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 site is a joint effort of NOAA Research and the College of Education at the University of South Alabama. The goal of the site is to provide middle school science students and teachers with research and investigation experiences using on-line resources. In this unit students explore what El Nino is, where it is located, how it is created, and weather changes that El Nino causes. Students analyze ... 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 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 lesson plan is part of the DiscoverySchool.com lesson plan library for grades 6-8. It focuses on how landslides occur and how scientists predict them. Students design and perform their own experiments using homemade stream tables. Using these tables they test landslide types and draw conclusions about water flow, timing, and other factors that determine how landslides occur. It includes objectives, ... Full description.

In this activity, students create artifical convection currents using hot and cold water, food coloring, and bottles. A materials list, instructions, and a brief explanation of the convection phenomenon are included. Full description.