Consortium for Ocean Leadership
Nannofossils Reveal Seafloor Spreading Truth
Spread the word about seafloor spreading! Junior geologists prove Albert Wegener right in an activity that combines data analysis and deep ocean exploration. Learners analyze and graph fossil sample data taken from sites along the...
Royal Society of Chemistry
Structure of the Earth
What lies beyond the ground beneath our feet? Young geologists learn the four main layers of Earth with an engaging puzzle set. The interactive illustrates each layer, and users must place them correctly before they can progress to the...
PBS
Earth’s Ever-Changing Surface
The Grand Canyon formed between five and six million years ago, but is it still changing? Scholars explore 10 sites in the United States, including the Grand Canyon, to better understand the geoscience processes that formed these...
NASA
Lava Layering: Making and Mapping a Volcano
Looking for an out-of-this-world volcanic activity? Geologists study Earth's volcanic history and the neighboring planet Mars by modeling volcanic eruptions, lava flows, and building a shield volcano. Participants use graph paper and...
Curated OER
Geologic Age
Students investigate radioactivity as a tool for measuring geologic time and how geologists use this information to determine the absolute age of rocks or minerals.
Curated OER
Hill of Fire
High schoolers examine Paricutin eruptions. In this science lesson, students locate Paricutin on a map and take a virtual tour of volcanoes around the world. High schoolers email questions to a geologist and create a news report on the...
Curated OER
Percent Deviation Rocks and Minerals
In this rocks and minerals instructional activity, students calculate the percent deviation from various mass measurements taken of rocks or minerals. This instructional activity has 10 problems to solve.
Curated OER
Cupcake Core Sampling
Students discuss core samples. In this environment lesson plan, students experiment discovering what is beneath the surface by using cupcakes as models finding out what sort of layers are found within the cupcakes.
Curated OER
Map your Schoolyard
Young scholars practice their mapping skills by creating an accurate map of their schoolyard using an aerial photo from the National Map web site. Students include legends, a scale, and a north arrow on their maps.
Curated OER
Bellwork for Week 4-Geology and the Periodic Table
In this geology and the periodic table worksheet, students answer nine questions about specific minerals, the patterns in the periodic table, and properties of rocks and minerals.
Curated OER
Geologic Age
Students investigate rocks. In this geologic age instructional activity, students conduct an experiment to determine absolute age as one would for rock layers. Students graph data and problem solve using results.
Curated OER
Rocks and Minerals
Take young geologists on an exploration of the collection of rocks and minerals that we call Earth with an upper-elementary science lesson. Through a series of class discussion and hands-on investigations, students learn about the three...
Curated OER
Seismometer
All this resource provides is a black line diagram of a simple seismometer and two sentences explaining how it works. Use this as a transparency or display it through your projector when studying tectonic activity. It would be especially...
Curated OER
Blast It! (Learning About Copper)
Opening with background information on copper use and mining, this worksheet assesses junior geologists' reading comprehension. A map activity is available, but the map is not. There is a useful set of vocabulary matching cards and a...
Curated OER
Roger the Rock
Here is a creative way to assess your geologists' grasp of the rock cycle: have them write and illustrate a children's book in which the main character journeys though his life, i.e. the rock cycle! A brief student instruction sheet and...
Curated OER
Rocks Worksheet #2
Topping the page is a chart of crystal size and mineral composition of several different igneous rocks. Geology whizzes answer five multiple choice questions after analyzing the information in the chart. This is a simple, but sufficient...
Curated OER
Rocks Worksheet #3
Here is a worksheet in which junior geologists determine where the igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks might be found on a diagram of rock layers in Earth.s crust. They show what they know through a series of five multiple choice...
Curated OER
The Blast Furnace
The eight slides here progress through the stages of the extraction of iron from its ore. They include the reasons for the process, method overview, and reactions. A slide show produced by students, it is a good example of correct...
Curated OER
Rocks
Rocks rock! Humans use them for many things like tile, chalk, counter tops, and brick. Introduce young geologists to the many uses of rock with this presentation. Each slide shows a photo of a rock in its natural state alongside a photo...
Curated OER
Soils: One of Our Natural Resources
"God made dirt, so dirt don't hurt!" In fact, dirt is soil, which is an amazingly dynamic material that we cannot live without! Dig into the depths of soil development, topography, and layers with this PowerPoint. The photos are fuzzy,...
Curated OER
Chapter 3 ~ Physical Properties of Soil
Though information-packed, this presentation on soil is drab if it stands alone. As you journey through slides about soil texture, make sure to pass around samples of each type. Perform demonstrations as you lecture on soil density and...
Center for Math and Science Education
Plate Tectonic Globe
During your Earth systems unit, you could have junior geologists cut out and create a small globe depicting the tectonic plates. You may want to do this all together, step by step as a class because it would be easy to cut all of the...
NorthEast Ohio Geoscience Education Outreach
Hydrology and Landforms
Three days of erosion exploration await your elementary geologists. Learners begin by examining rivers via Google Earth, then they model water flow in sand, and finally, they identify resulting landforms. This lesson is written...
K-State Research and Extensions
Field Trip Preparations
Scholars prepare for a field trip to collect rock specimens. They learn how to build proper display boxes, create road logs, and study various geology careers. This is the final chapter in a seven-chapter unit on geology and contains six...