This month’s blog post was contributed by Kevin R. Engel, Associate Professor, Science Librarian, and Department Head of Kistle Science Library at Grinnell College.
As a Science Librarian, I am always looking for publications and resources that help people to better understand Science topics. Understanding is one of the most important aspects when it comes to taking a critical look at materials that will be used by students and faculty.
Some publications that fit this criteria—and also happen to be OER—include the two resources being featured on the Iowa OER blog this month.
Climate Science, Risk & Solutions
Authors: Kerry Emanuel and others (MIT)
License: CC BY NC SA 4.0
Overview: The goal of this site is to summarize the most important lines of evidence for human-caused climate change. It confronts the stickier questions about uncertainty in our projections, engages in a discussion of risk and risk management, and concludes by presenting different options for taking action. One interesting point about this resource is the fact that its text also comes with a “listen” button to allow users to easily listen to the text-based sections if they need or prefer that modality. Additionally, practice review questions are provided at the end of individual sections. We hope that the facts presented here prepare you for more effective conversations with your community about values, trade-offs, politics, and actions.
Earth@Home
Authors: Don Haas, Elizabeth J. Hermsen, Ingrid Zabel, Jonathan R. Hendricks, Robert M. Ross, and others (Paleontological Research Institution)
License: CC BY NC SA 3.0
Overview: Earth@Home is an online open educational resource (OER) being developed by the Paleontological Research Institution and its Museum of the Earth (PRI; Ithaca, New York) to facilitate place-based geoscience teaching and geoscience career awareness. Geoscientists help society face and address critical 21st-century challenges such as climate change, availability of water and energy resources, and Earth hazards, as well as provide a deeper understanding of the history of Earth, life, and humanity. Earth@Home will ultimately feature fully-developed online guides to regional Earth science and climate (Here on Earth), an online, open access Earth science textbook (Digital Encyclopedia of Earth Science), and an assortment of Virtual Science resources such as Virtual Fieldwork Experiences, Virtual Collections of 3D specimen models, and Virtual Science Experiments.
Call to Action
Do you have any OER related to climate science that you’d like to feature? How about another topic you’d recommend for a resource highlight in the future? Let us know!