Columbus City Schools
The Mystery of Earth’s History
Every living creature can leave a fossil record, yet most fossils belong to extinct organisms rather than ones currently living. Scholars learn about dating rock layers, fossils, and the environment of the past. Pupils understand that...
Curated OER
Geological Time Line Comparison-Earth and Missouri
In this geological time line worksheet, students compare the time lines they created of the earth's history to the history of Missouri. They answer questions about the eras, the scale of the time lines and the major events that occurred...
Curated OER
Relative Age Dating
Modeling dough and paper cutouts in science class? Learn about how relative age dating concepts, like the Law of Superposition and cross-cutting relationships, can be used to describe the formation of sedimentary layers.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
EarthViewer
Can you imagine Washington DC and London as close neighbors occupying the same continent? Learners will be fascinated as they step back in time and discover the evolution of the earth's continents and oceans from 4.5 billion years ago to...
Curated OER
Early Earth History
In this earth history instructional activity, students answer 12 questions about geological time, the eras of Earth, the changes taking place in early Earth and the life present during the eras. They also answer 2 questions about the...
Curated OER
Middle and Recent Earth History
In this middle and recent Earth history activity, students are given 20 statements about the changes in the Earth and life on Earth and they determine if they are true or false. If the statements are false, students change the italicized...
National Science Teachers Association
Adopt-a-Dino
Earth historians research a specific dinosaur, write a paper about the Mesozoic era that it lived in, create an artistic rendition of the environment, and give a presentation in class about what they learned. Be aware that there are...
NASA
Lava Layering
Take the old baking soda and vinegar volcano to the next level by using it to study repeated lava flows over time, examine geologic features on Earth and Mars, and speculate about some of the formations on Mars.
Curated OER
Geologic History PowerPoint Follow Sheet-The Rules of the Game
In this geologic history worksheet, learners answer questions about the earth's history, about dating fossils, about layers of rocks and about unconformity.
Pace University
Grades 9-12 Earth Science
How has Earth changed over time? Pupils explore the topic in a differentiated instruction unit on the geological time scale. After a pre-assessment to gauge knowledge, class members divide into groups based on their ability levels and...
Curated OER
Making The Geologic Time Scale Real
Pupils construct a geologic timeline the size of a football field. They work in small groups to calculate the yardage for significant events in the Earth's history and then as a class pace out all of the events.
Virginia Department of Education
Determining Absolute Age
How can radioactive decay help date old objects? Learners explore half-life and radioactive decay by conducting an experiment using pennies to represent atoms. Young scientists graph data from the experiment to identify radioactive decay...
Curated OER
The History of Life
In this Earth's history worksheet, students will complete 5 true or false questions based on the early history of the Earth. Students will match 7 fossil vocabulary words to their definitions. Students will complete 4 short answer...
It's About Time
Volcanic History of Your Community
Did you know there are 20 volcanoes erupting at any given time? Pupils look at various igneous rocks, read local geologic maps, and determine if their area has a history of volcanic activity. A reading passage and analysis questions...
Curated OER
The History of Life
In this history of life worksheet, students complete a crossword puzzle by figuring out the vocabulary words associated with the 11 clues given. Then students review how paleontologists use fossils to learn more about past living things...
Curated OER
Mapping of the Earth's Past
Students create a scale model time linen of the Earth's 4.6 billion year history. They calculate a scale that can fit on a very long register tape then label each geologic era. They use text books to annotate each era with major geologic...
Curated OER
Geologic Time: Relative and Absolute Dating
Young scholars investigate relative and absolute dating; determine the difference between the two dating systems; and apply this knowledge by creating a geologic timetable of their own.
Curated OER
Dating Sedimentary Strata
Students investigate how the age of sedimentary strata is determined. In this sedimentary strata lesson, students work through problems that show that geological history covers millions of years. They distinguish between relative and...
Curated OER
History of Life
In this history of life worksheet, students will explore how mass extinctions have occurred on Earth, the different periods of the geological time scale, and scientists' use of fossil records. Students will complete 3 fill in the blank...
Curated OER
How Tsunamis Form
In this earth science worksheet, learners read and study facts about tsunami and earthquakes to complete 8 short answer questions that follow.
Discovery Education
The Time of Our Life
Mammals are some of the newest organisms to appear on Earth. Young scholars complete an activity that results in a timeline showing the appearance of different types of living organisms. Provided with a list that spans from prokaryotes...
Curated OER
Time Line Reporters
Individuals in your class research the origin of an animal and present their discoveries to the class. The first appearance of the animal and its date of extinction are indicated on a class time line.
Curated OER
How Many Days Are in a Year?
High schoolers create a calendar for an imaginary planet. In this earth science lesson plan, students analyze the errors on the different calendars used on Earth. They present their work in class.
Curated OER
The Impact of Mining on American History
Students listen to background information about coal and its mining in the United States history. They then construct a timeline using the above article. Illustrate with pictures from the www.coaleducation.org web site.