PBS
Earth’s Ever-Changing Surface
The Grand Canyon formed between five and six million years ago, but is it still changing? Scholars explore 10 sites in the United States, including the Grand Canyon, to better understand the geoscience processes that formed these...
Curated OER
Geological Features: How Weathering & Erosion Help Create Landforms
Learners explore how the Earth's surface changes resulting in geological features and landforms. They perform a read-a-loud on Thomas
Locker's Mountain Dance, complete a KWL chart, and create a
landform using plaster of paris.
Curated OER
Regents High School Examination: Physical Setting Earth Science 2010
Every topic under the sun is covered in this New York State Regents High School Examination. With the focus of earth science, participants answer 85 quesitons about the solar system, geologic time, rocks and minerals, landforms, and...
Curated OER
Regents High School Examination: Physical Setting Earth Science 2009
Junior geologists address 50 multiple choice questions and 35 short answer questions about the earth system. Plenty of visuals are included for interpretation: diagrams, graphs, maps, photographs, laboratory setups, weather symbols, and...
NOAA
A Moving Crust
Young scientists piece together the geological puzzle that is the earth in the third and final lesson of this earth science series. With the help of numerous multimedia resources and a series of engaging hands-on activities, students...
Curated OER
Path to Mars
Students compare Earth and Mars to find similarities between the two planets using given websites. They collect and download pictures of geological features of both planets from print and non-print sources. Descriptions of the...
Curated OER
Incorporating 3D Visualizations into Your Classroom
Students make observations through 3-D visualizations. They explore scientific and geologic processes through the use of 3-D pictures.
Curated OER
The Geology of a Snicker’s Bar: Tectonic Plates
Students explore the layers of the Earth using a Snicker's bar. In this science instructional activity, students identify the parts of the Snicker's bar and identify which layer of the Earth the parts of the candy bar would represent....
NOAA
Plate Tectonics II
Mid-ocean ridges, rift valleys, island arcs, mountain ranges, earthquakes, volcanoes ... there are so many features associated with plate tectonics. The 14th installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography...
Curated OER
Geologic Age
Learners investigate radioactivity as a tool for measuring geologic time and how geologists use this information to determine the absolute age of rocks or minerals.
Columbus City Schools
The Mystery of Earth’s History
Every living creature can leave a fossil record, yet most fossils belong to extinct organisms rather than ones currently living. Scholars learn about dating rock layers, fossils, and the environment of the past. Pupils understand that...
Columbus City Schools
Geological Effects of Plate Tectonics
Don't get your classes all shook up about plate movement, instead use a thorough unit that guides learners to an understanding of plate tectonics. The lessons incorporate a study of the types of plate boundaries and their effects on the...
NOAA
Ocean Geologic Features
Sediment samples from the ocean bottoms tell scientists about climate change, pollution, and changes in erosion for the area. Groups of learners focus on sediments and their movement through water. During a hands-on activity, they...
Messenger Education
Look But Don’t Touch—Exploration with Remote Sensing
Mars is home to the tallest mountain in our solar system, Olympus Mons. In this set of two activities, learners review geologic land formations through the analysis of aerial maps. They then apply this knowledge to aerial maps of objects...
National Park Service
Glaciers and Water
Explore the amazing power of glaciers with a hands-on earth science experiment! After first learning basic background information, learners go on to create their very own chunks of frozen water and gravel in order to observe first-hand...
Curated OER
Rock On! Featuring the Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic Trio!
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.
Curated OER
Geological Forces and Topography
Students discuss and research the Earth's geological processes. In this geology lesson, students study maps of Utah and the United States to learn about geological features. Students then complete the research cards for each area of...
Curated OER
Agents of Erosion
Fourth graders observe and identify the effects of geological activities and weathering on Earth's surface. They also take a look at reports of events such as storms, earthquakes, floods, and volcanoes. There is a hefty hands-on activity...
NOAA
Into the Deep
Take young scientists into the depths of the world's ocean with the second lesson of this three-part earth science series. After first drawing pictures representing how they imagine the bottom of the ocean to appear, students investigate...
Curated OER
Geologic cross section of Manhattan, NYC
Students draw an accurate geologic cross section by using a given data table. They relate the features of the cross section to geologic processes. Students then relate the characteristics of the bedrock to the architecture.
Curated OER
Fossil Fuels (Part III), The Geology of Coal
Do not overlook this set of lessons just because your school does not have a data analysis system. There is plenty of material here to administer a complete mini unit on the formation, distribution, and properties of coal. Since it...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
EarthViewer
Can you imagine Washington DC and London as close neighbors occupying the same continent? Learners will be fascinated as they step back in time and discover the evolution of the earth's continents and oceans from 4.5 billion years ago to...
Curated OER
A Model of Three Faults - Part One
Students construct a fault model using the Fault Model Sheet imbedded in this plan. They create a 3 dimensional model of the Earth, and use dashed lines to illustrate where the fault lies. A discussion of faults follows the completion of...
Curated OER
Earth Structure and Processes
Students classify different rocks according to their types. In this earth science lesson, students explain how plate tectonics created Earth's landforms. They explain the continental drift theory and sea floor spreading in their own words.