Curated OER
The Biggest Plates on Earth
The best part about teaching guides is all the great information you can use to inform your class. They infer what type of boundary exists between two tectonic plates. Then, using given information on earthquakes and volcanism they'll...
Channel Islands Film
Island Rotation: Lesson Plan 1
How do scientists provide evidence to support the theories they put forth? What clues do they put together to create these theories? After watching West of the West's documentary Island Rotation class members engage in a series of...
Curated OER
Floating Plates on the Earth
Fourth graders construct a concept map about Plate Tectonics. They include types of movement, names and effects of boundaries. They research plate tectonics, describe and name 3 types. They analyze the effect on the earth's surface of...
Curated OER
Plate Tectonic Cycle
Learners explore the Earth's movements by completing worksheets. In this plate tectonics lesson, students define such natural disasters as volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and mudslides and discuss their connections to plate tectonics....
Curated OER
Plate Tectonics: Surface and Subsurface Processes
Eighth graders explore the geological process of plate tectonics. In this plate tectonic instructional activity, 8th graders design, construct and present a working model of a plate tectonics concept. This instructional activity includes...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Nature’s Fury: Extra Support Lessons (Theme 1)
Earthquakes, hurricanes, volcano eruptions, and more. To enrich their study of nature's big events, kids map tectonic plates and major earthquake locations, identify emergency response agencies, and storyboard a film about volcanos.
Curated OER
Active Volcanoes, Plate Tectonics and the "Ring of Fire"
In this volcanoes, plate tectonics and "Ring of Fire" worksheet, students view the location of volcanoes on a map of the Earth, they see the "Ring of Fire" and they locate the major plates of the Earth's crust. They use the map as...
Curated OER
Shaky New Zealand
Students explore geography by answering study questions in class. In this plate tectonics lesson, students identify the earthquake data concerning the country of New Zealand and answer questions regarding the data. Students identify...
Curated OER
Earthquakes and Volcanoes
Even though volcanoes look alike, they can be very different based on the types of lava that erupts from their surface. Learn about strata volcanoes, shield volcanoes, and the varying viscosity of lava with an engaging hands-on activity....
Curated OER
Pangaea Puzzle: Exploring the Tectonic Forces That Shape the Earth
Sixth graders follow in the footsteps of early scientists as they put the pieces of Pangaea back together and discovered the forces that create the variety of landforms and sea-floor features of our Earth.
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...
Channel Islands Film
Island Rotation: Lesson Plan 2
Why are Torrey pines only found in La Jolla, California and on Santa Rosa Island? Class members examine images of Torrey pines from these two locations, noting the similarities and differences, and then develop a demonstration model that...
Curated OER
Earthquake Alphabet Activity
In this earthquake activity activity, students examine 10 earthquake-related terms and then put those terms into alphabetical order.
EngageNY
TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 9
Here's a workshop for teachers that rocks the academic world! Using earthquakes as a medium for instruction, educators learn about crosscutting engineering with science. Fun, hands-on, collaborative exercises encourage participants to...
Worksheet Web
Learning about Volcanoes
There's something about the classic volcano demonstration that can grab any learners' attention. Scholars begin with a reading and grand conversation about volcanoes, construct an erupting volcano using vinegar and baking soda, then show...
Curated OER
Types of Faults
This set of black-line diagrams of the three different types of faults can be used with your upper elementary earth scientists. Simply have them color the layers to show where the land once lined up. Another use for this resource would...
Curated OER
Earthquake Machine
Students explore plate tectonics by conducting a class experiment. In this earthquake activity, students utilize scrap wood, sandpaper, rubber bands and a sanding belt to create a model earthquake experiment which shakes a nearby...
Curated OER
Life Along the Ring of Fire
Students research geological forces that create the Ring of Fire and its effects on cultures. They write reports on how natural disasters influence societies.
Curated OER
Disaster Cycles
Students explore what causes natural disasters. In this environmental lesson plan, students will spend four weeks using activities to help in their understanding of the Hydrological Cycle, Hurricanes, Plate Tectonics, and the Recovery...
Curated OER
The 50 States and its Holidays
Though the format of this ELL lesson is confusing (the standards listed are for plate tectonics, yet the objectives are for American geography and holidays), a teacher could glean some ideas from the main idea. Here, pupils complete a...
Curated OER
A Model of Three Faults
Young scholars investigate faults. In this science lesson plan, students explore the many stresses and strains in the earth's layers and research the types of faults in their state.
Curated OER
Volcano Live
Pupils discover the inevitable threat of volcanoes as they identify the ring of fire. In this natural disasters lesson, students examine the tectonic plate theory and discuss how magma works it's way to the surface of the Earth. Pupils...
Curated OER
Tic-Tac-Toe for Layers of the Earth
Eighth graders identify the different layers of the earth. In this earth science instructional activity, 8th graders choose a project to do from a given list according to their learning style. They present their finished project in class.
Curated OER
Building a Better Sentence
Sentence construction is both a science and an art. This bare bones lesson plan ties an analysis of earth's geology to sentence formation. Although referenced as a major part of the activity, there are no links to the technology or...