Curated OER
Sea Floor Spreading
Students discuss convection currents in the Earth's mantle, how they form, and how they move as well as the causes of earthquakes. Working in a group, they analyze a color coded World Earthquake Map and try to determine which direction...
Curated OER
Plate Tectonics: Second Grade Lesson Plans and Activities
Second graders explore convection currents and how they relate to the movement of tectonic plates. Then, young geologists reconstruct Pangaea with a worksheet and pinpoint plate boundaries on a map using locations of earthquakes and...
Curated OER
Plate Tectonics And Convection Currents
Students observe the currents that occur through convection in water and relate them to the currents in molten rock in the Earth's mantle. They set up a convection current in a cake pan of water using a bag of ice on one end and an...
Curated OER
This Dynamic Earth: The Story of Plate Tectonics
Discuss Earth's tectonic plates at middle school level with an informative presentation. Packed with maps, satellite images, diagrams, and photographs, the slideshow connects with any curriculum focused on plate tectonics. It...
Curated OER
The Magma Also Rises
Convection is thoroughly demonstrated using a model of Earth's mantle. Detailed background information is provided for the teacher, as well as a list of materials. Although a colorful and detailed worksheet is available for the class,...
Curated OER
Cruising the Mantle
Students explore the plate boundaries of the earth. Through the use of video, internet and hands-on activities, students examine the types of plate boundaries. They create a model to illustrate the movement and interaction of the...
Curated OER
How Heating and Convection Contributes to Natural Disasters
Learners study the basics of heating and cooling and how it pertains to the earth. For this global lesson students read the Magic Tree House book then create a chart of their findings.
Curated OER
My Science Box: Seafloor Spreading
Students examine the movement of plate tectonics. In this lesson on the spreading of the seafloor, students use maps and models to observe how the sea floor spreads.
NorthEast Ohio Geoscience Education Outreach
Investigation of Plate Boundaries
Demonstrate the movement of lithospheric plates due to convection in Earth's mantle. Learners then model the movements that occur along plate boundaries using colored clay.Â
Curated OER
Plate Tectonics
Help young scientists piece together the theory of plate tectonics with this comprehensive collection of materials. Whether your are looking for worksheets, hands-on activities, or assessments, this resource has everything a science...
Curated OER
Oceanography Worksheet #1
If you are teaching physical oceanography to middle school earth scientists, here is a terrific multiple choice worksheet. Learners look at a diagram of a landscape created by glacial sediment deposition and the resulting ocean floor....
Curated OER
Heat Up the Floating Plates
Eighth graders research the connection between the convection currents within the mantle of the earth and the moving of Earth's plates. A connection to lessons at previous grade levels on the rock cycle and important background...
Columbus City Schools
History Helps When It Comes To Plate Tectonics
Get ready to move, shake, slip, and slide with a well-rounded plate tectonics unit! The engaging resource includes everything you need to inspire eighth grade science scholars, from worksheets to demonstrations. Assess their...
Geographer Online
Restless Earth
In less than 25 years, the continent of Australia moved 4.9 feet thanks to plate tectonics. The presentation introduces the idea of the layers of the earth as well as plate tectonics. It goes into why the plates move and where we believe...
Curated OER
Label the Earth Diagram
In this earth's layer worksheet, students label a diagram of the earth's layers. They are given 4 terms and their definitions to read and students determine which layer is which on the diagram based on the definitions.
Curated OER
Earth Science: The Structure of the Earth
Young scholars identify and complete activities about the structure of the Earth. In this Earth structure lesson, students view a Powerpoint about the Earth's layers and complete a diagram. young scholars compare temperatures in the...
Curated OER
Atmospheric Cells
Students recognize that the sun is the source of energy driving atmosphere cells. They relate the motion of the atmospheric cells to mantle convection cells. Students recognize that the function of atmospheric cells is to move heat from...
Curated OER
A Model of the Sea-floor
Students create a paper model to illustrate sea-floor spreading.
Ocean Explorer
Living with the Heat
Young oceanographers study the Submarine Ring of Fire, which is a series of deep-water volcanic vents that come up from the ocean floor. Learners take a close look at the unique ecosystems that are associated with these areas, how these...
Curated OER
Where Did They Come From?
Give science learners nine questions about the biogeography of hydrothermal vents and turn them loose to research this fascinating habitat. Working in cooperative groups, they prepare a report that addresses each of the questions. A...
Ocean Explorer
The Volcano Factory
The tectonic processes that have resulted in the formation of the Marianas Arc, and the Marianas Trench are explored. Groups of pupils access websites that give them a wealth of information about these formations. Each group must prepare...
NOAA
Where There's Smoke, There's ...
A remotely operated vehicle approaching a volcano was engulfed by molten sulfur where the plumes of fluids contained the highest concentrations of aluminum ever recorded. This isn't science fiction or an April fools joke, though it did...
Curated OER
Hydrothermal Vent Challenge
Give our ocean voyagers the "Hydrothermal Vent Challenge!" It is a worksheet that guides them through an exploration of hydrothermal vents and the chemical reactions that occur when lava meets seawater. Using a collection of websites,...
Curated OER
Mystery of the Megaplume
Read through the extensive background information and then lead your geology or physical oceanography class through an investigation of actual temperature anomaly data from the Juan de Fuca ridge. They translate the data onto a plot,...