Serc: Hotspot Lesson: Relative Dating

Pupils read about and complete question activities for the topic of relative dating. In this relative dating lesson plan, students read information for the topic and then complete two activities to further their understanding of geologic...

Take the old baking soda and vinegar volcano to the next level by using it to study repeated lava flows over time, examine geologic features on Earth and Mars, and speculate about some of the formations on Mars. 

This activity involves an innovative strategy for introducing the concept of relative dating using a block of wood that has been painted, damaged, and nailed. The task for students is to analyze the order in which these events happened...

Student groups work on a assigned hotspot chain in this culminating assignment for a series of activities about hotspots and plate motions. Each group gets to study a seamount trail from around the world and presents their findings to...

This website integrates video footage and information with lesson plans and activities to teach students about the concept of relative dating. Students will graph a range chart for ammonites, determine the geologic age for several rocks,...

A instructional activity that explains a theory on magma generation at hotspots called the mantle plume theory. The goal of this instructional activity is to introduce learners to a theory that scientists are actively trying to prove or...

Using the Hotspot Theory and Plate Velocities, students make comparisons between Hawaii and Samoa in an attempt to determine the volcanic origin of Samoa.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Introduces Steno's laws, which allow scientists to decipher the geological events that occurred and the order in which they took place, including how the relative...

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] How relative positions of rocks allow scientists to compare their ages.

Students use a data set of ages of Hawaiian Volcanoes and seamounts and how far they are from the active volcanism, and then plot the data on a graph, and finally determine the plate velocity.