This Web site, created to complement the Museum's Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth, offers a virtual visit to the Museum, complete with text, photos, and a downloadable desktop background. The site contains information on ten exhibition highlights.
This video segment adapted from NOVA features the youngest rock formations in the Grand Canyon, lava dams, and how they are subject to the eroding power of water.
This activity requires students to design an experiment to determine the best conditions for growing crystals. Students then are asked to conclude what the ideal conditions may be, how this information is useful, and who may want to know it. It is a great way to continue using scientific process skills within a Geology unit.
In this interactive game, students work in three "resilience teams" to solve community challenges that arise during the course of an extreme drought event by using available individual and community resources.
This interactive game has students work in three “zone response teams” to solve community challenges that arise during the course of an extreme flooding event by using available individual and community resources.
In this lesson, students investigate sources of fossil fuels, particularly oil. Students will learn how engineers and scientists look for oil by taking core samples from a model of the Earth. Also, students will explore and analyze oil consumption and production in the United States and around the world.
This video segment from Nature explains the geologic forces behind the creation of Hawaiië_í__ dramatic shoreline.
The Hawaiian Islands formed primarily as a result of volcanic activity. While most islands form near tectonic plate boundaries, the Hawaiian Islands are nearly 2000 miles away from the nearest plate margin. Therefore, scientists believe that the islands formed due to the presence of the Hawaiian "hot spot," a region deep in the Earth's mantle from which heat rises. This heat produces melted rock (magma), which then pushes through the crust and solidifies. Created by Sal Khan.
Geology can roughly be divided into physical geology, which studies the materials of the Earth and the processes operating in it, and historical geology, which aims at a reconstruction of the history of the Earth. Historical geology requires some knowledge of physical geology for its elucidation. (Imagine, by way of analogy, forensic scientists diagnosing cause of death as a gunshot wound, which is a historical question. It would obviously be necessary for them to know something about the behavior of guns, which would be a physical question.) However, the aim of historical geology is to understand the past, and knowledge of physical geology is merely an adjunct to this aim.
This article is about the latest remake of Jules Verne's popular 144-year-old novel Journey to the Center of the Earth that also provides links to the American Geologic Institute's (AIG) Educator Guide for using the movie (Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D) to interest students in geology and earth science.
This activity is a investigation where students observe soil and rocks, record their similarities and differences, interpret their findings, and are guided to develop a new investigable question.
Learn how the Hawaiian Islands were formed by a geothermal hotspot and resulting volcanic activity in this video segment from Nature.
S-wave shadow and P-wave detection patterns give us information about the core. Created by Sal Khan.
This module discusses the hydrologic cycle and its impacts on the planet Earth. Additionally, the module addresses connections between the hydrologic cycle, climate and the impacts humans have had on the cycle.
The EERC at the University of Bristol has developed an Earthquake Engineering Competition that challenges secondary school students to design and make small scale models of buildings that can withstand strong earthquakes. Provided on the website are tips for model design and construction, load testing advice, and a gallery of models organized by various characteristics.
This activity is a teacher demonstration of an ice cream model representing glacier movement across Minnesota. Teacher/student questions and discussion should be encouraged during the demonstration.
Average inquiry level: Guided inquiry
Students working in groups will examine and discuss earthquakes, volcanoes, topography, faults, and seafloor ages and use those features to identify the boundaries of tectonic plates and specific features and processes associated with specific types of plate boundaries. This lab is designed for face-to-face instruction.
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Average inquiry level: Guided inquiry
This is an in-person inquiry lab for igneous rocks, but it could be converted to an online lab through use of igneous rock photos available online (see links provided in the Instructor Notes). Students will work with a variety of typical igneous rocks, developing observational skills and learning to categorize and identify igneous rocks based on their compositions and textures. In addition, students will be able to "tell the story" of igneous rocks, using observational skills to understand where on earth and under what circumstances an igneous rock could form.
(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)
In this investigation, students locate a round or spherical naturally-occurring rock and take notes about its location and their reasons for selecting it. After measuring the rock and assessing some of its properties, they will answer a series of questions to determine the type of environment that would create a round rock, as well as the different types of weathering and components of the rock's internal structure that might contribute to its shape.
By presenting the students with fossils and other earth materials and giving clues as to their origin, they will be able to identify the fossils and materials and be able to form a hypothesis as to how they were formed and what it was before preservation.