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Structural Geology Laboratory
Students explore modeling of geologic structures in experiments. They study how compressive and tensile forces produce these structures. The compression makes the flatlying strata shorter and tension make the strata longer.
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The Rock Cycle
Students study the rock cycle of different types of rock. They arrange cut-outs of the parts of the rock cycle in the correct order and then draw the rock cycle or research different types of rocks.
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Rocks and Minerals: Sedimentary Rocks
Students explore the concept of rock formation. In this sedimentary rocks activity, students observe and record their findings about sedimentary rocks. Students then create limestone, coal, and sandstone models and write...
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Energy and the Environment: What Can We Do?
Pupils consider the impacts of global warming and brainstorm ways to help decrease their contribution to the problem. In this climate change lesson plan, students are exposed to facts concerning global warming and think of ways to...
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My Time
Pupils create a timeline of their lives. In this timeline lesson, students discuss relative and absolute time. They use events in their lives to create categories on a timeline. They link this lesson to geologic timelines.
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Dating Popcorn
Students simulate the dating process with popcorn. In this geology lesson plan, students discuss how geologist find the age of rocks by gauging the amount of decay of radioactive elements. They have 6 bags of popcorn and each group...
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Volcano!-Thar She Blows!
Students describe how volcanoes are formed. They name the types of boundaries where volcanoes occur. They utilize models to illustrate the occurence of volcanoes and earthquakes along plate boundaries. They compare and constrast the...
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Asteroids
Students examine a potential asteroid impact site. They describe evidence and theories for extinction events.
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Sculpt-a-Planet
Students study the moon and the planets. They create a painted, paper mache moon or planet sculpture.
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Thinking About Newton's 1st Law
Students discuss the lives of both Aristotle and Newton in order to bring important differences between the two to the forefront. They evaluate two statements about motion and use the ideas from the discussion to determine which...
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Wonders of Weather
Students understand the destructive force of a tornado. They learn the role of a thunderstorm in the creation of a tornado.
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Why is the Sky Blue?
Students explore diffusion or scattering of light. In this physics lesson plan, students explain why the sky is blue and sunsets/sunrises are red.
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Comets
Young scholars explore the nature and composition of a comet. They research comet facts, legends, and myths. They identify different types of comets and describe what happens to a comet as it travels closer to the Sun.
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The Water Cycle
Students describe the water cycle. Students identify the processess in the water cycle. They draw an illustration of the water cycel with arrows showing the path water takes through the cycle. Students label condesation, precipitation,...
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Corals and Coral Reefs
Young scholars label the continents, oceans, and seas on a provided world map and use it to determine where they would expect most of the world's coral reefs to be found based on provided information the teacher has read to them.
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Design an Island
Students make a map of an imaginary island using the topographic symbols provided from a worksheet. Students place lakes, dwellins, reefs, etc. in areas where they would logically be located from understanding how the topography of an...
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Geothermal Energy Crossword Puzzle
In this geothermal energy crossword puzzle instructional activity, learners use the 17 clues to help them correctly complete the crossword puzzle.
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A Hydrothermal Adventure
Learners analyze hydrothermal vents. In this hydrothermal vents lesson, students discover the effects of hydrothermal vents on tectonic plates. Learners make model hydrothermal vents to understand how they form and operate.
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Introduction to Volcanoes
Students develop a basic understanding of volcanoes. They watch a PowerPoint Presentation which introduces three types of volcanoes: shield volcanoes, cinder cones, and composite volcanoes.
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Land Associations
Middle schoolers identify and explore life forms of various biomes, define transitional regions, examine effects of abiotic and biotic interactions, research a biome, and produce newspaper that features environmental information. Lessons...
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Biomes: Extreme Climate
Students create a web connecting global warming, the Arctic, and wold climate. They write a paragraph explaining the role of the Arctic in world climate.
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Extreme Climate
Students discuss global warming, greenhouse effect, permafrost and other key words. In this climate lesson students create a web that connects global warming, the Arctic and world climate then write a paragraph explaining the role...
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MLTI region
In this MLTI region learning exercise, students answer multiple choice questions about the MLTI region and other NASA missions. Students answer four questions.
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Erosion
Students examine soil erosion and what causes it. In this soil lesson students complete several experiments on soil erosion and the weathering process.