NOAA
A Laboratory Simulation of Ocean Surface Currents
Stimulate interest in ocean currents with a simulation. The first installment of a five-part middle school series teaches future oceanographers about the forces that interact to cause ocean currents. A simulation shows how wind and the...
Bonneville
Where Does Energy Go?
Convection currents aren't just a bunch of hot air. The second of five lessons in the Solar Updraft Towers unit focuses on energy transfer and convection currents. Young scientists watch six demonstrations that illustrate how warm air...
Curated OER
Just How DO Those Plates Move?
Students experiment with water, temperature and paper to explore how convection currents occur and how they are used to explain the movement of the Earth's plates.
Curated OER
Drifting Continents
Learners, through teacher-led demonstration, explore the idea of continental drift. They complete a worksheet involving the calculation of continental drift over time.
Curated OER
The Magma Also Rises
Convection is thoroughly demonstrated using a model of Earth's mantle. Detailed background information is provided for the teacher, as well as a list of materials. Although a colorful and detailed worksheet is available for the class,...
NorthEast Ohio Geoscience Education Outreach
Investigation of Plate Boundaries
Demonstrate the movement of lithospheric plates due to convection in Earth's mantle. Learners then model the movements that occur along plate boundaries using colored clay.
Bonneville
Let's Build Our Wind and Solar Energy Toy
Who says toys can't be educational? The fourth of five parts in the Solar Updraft Towers unit has scholars create toys that run on solar and wind energy. The devices need to be solar updraft towers that can be placed on a warm surface...
Curated OER
Three Methods of Heat Transfer
Pupils participate in a variety of experiments designed to illustrate types of heat transfer including conduction, convection and radiation. They complete worksheets as an assessment of the experiments.
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
Hydrothermal Vent Challenge
Give our ocean voyagers the "Hydrothermal Vent Challenge!" It is a worksheet that guides them through an exploration of hydrothermal vents and the chemical reactions that occur when lava meets seawater. Using a collection of websites,...
Curated OER
Sedimentary Rocks
In this sedimentary rock worksheet, students answer 9 fill-in-the-blank questions and 8 matching questions regarding sedimentary rocks and their formation.
NOAA
Where There's Smoke, There's ...
A remotely operated vehicle approaching a volcano was engulfed by molten sulfur where the plumes of fluids contained the highest concentrations of aluminum ever recorded. This isn't science fiction or an April fools joke, though it did...
Curated OER
Review For Weather Quiz 2
In this science worksheet, students look at the information carefully in preparation for a formal assessment. The focus is upon defining different aspects of air masses.
Curated OER
Living With the Heat: The Ring of Fire
Students investigate the planet Earth's infamous ring of fire and the life that thrives from it. In this ocean environment instructional activity, students investigate hydrothermal vents and how organisms thrive off their heat....
Curated OER
Clouds
In this science worksheet, middle schoolers look for the meaning of the water cycle and its relation to the formation of clouds. They read the information about the different types of clouds.
Curated OER
A Crust Full of Rocks
In this rock worksheet, pupils answer seven short answer questions about the composition of the earth's crust. Questions refer to metamorphic, igneous, and sedimentary rocks.
Curated OER
Heat Flow
Pupils explore how a whale's countercurrent flow of blood is an example of a heat exchange system and conduction. Excellent worksheet provided.
Ocean Explorer
Living with the Heat
Young oceanographers study the Submarine Ring of Fire, which is a series of deep-water volcanic vents that come up from the ocean floor. Learners take a close look at the unique ecosystems that are associated with these areas, how these...
Curated OER
Weather and Oceans: Uneven Heating of the Earth
Students investigate what causes the heat on Earth. In this Earth heating instructional activity, students experiment with different heat sources and determine where the Earth gathers the most heat. Students explore vocabulary words...
Curated OER
It Looks Like Champagne
Students determine some practical implications of the discovery of liquid carbon dioxide in deep-ocean ecosystems. They interpret phase diagrams and explain the meaning of "critical point" and "triple point."
Curated OER
It's a Gas! Or is it?
Learners discover the principles of solubility and phase state and their influence on chemical phenomena observed around deep-sea volcanoes. They describe the effect of temperature and pressure on solubility of gasses and solid materials.