Curated OER
Geologic Time: Relative and Absolute Dating
High schoolers 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
Social Studies Lesson Plans With Science Connections
There are great social studies lesson plans that can help students make historical connections to science.
Curated OER
Mud Fossils
Young scholars observe real fossils. In this science instructional activity, students make their own mud fossils by pressing material into the mud and letting it dry in the sun for 3-4 days. Young scholars then get the fossils...
Curated OER
Fossil Inferences
Fourth graders use their knowledge about fossils to arrange fossil pictures in sequence from oldest to youngest. They explain how fossils can be used to make inferences about past life, climate, geology, and environments and discover...
Curated OER
What's In A Name
Second graders read Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. They then discuss where various names come from. They create a individualized biopoem and publish it on word processing software. Their poems are compiled into a class book and presented...
Curated OER
Relative Dating - Telling Time Using Fossils
Students use fossil range charts to explain relative dating. They graph for ammonites, marine organisms that went extinct at the same time as dinosaurs.
Curated OER
Rocks, Minerals, and Fossils
Fourth graders do 5 different lab stations to explore rocks, minerals, and fossils.
Curated OER
Science: What Happens to Create the Lode?
Young scholars understand how mineral deposits are formed and why they are not evenly dispersed. They create and describe three different precipitates from four solutions simulating mineral ore deposit formation in sedimentary rock.
Curated OER
Give me Food!
Students study the food guide pyramid and use it to create their own eating program.In this health lesson plan students visit websites to calculate their BMR, activity level and weight then create a nutrition plan
Curated OER
Let's Get To the Core!
Students practice analyzing ice core samples to discover climate changes. Using the samples, they identify and graph the gas amounts. They use these numbers to determine their effect on global warming. In pairs, they complete a...
American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History: O Logy: Earth: Our World in Motion
This resource is a place for learning all about the Earth--the Earth's layers, its history, rocks and minerals, and interesting Earth science facts and discoveries. Explore, ask questions, find information, and meet American Museum of...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: Global Volcanism Program: This Dynamic Planet
Interactive activity that allows the learner to make their own regional map using layers of their choice such as volcanoes, craters, plate tectonics, or earthquakes. This map of the Earth zooms in and out, highlights essential processes,...
Nine Planets
The Nine Planets: Earth Facts
Find lots of information about our planet Earth here. Covers basic facts, Earth's history, layers of the Earth, plate tectonics, composition of the atmosphere, Earth's magnetic field, and some facts about our moon.
American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History: O Logy: Stuff to Do: Edible Earth
Take a look at the layers that make up our Earth: inner core, outer core, mantle, and crust. Then have fun making a model of the Earth's interior that you can eat up.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Fourth Grade Science: Earth Science: Relative Ages of Rocks
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Looks at how stratigraphy can be used to determine the relative ages of rocks, how unconformities occur, ways to match rock layers in different areas, and how...
University of California
University of California Museum of Paleontology: Geology and Geologic Time
This site provides information about the geologic relationships of rock layers, as well as much about geologic time and the history of Earth.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Deeper Discovery: Earth's Anatomy
Interactive site provides information on each layer of the earth. Click on a layer to discover more about it.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Earth Science: Soil Horizons and Profiles
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Describes the different layers of soil.
University of California
University of California Museum of Paleontology: Uniformitarianism
Read about the pioneers in Earth's geologic history and their discovery of how the process of uniformitarianism shaped the study of evolution.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: What Is the Biosphere?
This article explains that as our knowledge of life on the planet evolves, we've come to use the word biosphere as a way of explaining the entire intertwined network of life on Earth. This concept combines an understanding of geology,...
American Geosciences Institute
American Geosciences Institute: What Can We Tell From the Fossil Record?
Find out what the fossil record tells scientists about the geologic and biological history of the Earth.