Discovering Plate Boundaries is based on 5 world maps containing earthquake, volcano, topography, satellite gravity, and seafloor age data. The novel aspect of the exercise is the "jigsaw" manner in which student groups access the maps and use them to discover, classify, and describe plate boundary types. The exercise is based only on observation and description, which makes it useful at a wide variety ... Full description.

This set of lessons provides teachers with ideas on how to turn their schoolyards into a rich geologic experience that students will find familiar, easily accessible, and personally relevant. The three lesson plans feature materials on mapping, rock descriptions and geologic interpretations, ages of rocks, and dinosaur tracks. Lesson 1, "Map Your Schoolyard," teaches students what maps are, what they ... Full description.

In this activity, students plot earthquake hypocenters along a cross-section in an attempt to create an image of a fault deep beneath the surface. The hypocenters they will be using come from the aftershock sequence of the magnitude 5.6 North Palm Springs earthquake that occurred in 1986. The students will learn that accurate positioning of earthquake hypocenters can produce a rough image of a fault, ... Full description.

Since large fault ruptures require the build-up of a great deal of stress, many years pass between repeated surface ruptures on a single fault. The average time between such ruptures, known as the recurrence interval of that fault, is a useful measurement for assessing both the slip rate of the fault and the risk the fault presents. This activity contains three exercises. In the first, students study ... Full description.

In this activity, students observe what happens to filled land when an earthquake shakes it up. They will fill a pan with sand, add water and place a brick in it to simulate a building, then tap the pan with a mallet and see what happens. A materials list, instructions, and background information are included. Full description.

LEARN was created to increase middle school science teacher knowledge of and interest in the atmospheric sciences. The original project began in 1991 with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Much of the instructional and science content foundation for the LEARN workshops came from the teaching modules developed by LEARN teachers in collaboration with more than 60 National Center for ... Full description.

This collection of basic definitions and answers to questions about hurricanes and tropical cyclones includes how they form, how they are named, how intensities are measured, and how storms are forecast. Historical information, information on myths surrounding these storms, links to sites displaying real-time storm information, and safety tips are also included. Full description.

This curriculum focuses on the coastal ecosystem in the Gulf of the Farallones, in the Pacific Ocean near San Francisco Bay. One goal of this curriculum is to teach about the natural connections in this ecosystem and how humans fit into it. Topics include the seasonal upwelling of ocean water, the feeding relationships among organisms in the open water, the sandy beach habitat along the shoreline, ... Full description.

This video shows the retreat of the Laurentide ice sheet that covered much of North America from 18,000 to 8,000 years ago. Full description.

These two shaded relief maps of the United States allow students to observe the differences in texture of the various areas, bearing in mind the concept of physiographic province, a region where the topographic features share common characteristics (and similar texture). The first map, in color, clearly shows the provinces, even though they are not named, as differences in texture. The second map ... Full description.