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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Forces of Nature: Ring of Fire

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders will research the Ring of Fire and be able to share their findings with their partner. They will also demonstrate volcanic eruptions using a baking soda and vinegar volcano model. Then they will discover how continental...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Science: Plate Tectonics

For Teachers 6th
Turn your 6th graders into expert geologists with this PowerPoint on plate tectonics. The attached 13 slides include informative facts about the Earth's crust, as well as colorful diagrams. This presentation is great to use as a guide...
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Lesson Plan
Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi

Earthquakes

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
What causes earthquakes? What are the effects and impacts of earthquakes? How are earthquakes measured? If there was an earthquake on Mars, would it still be considered an earthquake? Class members will find the answers to these and many...
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Worksheet
Google

Plate Tectonics Questions

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
Investigating plate tectonics, boundaries, and the earth's physical attributes is the focus of this short answer, tectonic plates worksheet. 
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Lesson Plan
NorthEast Ohio Geoscience Education Outreach

Investigation of Plate Boundaries

For Teachers 6th - 8th
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. 
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Printables
Center for Math and Science Education

Plate Tectonic Globe

For Teachers 5th - 8th
During your Earth systems unit, you could have junior geologists cut out and create a small globe depicting the tectonic plates. You may want to do this all together, step by step as a class because it would be easy to cut all of the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Volcanoes-Viscosity Demonstration

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students engage in a lesson 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...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Types of Faults

For Students 4th - 6th
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...
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PPT
Curated OER

Earth Materials - Geology and Plate Tectonics

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Not going into depth on any one topic, this Earth science presentation skims the crust. It touches on the materials that construct the crust and then moves into plate tectonics. This is a useful and colorful note-taking guide for your...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Get the Drift?

For Teachers 6th - 9th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mystery of the Megaplume

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Read through the extensive background information and then lead your geology or physical oceanography class through an investigation of actual temperature anomaly data from the Juan de Fuca ridge. They translate the data onto a plot,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mantle Motions

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students define vocabulary words associated with lithospheric plate motions. They create and write down a motion to act out each vocabulary word, and participate in a game of demonstrating the actions associated with each word.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Earth Egg

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students discuss plate tectonics and the layers of the earth's interior. They use eggs as models of the earth and answer questions regarding which part of the egg would represent which part of the earth.
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PPT
Curated OER

Science Jeopardy - The Earth Sciences

For Teachers 6th - 8th
The earth sciences are the focus for this Jeopardy-style review game. Categories include geology, space, scientific investigation, meteorology, and oceanography. Diagrams and pictures are involved with most of the questions, making this...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Earthquake Formation

For Teachers 5th - 6th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

It's Going to Blow Up!

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Get your ocean explorers online, reading articles about submarine volcanoes. They answer a series of questions and take a geometery challenge in which they calculate how much of a volcano has been blown away. Make sure to explore several...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Geology of a Snicker’s Bar: Tectonic Plates

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students explore the layers of the Earth using a Snicker's bar. For this science lesson, students identify the parts of the Snicker's bar and identify which layer of the Earth the parts of the candy bar would represent. Students discuss...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

The Ocean Floor

For Students 7th - 8th
Practice reading comprehension by approaching oceanography through 2 pages of informational text. The text compares the ocean floor to the Grand Canyon to gives students perspective, and gives a brief coverage of the earth's crust and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Magma Also Rises

For Teachers 6th - 9th
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,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Our Ever Changing Earth

For Teachers 1st
First graders study ways in which the earth changes due to erosion and weathering in this series of lessons.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

ESRI Live Earthquake Site

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine a World map and find earthquakes near plate boundaries. They locate and describe earthquakes in the United States and California.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Chocolate Chipping Away at the Rock Cycle

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders identify the different types of rocks. In this earth science lesson, 8th graders compare and contrast rocks and chocolate cookies. They explain how materials are recycled beneath the Earth.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Natural Disasters: An Adventure in Non-Fiction

For Teachers 1st - 4th
Learners study different natural disasters.  In this natural disaster instructional activity students read a nonfiction book followed by a discussion, an experiment,  then collect illustrations from their experience. 
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Unit Plan
Curated OER

Shaky New Zealand

For Teachers 6th - 7th
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...