Eighth graders watch the "Earth, the Environment & Beyond" video on earthquakes. Take notes and give an oral summary. They build a working, two dimensional model of a strike-slip, thrust, or normal fault.

Middle schoolers discuss the causes of global warming. In this earth science lesson, students examine how global warming is connected to the arctic and world climate. They write a paragraph about their interconnection.

Students examine what lies within the Earth. They research and create scale models illustrating the layers of the Earth and write skits advocating a travel plan to send a probe into the Earth's mantle.

Students conduct experiments to illustrate global warming. In this air pollution lesson, students first examine how a layer of greenhouse gasses might impact the earth's atmospheric temperature, then evaluate how the layer of gasses...

In this tropopause worksheet, students read about the temperature of the air in the tropopause or the layer of the atmosphere closest to the Earth. They answer four critical thinking questions about this layer and the energy changes that...

In this plate tectonics worksheet, learners match 9 terms with their definitions. Topics include the types of boundaries, the layers of the Earth's crust, plate tectonics and continental drift.

Students explore the earth's atmosphere, weather, and climate. They begin class with a discussion about weather patterns, atmosphere, and the layers of the earth. After the class discussion, students rotate through four stations to...

In this bellwork activity, students answer questions about the layers of the atmosphere, the composition of the atmosphere and the weather and the climate.

Students investigate the current model for the structure of the Earth. On a world map, they mark areas where they think earthquakes and volcanoes occur and compare those areas with earthquake and volcano location patterns.

Learners watch a classroom demonstration, and experiment to discover the five ways that Earth's crust shifts along a fault.

Students explore what is beneath the surface of the earth is one of the jobs of a geologist. Rather than digging up vast tracts of land to expose an oil field, or to find coalbearing strata, core samples can be taken.

In this metamorphic rock worksheet, young scholars observe 9 metamorphic rock samples and indicate the grain size, if there are bands, if there are layers , if it is foliated and they identify the name of the rock. They complete 5...

Fifth graders dig for fossils. In this fossil lesson plan, 5th graders read about the oldest found fossils and discuss the process of fossilization. They dig for their own fossils in a fossil box made of several dirt layers. 

In this geologic history worksheet, learners answer questions about the earth's history, about dating fossils, about layers of rocks and about unconformity.

Learners discuss the layers of the atmosphere, and the history of the ozone hole. They discuss the chemistry of the ozone formation. Students compare seasonal data collected with ozonesondes. They compare Antarctic and Arctic ozone hole...

In this earth science worksheet, students complete 12 questions about rocks and fossils in the form of anagrams, riddles, sequences, and brain teasers.

Students count the number of varves (annual layers of sediment) in shale billets, taken from the Green River Formation in Wyoming. The count is then extended to reflect the entire 260 meters of sediments where the billets originated.

Eighth graders describe how stress builds up in the Earth's crust by the movement of tectonic plates. In groups, they relate the three types of stresses to the types of plate movements and explain how the stress causes faults to form. ...

In this plate tectonics activity, learners answer questions about plate movement, the types of boundaries, the history of Earth's crusts and plate tectonics. They use an on line source to get their answers.

Students analyze soil for types of pollen to determine the probably climate conditions. In this earth science lesson plan, students make conclusions on what a climate is like based on soils samples. Students use a model soil...

Students identify and describe rocks that contain records of the earth's history and explain how they were formed. They formulate questions about and identify needs and problems related to objects and events in the environment, and...

Learners dramatize the formation of mountains. In this earth formation dramatization lesson, students read Anne Issacs', Swamp Angel, and research the how the layers of the Earth move to form landforms. They work in groups to dramatize...

Learners create a timeline of geologic events of the Phanerozoic Eon. In this geologic timeline lesson, students view a handout that shows a timeline of the Earth's history. They create their own timeline of the Phanerozoic Eon with...