Curated OER
Our Ever Changing Earth
First graders study ways in which the earth changes due to erosion and weathering in this series of lessons.
Curated OER
Earthquake Formation
Students explore earthquakes. In this natural disaster and engineer career education lesson, students identify features of the earth's surface that increase the likelihood of an earthquake. Students use visual aids to locate the earth's...
Curated OER
ESRI Live Earthquake Site
High schoolers examine a World map and find earthquakes near plate boundaries. They locate and describe earthquakes in the United States and California.
Curated OER
Volcanoes-Viscosity Demonstration
Students engage in a activity which demonstrates that volcanism is the process whereby materials formed inside the Earth come out onto the surface. They participate in a simple, yet effective, activity which demonstrates how volcanoes...
Curated OER
Our Changing View of the Earth
Students explore the theory of Plate Tectonics. They participate in a simulation in which they re-enact the debate over Plate Tectonics vs. traditional beliefs of stationary continents that were widely accepted during the 1800's and...
Curated OER
Marine Environmental Geology
Students take this course as an introduction to the aspects of marine geology and oceanography that affect the environment and marine resources. Topics include estuarine oceanography and sediments, eutrophication of coastal waters,...
Curated OER
Plate Tectonics
Students complete a data sheet. In this Earth composition lesson, students learn what happens when the Earth's plates push against each other. They watch a teacher demonstration and complete a data sheet.
Curated OER
Get the Drift?
The anticipatory set is clever: give groups five minutes to work on the puzzle and then discuss what strategies they used to match the few that connected. This introduces middle schoolers to the concept of continental drift. A portion of...
Curated OER
Volcanoes: Kindergarten Lesson Plans and Activities
In the pre-lab, kindergarteners mimic the movements of the eruption of a volcano and discover various volcanoes around the United States. Then, pupils sort different types of volcanic rocks in the lab before learning how volcanoes grow...
Curated OER
Hazards: Kindergarten Lesson Plans and Activities
The last unit in the series allows kindergarteners to see the dangers and hazards associated with each of the natural disasters learned so far in the series—earthquakes and volcanoes. They listen to sounds associated with the disasters.
Curated OER
Earthquakes: Kindergarten Lesson Plans and Activities
Beginning with a pre-lab, kindergarteners trace the letters in the word earthquake and discuss what happens in an earthquake. The lab portion allows young scientists realize that earthquakes trigger shaking of different intensities...
NOAA
Into the Deep
Take young scientists into the depths of the world's ocean with the second lesson of this three-part earth science series. After first drawing pictures representing how they imagine the bottom of the ocean to appear, students investigate...
Curated OER
Volcanoes
Students view images and interactive activities on the Internet about volcanoes. In this plate tectonics lesson, students use the Internet to view PDF images and HTML Interactive activities while writing observations in their journals....
Curated OER
Day 4: Plate Tectonics II
Students explore the theory of plate tectonics. In this geology activity, students conduct a simulation of the crust of the Earth floating on the mantle. Students research plate tectonics and share their findings with the class. Students...
Curated OER
Puzzle of the Plates
Students research tectonic plates and their movement. In this plate instructional activity, students describe the motion of these plates and the boundaries between them. They look into the San Andreas Fault and explore the earthquakes...
Curated OER
Mapping Plate Boundaries
Students discover plate boundaries based on the uneven geographic occurrence of geologic hazards. After discussing geologic hazards, students plot different sets of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions on maps.
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...
Curated OER
Continents on the Move
Middle schoolers examine the tectonic plates of the Earth and how the landforms of Earth have changed position over time. In groups, they identify the evidence that the continents are still moving. To end the lesson, they practice...
Curated OER
The Volcano Factory
Collaborative groups work together to report on the volcanic activity leading to island formation and construct models to demonstrate the process. Consider having each group present their project to the rest of the class. There are many...
NOAA
The Oceanographic Yo-yo
How does chemistry help deep-sea explorers? Part four of a five-part series of lessons from aboard the Okeanos Explorer introduces middle school scientists to technologies used in ocean exploration. Groups work together to analyze data...
Curated OER
Where in the World Is That Volcano?
Identify the Earth's major volcanoes with an earth science lesson. Elementary and middle schoolers locate major volcanoes on a world map. Then, in groups, they research how the volcano affects the region in which it is located.
Curated OER
Earthquakes And Fault Lines
Students discuss major causes of earthquakes and identify famous fault lines, access and map information about ten largest earthquakes in world from 1989 to 1998, and theorize about location of these earthquakes as they relate to Earth's...
Science Matters
Ring of Fire
Over a period of 35 years, earthquakes and volcanoes combined only accounted for 1.5 percent of the deaths from natural disasters in the United States. The 15th lesson in a 20-part series connects the locations of earthquakes and...
Science Matters
Earth Shaking Events
The world's largest measured earthquake happened in 1960 in Chile, reaching a terrifying 9.5 magnitude on the Richter Scale. The second activity in the 20-part series introduces earthquakes and fault lines. Scholars map where previous...