This informational tour offers students a basic understanding of geologic time, the evidence for events in the history of the Earth, relative and absolute dating techniques, and the significance of the Geologic Time Scale. Students move at a self-selected pace by answering questions correctly as they go. The teacher's guide contains all the details needed to use this computer activity, including handouts, ... Full description.

This Classroom Connectors lesson plan discusses the characteristics of geologic time, including the law of superposition, fossil preservation, casts and molds, and various events through the history of the Earth. The site provides goals, objectives, an outline, time required, materials, activities, and closure ideas for the lesson. The Classroom Connectors address content with an activity approach ... Full description.

This lesson plan is part of the DiscoverySchool.com lesson plan library for grades 6-8. It focuses on Alfred Wegener's theory of Continental Drift and the evidence used to support it. Using fossil types and maps, students view similarities between continents that led Wegener to conclude that they had once been together as a supercontinent, Pangea. Included are objectives, materials, procedures, discussion ... Full description.

This slide show presents images of dinosaur bones and shows paleotologists at work excavating and preserving these fossils, the best evidence remaining of these long-lost creatures. A background essay and discussion questons are included. Full description.

This lesson plan is part of the DiscoverySchool.com lesson plan library for grades 6-8. It focuses on topography and how to identify significant landforms in literature. This is a cross-curricular lesson where students use a novel they have recently read to identify and understand topography features and the geological terms that identify these landforms. Included are objectives, materials, procedures, ... Full description.

In this activity, students will use pre-marked paper strips to simulate tree-ring core samples to help them understand that data for past climate changes can be gathered from sources beyond long-term weather observations. Students will be able to recognize the direct impact of climate on annual tree growth patterns. The student guide has an overall description of the activity, a list of materials, ... Full description.

This slide show presents images which show the paleogeography of the southwestern United States from 1.8 billion years ago to 10 million years ago. The slide show was originally presented at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in 1997. Beginning in the Precambrian, it traces the paleogeographic evolution of the region through the Tertiary. Emphasis is on the Mesozoic where two ... Full description.

This resource presents information about using living things like trees and coral reefs and everyday occurrences like snowfalls to look at what has happened in past climates in order to understand what is happening today, or what might happen in the future. Scientists who do this are called paleoclimatologists. Some of the things that can be learned from tree rings include insect outbreaks, glacial ... Full description.

This exercise can be used to demonstrate changes in the Earth through time, and the length of time it took for those changes to take place. A list of Important Dates in Earth History is provided that contains the dates of the events shown on a time clock. The teacher can pick events from the list of key events and calculate (or have students calculate) the time for the key events they wish to use. ... Full description.

Night and day are determined by the Sun's presence or absence in the sky. As Earth rotates, the portion of the planet that is illuminated by the Sun experiences day while the portion that faces away from the Sun experiences night. As observed from most locations on Earth, the Sun appears to rise in the east and set in the west every day. This video segment features time-lapse photography of a sunrise ... Full description.