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Lamont-Doherty Geoscience Data Puzzles

Lamont Data Puzzle #1: Where did the Water Go?

By Kim Kastens, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

The "Aha" Insights: In this Data Puzzle, students compare the amount of water that fell in a watershed over the course of one year with the amount of water that exited from the watershed via the outflow stream. It turns out that nearly half of the water that fell onto the watershed didn't flow out through the stream. So, where did it go? Students can draw on their understanding of the water cycle to hypothesize that some of the water could have escaped upwards into the atmosphere via evapotranspiration, or downwards into the soil via infiltration. Students find it surprising that these "invisible" pathways in the water cycle carry nearly as much water as the conspicuous pathway of the rushing stream.

• Student View of the Puzzle (pdf)
• Associated Pedagogical Content Knowledge (pdf)
• Freestanding illustrations (pdf)
• Supplementary material:
  • Proposed entry stories to engage students in solving the Watershed Puzzle (pdf)
  • Complete the Watershed Boundary (pdf)
  • Optional additional scaffolding (pdf)

Lamont Data Puzzle #2: Ocean Floor Spreading

By Gregory Hofer, Baccalaureate School for Global Education, and Kim Kastens, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

The "Aha" Insights: In this Data Puzzle, students look at a magnetic anomalies plot across the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge and compare the observed plot with its mirror image. In performing the comparison students see that the pattern across the ridge is nearly symmetrical which leads to the "Aha" that same amount of ocean floor is being added to each plate at the same rate.

• Student View of the Puzzle (pdf) (Word)
• Associated Pedagogical Content Knowledge (pdf) (Word)
• Background Information (pdf) (Word)
• Freestanding illustrations (pdf)

Lamont Data Puzzle #3: How Much Heat is Released from The Earth Through a Hydrothermal Vent at a Mid-Oceanic Ridge?

By Rosemarie Sanders, Ramapo High School, and Kim Kastens, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

The "Aha" Insights: In this data puzzle, students compare the amount of heat given off by a hydrothermal vent with the amount of heat needed to bring kettles of water to the temperature at which water begins to boil. Understanding that the heat released from one vent in a day would provide a cup of coffee/tea/cocoa for every man, woman or child in several Northeastern States helps students to realize that large amounts of heat come from the earth's interior.

• Student View of the Puzzle (pdf)
• Associated Pedagogical Content Knowledge (pdf)
• Background Information (pdf)
• Freestanding illustrations (pdf)

Lamont Data Puzzle #4: Is the Hudson River Too Salty to Drink?

By Margie Turrin, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and Kim Kastens, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

The "Aha" Insights: In this data puzzle, students will examine three different sources of salinity data collected throughout the Hudson River Estuary. By comparing salinity data to a map of the estuary they will see that salinity drops as you move north away from the Atlantic Ocean. By comparing salinity and rainfall data for a four-day period at a single location in the estuary, they will see how a rain event in the watershed forces back the intruding salt from the Atlantic Ocean. By plotting data on the location of the salt front for two two-month periods, they will see that salinity at a given location varies seasonally. In the end, students will understand that the amount of salt in the estuary is controlled by the constant input of freshwater from the northern end of the river system and the salt water intrusion from the Atlantic Ocean.

• Student View of the Puzzle (pdf)
• Associated Pedagogical Content Knowledge (pdf)
• Freestanding illustrations (pdf)

Lamont Data Puzzle #5: What Can Pond Mud Tell Us About Past Climate Change?

By David McGee, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and Kim Kastens, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

The "Aha"Insights: How do scientists figure out what the climate of an area was like 500, 1,000, or 10,000 years ago? In this data puzzle, students use variations in pollen preserved in a sediment core from a pond to reconstruct past climates in the region. By charting the evolution of local climate and vegetation from the end of the last ice age to the present, students are able to visualize past conditions in the region and to understand how the sedimentary record can be used to learn about the past.

• Student View of the Puzzle (pdf)
• Associated Pedagogical Content Knowledge (pdf)
• Freestanding illustrations (pdf)

Lamont Data Puzzle #6: What Does an Earthquake Feel Like?

By Kim Kastens, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and John Armbruster, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

The "Aha"Insights: Students in the Northeast U.S. are often surprised to learn that earthquakes occur in our region, and that they do not all occur at tectonic plate boundaries. Students will learn what an earthquake feels like, when experienced by the human senses and described in everyday language. The high-tech sensors that scientists use today to record seismic waves detect the same phenomena that the human senses detected in the historical newspaper accounts.

• Student View of the Puzzle (pdf)
  • Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale for Earthquakes
  • 1884 Earthquake Newspaper Accounts
• Associated Pedagogical Content Knowledge (pdf)
• Freestanding illustrations (pdf)
• Supplemental Interactive MMI Earthquake Map (PowerPoint)

Lamont Data Puzzle #7: 'Weather' or not to proceed with the trip?

By Deena Bollinger, South Orangetown Middle School, and Kim Kastens, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

The "Aha"Insights: How does wind influence weather? How is weather related to air mass? How can we make weather predictions from lines that show up on a graph? These are just some of the questions students will address as they examine graphs of temperature, dewpoint and wind direction for a single weather event to see how to 'read' the weather story. Students will learn that fronts are the doorway to a weather change; as the leading edge of an air mass, fronts can signal adjustments in temperature, wind direction and even precipitation.

• Student View of the Puzzle (pdf)
• Associated Pedagogical Content Knowledge (pdf)
• Freestanding illustrations (pdf)

The development of Geoscience Data Puzzles has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Grant OCE03-28117 (Data Puzzles #2 and #3) and Grant GEO06-08057 (Data Puzzle #1). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.