The power to convince others of your argument lies in your knowledge of rhetoric! A thorough packet covers the basics of persuasion, including logical appeals and fallacies, and applies strategies to letters to the editor,...

Determine what young pupils already know about earth science with a brainstorming activity. After class members work together to complete a KWL chart about the Earth, they craft an acrostic poem to demonstrate their understanding.

Show the class the world as they've never seen it before—from way above! Learners try to unravel the mysteries presented by rich satellite imagery, learn to interpret topographic maps, and study erosion by constructing their very...

Students recreate and comprehend the geologic time scale. They discuss how long humans have been around on Earth. Students are shown the geologic time scale and its different parts. They work in groups to recreate the time scale.

Blow the roof off your classroom with this multimedia science lesson on volcanic eruptions. A short online video teaches young geologists about shield and composite volcanoes and explores the examples of Kilauea and Mt. Vesuvius,...

Take young geologists on an exploration of the collection of rocks and minerals that we call Earth with an upper-elementary science lesson. Through a series of class discussion and hands-on investigations, students learn about the...

Heat things up in your earth science class with this collaborative lesson on volcanoes. After first being introduced to the different types of volcanoes and how they are formed, young geologists work in small groups to...

Volcanoes are among the most spectacular geological features on the planet. Jump into an exploration of these amazing phenomenon with this multimedia lesson plan series. Working collaboratively in small groups, young scientists view...

There has been an earthquake! Can you listen to the description of damage given by callers in order to determine the epicenter? The 11th of 20 lessons has pupils read a script of one emergency caller. The class records the information on...

Students create a large (classroom-sized) timeline showing the history of life on Earth for the last 5 billion years. They are able to identify the events that are relevant to their taxonomic projects (the Origins and important...

Students react to statements about volcanoes, then read a news article about scientists monitoring eruptions at Augustine volcano in Alaska. For this earth science and current events lesson, the teacher introduces the lesson with a...

While this is not the traditional, step-by-step lesson plan, it is chock-full of material that you can easily incorporate into your earth history unit. Its main purpose is to serve as a guide to using a three-part film, The Day the...

By the 19th lesson in the 20-part series, scholars realize volcanoes and earthquakes are related to plate boundaries. The lesson extends and applies the knowledge by having individuals create a bumper sticker for one specific area of...

Get your classroom rocking with this four-lesson earth science unit. Through a series of shared reading activities and hands-on investigations, young geologists learn about the three types of rocks and the unique properties of each.

Students use quantitative data that they gather to figure out where there is an ore body in their model. They describe how geologists could use similar information in order to figure geologic patterns and geologic history for a specific...

Students test and identify minerals according to their physical properties. In this mineral analysis lesson, students brainstorm ways to identify rocks and list their ideas on chart paper. Students study samples in pairs and identify the...

As the great and hilarious Tim Minchin once said, "Science is simply the word we use to describe a method of organizing our curiosity." Science is more than just a guess; it is based on questions, observations, and evidence. High...

Students place the Ohio river in its historical and geographical context. They listen to the radio stories, and are asked what postive and negative influences does the Ohio River have on nearby communities>

Arctic sea ice reflects 80 percent of sunlight, striking it back into space; with sea ice melting, the world's oceans become warmer, which furthers global warming. These activities explore how humans are impacting ecosystems around the...

Students are asked to explain the sequence of rock and sediment types and to devise an experiment to test this hypothesis. It is intended for students with some prior knowledge of oceanography, sedimentary geology, and plate tectonics...

Students explore, via a CD-ROM, the Virginia's five geological regions and discover the rocks and minerals located in each. In stone kits, they examine samples of rocks and minerals and answer questions about them. After discovering the...

Students pan for minerals in a stream and discover why magnets attract magenitite but not nonmagnetic grains. They participate in the actual panning process and bag samples to be examined in class. Students recognize minerals by color...

Students define and research fossils. In this fossil lesson, students access teacher assigned Internet sites to examine images of fossils. They determine the definition of a fossil and find out how fossils are formed. They also define a...

How did Charles Darwin support his controversial theory of evolution with evidence? Use an excerpt from his 1859 work On the Origin of Species to reinforce the importance of making inferences within an informational text, and to...