Working in cooperative groups, young scientists research and report on how undersea volcanic activity may benefit marine ecosystems. There are many links to websites that you can use to stimulate curiosity or for pupils to use for...

Students explore what they know about Monterey Bay in the special topics course and share their information with K-12 grade children at local schools by participating in the Virtual Canyon Project. Students in this service learning...

Students will enjoy smashing the two tectonic sandwich plates together in faulting and compression fashions! They may even desire to capture their instructional destruction in a slideshow.

Geology can be a lot of fun. Learners review geology related vocabulary, make flashcards, use encyclopedias to answer questions, then explore the formation of coal. They identify dates and order them into key time frames of geologic...

An interesting lesson on different types of soils is here for you. In it, learners discuss what soil is, and consider three piles of soil - clay, sand, and loam. During the rest of the lesson, third graders discover all sorts of...

Students examine Paricutin eruptions. In this science instructional activity, students locate Paricutin on a map and take a virtual tour of volcanoes around the world. Students email questions to a geologist and create a news report...

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...

See how much your class knows about earthquakes and volcanic activity and how these events shape geologic features. The first lesson in the series of 20 is a pre-test to find out what pupils already know. It includes 10 vocabulary...

Fifth graders continue their investigation of the plate tectonics cycle with an exploration of the movement of Earth's crust. During the lab, young geologists conduct an experiment to discover the result of different types of...

Go on a moon mining expedition from the safety of your classroom with this space exploration simulation. Using simple models of the moon's surface prepared ahead of time by the teacher, young scientists are challenged with locating and...

For this geologic time worksheet, students review how fossils were formed and the events that mark the various geological eras and periods. This worksheet has 10 fill in the blank and 9 short answer questions.

Students explore the significance and geologic history of the Kerguelen Plateau Large Igneous Province, as revealed by Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Legs 120 and 183. They examine all the source material and write an essay addressing the...

In this earth science quiz worksheet, students answer 10 fill-in-the-blank questions about gemstones, fossils, and rocks. They see pictures of rocks, minerals, and a dinosaur fossil on the page. They check their answers with the word...

Young scholars investigate the rock cycle. In this geology lesson, students read about the rock cycle on a website and discuss the steps of the rock cycle. Young scholars visit a rock cycle website to complete a quiz. This is the first...

Students use geographic information to make an outline map of Africa, then demonstrate their understanding of the physical landscape of Africa by using a variety of materials to create a physical map of Africa

The goal of this fine geology lesson plan is to have learners create a map that shows how the rock layers are arranged far underground where they can't be seen. The ambitious lesson plan requires high schoolers to learn the law of...

Explore caves with your class! Your scholars will participate in scientific observation, research, inference and deduction, reading, vocabulary, and writing activities about caves with this lesson plan. This resource contains five...

By constructing a watershed model and identifying watershed features in it, they discover how water erosion changes the landscape. As with most watershed modeling activities, this one is costly in terms of time and materials. It is,...

What's the difference between a rock and a mineral? And what properties are used to identify minerals? The first installment of a five-part series on earth materials and processes prompts young scientists to identify a set of...

Fluffy is one of the most common names for a pet frog. Fluffy, the digitized frog in this dissection kit, opens up quite literally to allow scholars to see what's inside. The basic kit encourages pupils to click on various organs to see...

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...

The Mars Global Surveyor spent two years creating a mineral map of the planet Mars using thermal emission spectrometry. To help young astronomers understand this remote sensing instrument, have them simulate how data is collected and...

Let's talk about earthquakes .... Using the Internet, pupils research what causes earthquakes, how scientists measure them, their locations, and their effects. The resource is not only informative, but it also builds crucial...

Students explore how different materials (sand, gravel, lava rock) with different water contents on different slopes result in landslides of different severity. They measure the severity by how far the landslide debris extends into model...