MTEL Earth and Space Science (74) case studies
MTEL Earth and Space Science (74) · Put your knowledge to work in context.
Earth and Space Science (74) is one of the Subject Matter Tests in the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL) program, listed among the state's subject-matter fields. Candidates generally take it to demonstrate the subject knowledge required for a Massachusetts educator license in earth and space science; licensure requirements themselves are set by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, not by this page. The MTEL Earth and Space Science (74) case studies are 5 cases and about 3,327 words.
1Groin Expansion on a Retreating Barrier Island
A barrier-island town has tracked shoreline position along three shore-normal transects using georeferenced aerial photographs since 1950. Transect A sits 200 m south (downdrift) of a 1962 rock groin at the island's north end and moved 210 m landward between 1950 and 2020.
564 words, about 3 min2A Misfit Circle in a Four-Station Epicenter Solution
A regional seismic network records a magnitude 4.6 earthquake. Four stations report S-minus-P arrival-time intervals: RKV 5.0 s, BLM 7.5 s, PTR 10.0 s and OAK 6.2 s.
750 words, about 4 min3Grading a Stratigraphic Column That Contains a Detrital Date
A road cut exposes, from bottom to top: (1) Precambrian gneiss dated 1.1 Ga; (2) a conglomerate containing gneiss clasts; (3) a sandstone with a volcanic ash bed dated 88 ± 2 Ma; (4) a marine shale containing ammonites of Late Cretaceous affinity (roughly 100-66 Ma); (5) an angular unconformity; (6) flat-lying limestone. A basalt dike dated 62 ± 1 Ma cuts the shale and the ash bed but is truncated by the limestone.
762 words, about 4 min4Three-Point Problem at a Landfill
A landfill sits on 25 m of unconsolidated sand and gravel over granite. A consultant installs three monitoring wells screened in the same unconfined aquifer: MW-1 at the northwest corner of the site, MW-2 600 m due east of MW-1, and MW-3 500 m due south of MW-1.
561 words, about 3 min5A High-School Exoplanet Claim With a Secondary Dip
A high-school observatory collects 40 nights of CCD photometry of a V = 11.3 Sun-like star using a 0.20 m telescope. The light curve shows a 1.2% dip every 3.71 days lasting 3.1 hours, plus a shallower 0.30% dip centered exactly halfway between the deep dips.
690 words, about 3 min