AEPA Earth Science AZ045 case studies
AEPA Earth Science AZ045 · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The AEPA Earth Science test is one of the assessments listed in the Arizona Educator Proficiency Assessments program, a testing program for prospective Arizona educators. It is aimed at candidates preparing to teach Earth science, and it appears alongside the other subject tests in the program's test-selection menu, so anyone registering can choose it from that list. The AEPA Earth Science AZ045 case studies are 5 cases and about 3,228 words.
1Mulch, Mud, and a Confounded Hillside
A middle school science club wants to know whether mulch reduces soil erosion on a campus slope. They mark two 4 m × 10 m plots on the same 12° hillside, separated by 3 m.
673 words, about 3 min2Extension Without a Trench
A geoscience team maps a 900 km-long continental region, Region X. GPS stations spanning 60 km across a north–south line record extension of 14 ± 1 mm/yr.
674 words, about 3 min3A Dike, an Ash, and a Borrowed Date
A roadcut exposes a 60 m section, bottom to top: (1) 1.7 Ga gneiss; (2) 12 m of cross-bedded sandstone; (3) 18 m of dark shale containing ammonites of index Zone B; (4) a 15 cm volcanic ash bed; (5) 15 m of fossiliferous limestone; (6) an erosional surface with 2 m of river gravel and cobbles of gneiss, sandstone, and limestone. Zircon from the ash gives 92.4 ± 0.8 Ma.
617 words, about 3 min4A Tide Gauge on Stolen Ground
An estuary tide gauge records 3.9 mm/yr of relative sea-level rise from 1950 to 2020. A GPS station on bedrock 6 km inland records 1.8 mm/yr of subsidence, and groundwater pumping for a nearby city began in 1965 and tripled by 2000.
634 words, about 3 min5Tilt, Shade, and the Winter Sun
A school at 34°N plans a 100 kW solar array and has one year of data from a test array: fixed tilt 34°, facing due south, 1,420 kWh per kW. A vendor proposes a 20° tilt, claiming an 8% gain because "the panels will face the sun more directly." The only nearby comparison is a neighbor's 20° array that produced 1,390 kWh/kW, but that site loses its first two morning hours to a 12 m building.
630 words, about 3 min