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We are excited to announce that Data Puzzles are now published as an NSTA Press book, Earth Science Puzzles: Making Meaning From Data. The content on this website describes the attributes and heritage of the Data Puzzles, and supports use of the published puzzles in the classroom. A free sample chapter is available here for download. Visit the NSTA Press Science Store to order the book. Please note there is an error in the book for which a corrected page is provided in this erratum supplement. All known errors are tracked on the erratum page of this site
Geoscience "Data Puzzles" are data-using activities that purposefully present a low barrier-to-entry for teachers and a high ratio of insight-to-effort for students.
For teachers with little experience using data, Geoscience Data Puzzles can serve as a bridge from a data-free teaching style into a mode of teaching in which students use authentic data to solve problems and answer questions.
For teachers who are already comfortable with data, Geoscience Data Puzzles offer the opportunity to permeate the curriculum with data-using opportunities, slipping in fresh data-using opportunities as homework problems, exam questions, or in-class activities.
Development of Data Puzzles is a collaborative project of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and Liberty Science Center.
The development of Geoscience Data Puzzles has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Grant OCE03-28117 and GEO 06-08057. 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.
Last updated June 14, 2011