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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Moh's Scale of Hardness

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students investigate how to use Moh's Hardness Scale. In this geology activity, students examine several minerals and develop a hypothesis about which mineral is the hardest. Students use the Moh's Scale Identification Chart to determine...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Minerals

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students define the characteristics of a mineral. In this geology lesson, students are given out various materials to observe such as a chicken bone, salt shaker, white paint, and chalk. Students categorize the items and are told what...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Are Rocks Formed?

For Teachers 1st - 6th
Students identify types of rocks. In this geology lesson, students view animated graphics to identify how sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks are formed. Students take a rock quiz to show how different rocks are formed.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

When Plates Collide

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students investigate tectonic plates.  In this geology and geography lesson, students construct convergent, divergent, and transform boundaries using oobleck, foam, and tile. A large amount of background information and relevant website...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mystery Rocks and Minerals

For Teachers K - 6th
Students review the properties of rocks and minerals. In this geology lesson, students distinguish between rocks and minerals. Students also classify the rocks as igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary.
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Lesson Plan
NOAA

Into the Deep

For Teachers 4th - 7th Standards
Take young scientists into the depths of the world's ocean with the second instructional activity of this three-part earth science series. After first drawing pictures representing how they imagine the bottom of the ocean to appear,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

CUPCAKE CORE SAMPLING

For Teachers K - 12th
Young scholars explore what is beneath the surface of the earth is one of the jobs of a geologist. Rather than digging up vast tracts of land to expose an oil field, or to find coalbearing strata, core samples can be taken.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Where Oh Where Did the Rainwater Go?

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders conduct an experiment to determine how water moves through different soils found in the Apalachicola River watershed. They read a scenario, conduct the experiment, answer follow-up questions, and draw the water movement...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Watch Out for Landslides

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students conduct an experiment.  In this landslides lesson, students learn about landslides and discuss how they could minimize the risk of landslides.  Students complete an experiment to see if changing the slope of the land helps...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mapping the Bone Field: An Area and Scale Exercise

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Here is an excellent cross-curricular lesson. Learners relate multiplication to area by making a grid on graph paper, and then creating the same grid in real space outside in the school yard.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Footprints: Take a Step into Estimation

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Compare sizes of student footprints with those of elephants and sauropod dinosaurs! Upper graders make estimations of the areas of irregular shapes; students use grids to make and explain estimates within low and high ranges.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Paleontology: A Field Experience

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students go to a dig where they prospect for bones which simulate fossils. They encase the bones in plaster and transport them back to school for further investigation.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Discovering Fossils

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students dig for and discover fossils in a classroom setting. They dig on a tarp to find, map, assemble, and photograph their discoveries.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Scale Drawings of Dinosaurs

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students, working in groups, make scale drawings of dinosaurs. The four groups then assemble their assigned parts into one composite drawing.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

No bones About It -A Mosasaur

For Teachers 3rd - 10th
Learners model a paleontologist's activities. They identify dinosaur bones and reassemble them into a skeleton of an extinct reptile.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Weighing a Dinosaur

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students role play as paleontologists who make inferences about the weight of dinosaurs. They use models and the density of water to make these inferences.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Educating K-12 Students about Glacier Dynamics in a Changing Climate

For Teachers K - 12th
Students determine which of the following parameters, slope, ice, temperature or basal condition affects the glacier speed the most. They create their own experiment to test what influences glacier speed and temperature of the ice.
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

My Friend, the Volcano

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Working in cooperative groups, young scientists research and report on how undersea volcanic activity may benefit marine ecosystems. There are many links to websites that you can use to stimulate curiosity or for pupils to use for...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sampling the Ocean Floor

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Students sample goodies from an unseen ocean floor and try to accurately describe their composition. This simulation helps students explain the limitations of sampling and the problem of obtaining representative samples of sea floor...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Volcano Factory

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Collaborative groups work together to report on the volcanic activity leading to island formation and construct models to demonstrate the process. Consider having each group present their project to the rest of the class. There are many...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Earth Rocks!

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students study the basic elements of the Earth's crust: rocks, soils and minerals. They categorize rocks, soils and minerals and how they are literally the foundation for our civilization. They also explore how engineers use rock soils...
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Lesson Plan
Journey Through the Universe

Impact Craters: A Look at the Past

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
The Galle crater on Mars is also known as the Happy Face crater because of its appearance. First, scholars use pebbles and flour to simulate craters and study their properties. They then apply this knowledge to help decipher the history...
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Lesson Plan
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Montana State University

Sea Floor to Summit

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Who knew that mountain formation could be so entertaining? Leanr how mountains form with a resource on Mount Everest. Activities to guide learning include a simulation, project, videos, coloring activities, and worksheets.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ride the Rock Cycle

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students identify the steps in the rock cycle. They complete a K-W-L chart before the activity begins. They answer questions about the stages to complete the activity.

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