Open Educational Resources (OER)

A collection of OER courseware (lectures, slides, syllabi, and modules) is available free to access from Pennsylvania State University's department of Earth and Mineral Sciences.

This website is dedicated to providing free or open curriculum and resources to anybody who is interested in our geographic world.

Based on Stanford University’s wildly popular Understand Energy course, the Learning Hub offers up to date content on energy resources, impacts, management, and use. Faculty are invited to incorporate content from the Learning Hub into their courses.

Explore case studies to see how people are building resilience for their businesses and in their communities. Click dots on the map below to preview case studies, or browse all case studies by clicking the button below the map.

Free online texts on Forestry from the National Academies Press.

Introduction to Earth Science is a 530+ page open textbook designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to Earth Science that can be freely accessed online, read offline, printed, or purchased as a print-on-demand book. It is intended for a typical 1000-level university introductory course in the Geosciences, although its contents could be applied to many other related courses.

This manual consists of both readings and lab exercises on structural geography, which alternate through the text. The readings are designed to be read and understood outside the lab sessions, whereas the labs contain specific instructions and questions to be completed. Before each lab, be sure you have covered the readings that come immediately before it.

Our goal in creating the material for this lab manual was to focus heavily on students making observations of geologic data, whether rocks, minerals, fossils, maps, graphs, and other things. We want students to look at things and wonder why, how, and when. The exercises and examples used in this book are scattered throughout the world. We wanted to make sure that one region of the world was not the sole focus of this work.

This textbook is intended for undergraduate courses in Earth history. It was written by Callan Bentley, Karen Layou, Russ Kohrs, Shelley Jaye, Matt Affolter, and Brian Ricketts.

Learn about igneous and metamorphic rocks (and how to analyze them), the fun way! Students learn concepts and practice knowledge by conducting inquiries guided with examples based on videos and interactive diagrams.

There are no published textbooks on laboratory techniques in the geosciences at the undergraduate level. This project is creating learning modules on scientific analysis and analytical methods that will be delivered in a blended learning format.

Introduction to Geology is a textbook designed to ease new students into the often complex topics of Geology and the study of our planet and its makeup. The book 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

The purpose of this “book” is to help students practice skills to master learning objectives for physical geology laboratory. I hope you will find these materials helpful; however, they are not a substitute for attending class or help sessions in person.

This is a textbook to accompany a one semester course in Stable Isotope Geochemistry. There are 13 chapters, each dealing with a specific subtopic of the field.

This online physical geography textbook is for students to gain a basic understanding of physical geography. It is an introduction to the processes and patterns of the physical environment and demonstrates connections between human activities and the Earth system. The text makes physical geography dynamic through active learning and multimedia integration.

This text was designed as a resource to instill the knowledge and adventure that the discipline of geography holds for so many of us. The following units will cover a wide array of topics such as: Earth’s grid system, rivers, oceans, deserts, basic geology, and cartography.

Introduction to Human Geography: A Disciplinary Approach is a free eText designed for students enrolled in survey courses in Human/Cultural Geography or US Geography.

Throughout this eTextbook, each chapter will discuss each major world region in detail, placing particular emphasis on their physical and environmental environments, along with their cultural and societal structures.

Essentials of Geographic Information Systems integrates key concepts behind the technology with practical concerns and real-world applications. Recognizing that many potential GIS users are nonspecialists or may only need a few maps, this book is designed to be accessible, pragmatic, and concise.

The goals of this textbook are to help students acquire the technical skills of using software and managing a database, and develop research skills of collecting data, analyzing information and presenting results.

This peer-reviewed lab manual includes twenty lab exercises, originally designed for California community college students.

This text prepares students by laying a solid foundation in the application of physical, chemical, and mathematical principles to a broad range of atmospheric phenomena. It gives non-Meteorology students a comprehensive understanding of atmospheric science and quantitative analytical tools to apply atmospheric science to their own disciplines.

This book delves into climate science with clear prose and many chances to reflect on learning. Although in-depth for an introductory class, the book has been adopted widely and can be purchased in print or accessed freely online.

This book describes how Earth's climate is changing, how it has been changing in the recent geological past and how it may change in the future. It covers the physical sciences that build the foundations of our current understanding of global climate change such as radiation, Earth's energy balance, the greenhouse effect and the carbon cycle. Both natural and human causes for climate change are discussed. Impacts of climate change on natural and human systems are summarized.

This book is predominantly about climate, and the macro influences of climate and climate change on design.

This course uses the basic principles of biology and earth science as a context for understanding environmental policies and resource management practices. Our planet is facing unprecedented environmental challenges, from oil spills to global climate change.

This college-level open textbook covers the most salient environmental issues from a biological perspective.

The content is intended to be useful for both a broad-based introductory class on sustainability and as a useful supplement to specialist courses which wish to review the sustainability dimensions of their areas of study. By including glossaries, review questions, case studies, and links to further resources, the text has sufficient range to perform as the core resource for a semester course.

A comprehensive survey of American Environmental History covering the exodus and evolution of homo sapiens to food production and transportation in modern day.

This book was written by undergraduate students at The Ohio State University (OSU) who were enrolled in the class Introduction to Environmental Science. The chapters describe some of Earth's major environmental challenges and discuss ways that humans are using cutting-edge science and engineering to provide sustainable solutions to these problems.

The second volume of the Environmental ScienceBites book was authored by 30 unique undergraduate students enrolled in the course Introduction to Environmental Science at The Ohio State University. The book highlights both articles and posters describing critical environmental issues important to the first-time authors.

This first-year undergraduate open textbook covers the most salient environmental issues from both biological and social science perspectives. The book is a collaboration between various authors and organizations that are committed to providing students with high quality and affordable textbooks.

This open online textbook on Environmental Toxicology aims at covering the field in its full width, including aspects of environmental chemistry, ecotoxicology, toxicology and risk assessment. With that, it will contribute to improving the quality, continuity and transparency of the education in environmental toxicology.

Funded through the ISU Miller Open Education Mini-Grant Program, this text is intended to support courses that bridge the divide between mathematics typically encountered in U.S. high school curricula and the practical problems that natural resource students might engage with in their disciplinary coursework and professional internships.

This is a forest measurements textbook written for field technicians. Silvicultural applications and illustrations are provided to demonstrate the relevance of the measurements. Special “technique tips” for each skill are intended to help increase data collection accuracy and confidence.

This book is our attempt to provide a framework that managers of natural resources can use to design monitoring programs that will benefit future generations by providing the information needed to make informed decisions. In addition we offer tools and approaches that engage individuals in our society in monitoring programs. We firmly believe that people and communities who are empowered in the design and implementation of monitoring programs are more likely to use the information that results from the program, and support it over time.

Through case studies, engaging narrative and graphics, and exercises, the 389-page, undergraduate-level text explores major motivations for fishing and non-fishing related values, responsible fisheries practices, the rights of all people to decide how to manage and conserve fish, their habitats, and how they are utilized.

Natural Resources Biometrics begins with a review of descriptive statistics, estimation, and hypothesis testing. The following chapters cover one- and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), including multiple comparison methods and interaction assessment, with a strong emphasis on application and interpretation.

The Future of Food is an introductory-level science course that emphasizes the challenges facing food systems in the 21st century, and issues of sustainability for agriculture and other food production activities as well as the challenges posed by food insecurity and modern diets to human health and well-being.

Youtube videos from the USDA Forest Service. Established in 1905, the Forest Service is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Forest Service manages public lands in national forests and grasslands.