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Planet Earth in Cross Section
Students will examine the layers of the Earth. In this geology lesson, students create a scale model of the Earth's interior using cash register tape. They will determine the percentage of error in the scale compared to the actual size...
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Plate Tectonics
Students simulate the three types of plate boundaries using robots. In this earth science lesson, students explain how earthquakes and volcanoes are formed. They collect real-world earthquake data and plot them on the map.
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The Changing Earth
Students explore the Earth's crust. In this earth science lesson plan, students participate in 2 activities that demonstrate physical and chemical weathering. Students also play Jeopardy with topics including volcanoes, earthquakes,...
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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,...
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Sun and Weather
How is the Earth's weather created? Middle schoolers will explain how the Sun's energy is transformed into different forms. They will perform mathematical calculations of volume, mass, and temperature. They they will explain the...
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Drifting Continents
In this plate tectonics worksheet, students study the continents map and complete 8 short answer questions related to them. They predict what the Earth will look like millions from now.
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Inside Earth
In this science worksheet, students find the words related to the study of earth plate movements and the answers are found at the bottom of the page.
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Plate Boundaries
In this earth science worksheet, students examine the different processes that are involved in the movement of tectonic plates to cause earthquakes.
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The Layered Earth
Students role play plate tectonics by creating a "plate statue" made up of students. For this earth science lesson, students describe how Earth's movement cause earthquakes and volcanoes. They draw and name the different layers of the...
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Tic-Tac-Toe for Layers of the Earth
Eighth graders identify the different layers of the earth. For this earth science lesson, 8th graders choose a project to do from a given list according to their learning style. They present their finished project in class.
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Solid Earth Socratic Questions
Young scholars participate in a whole class discussion to relate what they know about earthquakes to the processes of plate tectonics. They respond to prompts that lead them to conclusions about the layers of the earth.
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The Ocean Floor
Practice reading comprehension by approaching oceanography through 2 pages of informational text. The text compares the ocean floor to the Grand Canyon to gives learners perspective, and gives a brief coverage of the earth's crust and...
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It's Going to Blow Up!
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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Get the Drift?
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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Mystery of the Megaplume
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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Mantle Motions
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.
National Science Teachers Association
Adopt-a-Dino
Earth historians research a specific dinosaur, write a paper about the Mesozoic era that it lived in, create an artistic rendition of the environment, and give a presentation in class about what they learned. Be aware that there are...
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Earthquakes: Second Grade Lesson Plans and Activities
What causes earthquakes? Second graders learn about stresses from plate movement with a set of hands-on activities. After tracing fault lines on a map with yarn, class members create a paper plate model of Earth to show its layers...
Science Matters
Fault Formations
The San Andreas Fault moves about two inches a year, approximately the same rate fingernails grow—crazy! The third lesson in the series allows for hands-on exploration of various fault formations. Through the use of a Popsicle stick,...
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Glaciers As Indicators of Global Climate Change
Learners research about glacial ice melting on the four major spheres of the Earth. In this earth science lesson, students explain how this process relates to global warming. They create a presentation and share their findings with the...
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A Model of Earth's Tectonic Plates
High schoolers build a model of the Earth showing tectonic plate boundaries. The pattern for the model is provided in the lesson. This is a very useful hands-on component for a lesson about geology or earthquakes.
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PLATE MOVEMENTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Pupils label three geological maps with continents provided to analyze the relationships between the movement of tectonic plates and the changes in the climate. In small groups, they discuss their findings and form hypotheses about the...
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Name That Volcano
Students research volcanoes. In this volcanoes lesson, students visit websites with worksheets about the terms for volcanoes and volcanic eruptions in the world. Students complete the work online and play a game for volcano names.
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Terrestrial Ecosystem Response to Climate Change
An extensive investigation of the Earth's climate changes awaits your environmental science classes. This top-notch presentation begins by looking at the history of Earth's climate and then predicts the impact on each major terrestrial...