Geoscience Digital Image Library (GeoDIL): A collection of Earth science images through a project initiated at the University of North Dakota (UND) in fall 2000.
- The Paleontology Portal: “This site is a resource for anyone interested in paleontology, from the professional in the lab to the interested amateur scouting for fossils to the student in any classroom. We have gathered many different resources into this single entry “portal” to paleontological information on the Internet.” Produced by the University of California Museum of Paleontology, the Paleontological Society, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, and the United States Geological Survey. Funded by the National Science Foundation.
- Polar Research: “Polar Research is the international, peer-reviewed journal of the Norwegian Polar Institute, Norway’s central institution for research, environmental monitoring and mapping of the polar regions; promotes the exchange of scientific knowledge about the Arctic and Antarctic across disciplinary boundaries; awarded the DOAJ Seal, a mark of certification for open access journals, awarded by the Directory of Open Access Journals. [CC BY-NC]
- Open Geography: “This website is dedicated to providing free, open curriculum and resources to anybody who is interested in our geographic world. Using the world as our contributors and content experts, we will strive to make the most engaging, dynamic, and relevant information possible. The spirit behind this movement is community. It is in that spirit that I invite you to provide anything that you find useful to help advance the Open Geography Education and Open Education movement forward. Feel free to use anything within this website for your needs.”
- 100 People: A World Portrait:
- Teach the Earth Portal: “Teach the Earth supports teaching and learning about the Earth by providing online resources for educators in the geosciences and related fields. Resources include classroom activities, course descriptions and syllabi, information about pedagogical strategies, topical collections, and more; managed by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers. A sample of linked project sites include: River Geomorphology Videos; Environmental Geo in the Field; Geology and Human Health Topical Resources; Teaching Sedimentary Geology in the 21st Century Topical Resources; and more. [CC BY-NC-SA]
- OpenStreetMap: “OpenStreetMap is built by a community of mappers that contribute and maintain data about roads, trails, cafés, railway stations, and much more, all over the world.” [CC BY-SA]
OER SPOTLIGHT: EARTH SCIENCES
Open Geography: a website providing free, open curriculum resources to anybody who is interested in our geographic world. “Using the world as our contributors and content experts, we will strive to make the most engaging, dynamic, and relevant information possible. The spirit behind this movement is community. It is in that spirit that I invite you to provide anything that you find useful to help advance the Open Geography Education and Open Education movement forward.”
Open Courseware & Learning
- The Digital Encyclopedia of Ancient Life (DEAL): The Digital Encyclopedia of Ancient Life (DEAL) is an open access “textbook” about fossils and the history of life on Earth. These first chapters were released in 2017, and the project is ongoing. Chapters are added as they are written, and authors differ from chapter to chapter. The eventual goal of the project is to produce a comprehensive textbook of paleontology that provides at least a basic introduction to all major groups of organisms. Most content CC BY-NC-SA.
- MIT OpenCourseWare: Introduction to Geology: “This course introduces students to the basics of geology. Through a combination of lectures, labs, and field observations, we will address topics ranging from mineral and rock identification to the origin of the continents, from geologic mapping to plate tectonics, and from erosion by rivers and glaciers to the history of life.
- LibreTexts Geosciences Library: The Geosciences Library is a principal hub of the LibreTexts project, a multi-institutional collaborative to develop open-access texts for postsecondary education and higher learning.”
- Earth Science: Lumen Learning
Images
- Earth Science Images: Flickr: By NASA on The Commons
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Photo Collections: “The NOAA Photo Library collections reflect NOAA’s broad mission of advancing science Images within the NOAA Photo Library are contributed by NOAA staff and help depict NOAA’s work to explain and interpret our changing environment. The collection includes thousands of weather and space images, hundreds of images of shores and coastal seas, and thousands of marine species images ranging from whales to the most minute plankton.”
- The NOAA Photo Library: “A service of the NOAA Central Library since 1998. The new Photo Library, launched in 2019, organizes approximately 80,000 images into broad collections which are further arranged into specific galleries.” Collections include: National Weather Service; National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL); Coast and Geodetic Survey Collection; Small World, and more. Flickr NOAA Photo Library’s albums.
Video
- Introduction to Plate Tectonics YouTube Playlist: By YouTube Teachers, a YouTube educational initiative.
Interactive
- Earth & The Environment H5P Content: The eCampusOntario H5P Studio site uses H5P, an open source plugin, to allow content authors to easily create interactive content for their courses or other instructional projects. eCampusOntario H5P Studio is provided as part of our set of Open Publishing tools and developed by the Wilfrid Laurier University Library. CC BY-NC-SA
- Interactive STEM activities: Earth & Space: Interactive models and activities developed by the Concord Consortium and curriculum experts; funded by the National Science Foundation.
- LibreStudio H5P Geosciences Library: Licensed with Creative Commons.