The Manhattan Prong tour is part of the New York Landscape Regions Collection of Google Earth Tours. This tour takes students to Central Park in New York City to see metamorphic rock, glacial features, differential weathering, and Cleopatra's Needle, an Egyptian obelisk brought to the city in 1881. They can also examine bedrock, float, mass wasting, jointing, and glacial polish in the Pound Ridge Reservation, and observe a metamorphic outcrop of Fordham Gneiss near Katonah, New York. The convergent boundary features of the Staten Island serpentine belt, formed during the Taconic Orogeny, can be viewed, and students can follow the Mianus River Gorge as it crosses the Cameron's Line fault. There is also a tour of the New York City water supply system with a lab activity to accompany it.

The Tug Hill Plateau tour is part of the New York Landscape Regions Collection of Google Earth Tours, created by a group of New York State science educators. The tour introduces students to the many waterfalls of the plateau, which is formed of layers of sandstone and shale. It also points out that the plateau recieves more snow than any location east of the Rocky Mounatins due to the lake-effect from Lake Ontario and its elevation, which is 2,100 feet at the highest point. There is also a visit to a fish hatchery.

In this activity, students measure volume, mass, and calculate density for pennies of different ages as well as for a copper sample. They will answer questions about their measurements, and use internet resources to write paragraphs about the cause of the pattern they observed in their measurements of mass, and pose and answer a question about what they have discovered.

Students write a short essay using relative age principles to describe a fictional set of geologic events and processes (specified in the exercise) that occur in a hypothetical area. The essay is used to develop a geologic profile, and then it is given to another student who is tasked with producing the correct geologic profile (as a quiz), based on the essay information. A teacher-designed rubric is used to score the quiz and to allow students to complete a self-evaluation of their learning.

In this exercise, sudents write a series of three stories that explain and/or illustrate rock-forming processes. As an alternative, they may write a single story that addresses the rock cycle. Describing these processes at a level appropriate for their target audience (second graders) requires an adequate understanding of the geologic processes involved and can reveal problems or misconceptions in the students' ideas of how rocks are formed. Teacher's notes and rubrics for teacher and peer review are provided.

In this exercise, students use U.S. Geological Survey and other websites to learn about the history of earthquakes in New York. Through their web research, they will learn what earthquakes are, how and where they occur, and the types of hazards associated with large quakes. They are encouraged to write a report summarizing their results.

This laboratory activity demonstrates how seismic waves are generated and helps students understand how they can reveal the composition of Earth's inner layers. Students will construct models by filling shoe boxes with various materials, drop rocks on them to generate 'seismic waves', record the waves, and make observations about their differences.

In this decision-making exercise, students investigate what would occur if a dam were built along Nanticoke Creek, a real stream just north of West Corners near the Village of Endicott, New York. They will use topographic maps to determine how much area would be flooded by the new reservoir, to study river drainages, and to consider the impacts of dams on a region. They must also consider rivers in the context of their relation to humankind. The exercise can be extended to other, more local locations having similar topography.

In this activity, students investigate convection as it applies to Earth processes. They will assemble a model using a bread pan to view convection in two paired cells. They will also investigate the strengths and weaknesses of the model thay have constructed and answer some questions about what they are seeing.

In this activity, students are assigned a geologic profile based on a set of rock samples and are asked to arrange the samples from oldest to youngest. They then identify each rock type and record their observations of what processes might have formed it, what type of sediment it is made of, what sort of environment it might have formed in, and what agents of erosion or deposition might have been at work. Using this information, they will write a story explaining the geologic history represented by their profile and describe in detail how it might have formed.

In this activity, students use elevation and distance data to construct graphic profiles and determine the average gradients for three streams. A series of discussion questions addresses concepts of deposition, erosion, and nickpoints, and gives students practice compiling evidence to provide scientific explanations. Graphs can be constructed by hand on paper or generated using graphing software.

In this activity, students simulate deformational effects on Earth's crust using peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. These common sandwich components are used to model geologic features such as synclines, anticlines, and monoclines, and to demonstrate the effects of stresses and strains.

In this exercise, students use online data, spreadsheets, and graphs to analyze tidal fluctuations at the Battery in New York. They will be asked to examine and compare the observed and predicted tides, and then make their own predictions.

In this activity, students play the roles of time travelers and travel to the Archaean era to learn what early Earth was like during that time. They collect information on the Archaean atmosphere, life forms, and landscape, and write a report that summarizes its characteristics. A scoring rubric for the report is provided.

In this activity, which can be performed as a demonstration by the teacher or by the students themselves, carbon dioxide is generated in a fish tank using sodium bicarbonate and vinegar. The students can observe as the accumulating carbon dioxide extinguishes candles of different heights, marking rising levels of CO2 in the tank. They can also blow soap bubbles (which contain air) into the tank and observe them floating on the denser CO2 at first, then sinking as the gas diffuses through the soap film that forms the bubbles.

In this activity, students create two- and three-dimensional maps by using a data grid of an imaginary section of Earth's surface. They are challenged to create six different maps of various surface features and answer questions about them.

In this activity, students play the roles of consultants in developing a geologic 'tour' south od Rochester, New York, near the Pennsylvania border. They will gather information on the local rock types and underlying geology, examine an assemblage of fossils from the bedrock and from glacial erratics, and prepare a report detailing the geology with cross-sections and a timeline based on the fossil occurrences. They will also develop a plan for a walking tour highlighting the geology of the area.

This user's manual describes the steps for using Google Earth tours. Topics include downloading and installing Google Earth software, selecting a tour file, and playing the tour. There are also instructions on how to use some of Google Earth's additional features. A downloadable, printable version is provided.

In this activity, students learn to interpret current weather maps. They will observe weather map loop animations on the internet, learn the concept of Zulu time (Universal Time Coordinated, UTC) and visualize the movement of fronts and air masses. They will then analyze a specific weather station model, generate a meteogram from their observations, and answer a set of questions about their observations.

Students learn how Newton's Law of Gravitation can be used to determine the mass of the Earth. By calculating mass and volume, they can then determine the Earth's density, and compare that result with the densities of other solar system bodies. Knowledge of Earth's density can also provide information about the planet's interior.