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A stratigraphic motif observed in many foreland basins is the development of basinward tapering siliciclastic wedges characterized by various scales of depositional cycles. The Middle Devonian (Givetian) Mahantango Formation in the central Appalachian foreland basin is such an example. It consists of both small‐and large‐scale thickening‐ and coarsening‐upward cycles; the small‐scale cycles are typically less than 10 m thick whereas larger‐scale cycles are generally a few tens of metres thick and commonly contain several of the smaller‐scale cycles. Outcrop‐based facies analyses indicate that the depositional cyclicity resulted from episodic progradation of a regionally straight, tide‐dominated shoreline onto a storm‐dominated, shallow marine shelf. The depositional model for this ancient shallow marine system consists of a vertical facies succession in which storm‐dominated offshore marine mudstone and fine sandstone pass gradationally upward into storm‐dominated nearshore marine shelf and shoreface sandstone overlain by, in proximal sections, tide‐dominated shoreline sandstone, pebbly sandstone and mudstone. Transgressively reworked lag deposits cap most of the thickening‐ and coarsening‐ upward packets. In this model, coarse‐grained rocks, rather than implying basinward shifts of facies, are a consanguineous part of the stacked shoaling cycles. Lateral facies relationships show that the dominance of storm‐ vs. tide‐generated sedimentary features is simply a function of palaeogeographical position within the basin; proximal sections contain tidally influenced sedimentary features whereas more distal sections only display evidence for storm‐influenced deposition. These results suggest caution when inferring palaeoceanographic conditions from sedimentological datasets that do not contain preserved examples of palaeoshorelines.

The paradigm of geologic time is built on complex concepts, and students master it in multiple steps. U Concepts in Geology is an inquiry-based geology class for pre-service teachers at Wright State University. The instructors used the Geoscience Concept Inventory (GCI) to determine if student understanding of key ideas about geologic time and Earth history changed between the first and last day of the course. For three of the four GCI questions analyzed in this study, the number of correct student responses increased significantly between the pre-test and the post-test, indicating that many of the students were learning the concepts being tested. Our analyses indicates that for two of the GCI questions, certain incorrect pre-test choices were more likely to give way to correct post-test answers than others. For example, on a question about timelines, students who chose the answer that gave a correct order of events (incorrectly scaled) on the pre-test were more likely to switch to the correct answer on the post-test than students who chose an answer with both an incorrect order and scale on the pre-test. These results imply that some misconceptions are more likely than others to grow into a correct understanding. Misconceptions that consist of multiple incorrect ideas may require more time and effort to replace than simpler ones.

This experiment has been developed to help first-year college students who are preparing to become high school teachers to learn that science is interesting and has direct applications in their lives. We aim to achieve these five main goals when performing the surface water quality studies:1. Train the students in analysis of water quality and instruct them to utilize chemistry equipment and test factors of pH, phosphates, nitrates, conductivity, dissolved oxygen and turbidity (1-6).2. Teach each student problem solving strategies. Students will learn with research that there is never one correct answer; all parameters must be analyzed.3. Students will learn how to communicate their research findings to the classroom by providing a presentation of their experimental analysis.4. Determine and examine effects of urbanization on water quality; allow students to address environmental issues (7-8).5. Assess student's content gain with pre-and post-tests given in the laboratory classroom.The effects of urbanization on water quality present a complex and valid, relevant issue that calls for collaborative and thoughtful analysis by students. They decide the test location, sample size, and an appropriate testing schedule, as well as identifying the relevant aspects of, and making inferences about, their experimental data.Water quality is intrinsically linked to the abundance and value of Ohio's resources, which in turn affects the health and prosperity of the local population. The ability to understand what clean water consists of and how to maintain that level of quality is critical for not only drinking water, but for the state's industries. Comprehending environmental effects on water quality also reveals the need to conserve and restore the integrity of water sources.An innovative hands-on lab experience will challenge and actively engage students in learning about the natural world and their local environment. Characterizing the quality of the water in their own community will encourage students to internalize their lab experience, in comparison with abstracted cookbook laboratory experiments typically used in first-year chemistry courses. This effective, modified lab with a Data were collected in 2005. b Jackson turbidity units.

Students preparing to become teachers at the primary and secondary level must fulfill a chemistry, biology, geology, and physics course requirement as part of their undergraduate program. An interactive environmental science course was designed to provide a set of learning experiences that connect chemistry, geology, biology, physics, and math with their future careers as teachers. The environment deals with many factors contributing to the quality of life, such as the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the protective shelter of the atmosphere. The course described in this article is intended for science education majors, is taught in a field-experience manner with integrated lab experiences, and is limited to 24 students. Students work in pairs to collect data from the environment and evaluate the samples in the laboratory.The National Science Education Standards (NSES) advocate cooperative and inquiry-based classroom activities to better prepare today's education science majors (1-5). Undergraduate science education majors who were trained through a traditional lecture program are unfamiliar with the inquiry-based approach. The NSES states, "Professional development for teachers of science requires essential science content through the perspectives and methods of inquiry…". To meet this goal we developed the Environmental Modular Science (EMS) course for students preparing to become teachers to achieve the objectives the NSES. Two main instruments are used to assess the EMS course: pre-and post-tests on content knowledge, and a questionnaire on teaching beliefs.The goals of the EMS course are:• To increase education science majors' content knowledge through inquiry-based interdisciplinary science field and lab investigations.