This lesson plan is part of the DiscoverySchool.com lesson plan library for grades 6-8. It focuses on the ecology of the Grand Canyon area. Students act as scientists investigating the damming of the Colorado River by the Glen Canyon dam and experimental flooding that took place in 1996. They then write a proposal as to whether or not more experimental flooding should be done on the area considering ... Full description.

This resource describes how and where lava plateaus have formed. They will discover that lava plateaus of this type can be seen in southeastern Washington, eastern Oregon, and southern Idaho and that some of these lava flows are exposed and measure more than a mile in total thickness. Students will also learn that during late Miocene and early Pliocene times, one of the largest basaltic lava floods ... Full description.

Most planetary scientists expected that lunar samples brought to back to Earth by the six Apollo missions would confirm one of three leading hypotheses of the Moon's origin. Instead, the samples left all three explanations unconfirmed, requiring the development of a new hypothesis for how the Moon formed. This video segment shows Apollo 15 astronauts collecting a type of rock (anorthosite) that is ... Full description.

This computer activity provides a basic understanding of what a fossil is and the factors involved in becoming part of the fossil record. It is organized as an informational tour in two sections: one for middle school and one for high school. Students move at a self-selected pace by progressing and answering questions. A teacher's guide contains all necessary instructions as well as lesson plans, ... Full description.

This lesson plan is part of the DiscoverySchool.com lesson plan library for grades 6-8. It focuses on the science of paleontology, how scientists have made conclusions about the lives of dinosaurs, and the scientific techniques used for gathering information about dinosaurs. It includes objectives, materials, procedures, discussion questions, evaluation ideas, suggested readings, and vocabulary. There ... Full description.

This lesson focuses on global warming and a possible connection with the Paleocene extinction event. Students will explore how a global warming episode associated with the release of methane from methane hydrate deposits could have been responsible for the Paleocene extinction event 55 million years ago. They will be able to describe the overall events that occurred during the Paleocene extinction ... Full description.

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 ... Full description.

This demonstration of plate tectonic principles, plate boundary interactions, and the geometry and relative motions of faulting of geologic layers uses 3-D foam models. The models aid in visualization and understanding of plate motions and faulting because they are three-dimensional, concrete rather than abstract descriptions or diagrams, can be manipulated by the instructor and the students, and ... Full description.

This site provides a brief overview of the earth's climate, which is generally defined as the average weather over a long period of time. The climate of a region is determined by both natural and anthropogenic (human-made) factors. The natural elements include the atmosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere, while the human factors can include land and resource uses. Changes in any of these ... Full description.

This resource about Mount St. Helens, a stratovolcano in the Cascade Range best known for its violent eruption in 1980, features links to all aspects of the volcano, including real time, online video cam and current seismicity, its geographic setting, and geologic and eruptive history. Students learn of an eruption in 1800 as well as extensive details of the 1980 event. Links labeled 'Special Items ... Full description.