In this activity, students will learn why and how rock layers are folded and faulted and learn how to represent the structures in maps and cross sections. They will layer four colors of playdough to represent a horizontally layered rock mass with the oldest layer on the bottom. By pushing on the playdough block from two opposite sides, the students apply a compressive stress resulting in the folding ... Full description.

In this activity, students create paper models to represent simple faults and illustrate some of the landforms associated with faulting of the Earth's crust. To make the models more realistic, some of the fault scarps are cut by gullies and are eroded in ways indicative of an arid landscape. All of the paper models show displacement on the fault by the use of arrows and by the offset of a marker bed ... Full description.

This interactive rock cycle shows students how all rock types are recycled into other types, and how the cycle progresses. Materials include the definitions of each rock type (igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic), how they change over time, and how tectonic movements help to drive the process. Full description.

In this lesson, students will learn to distinguish the different layers of the Earth, observe the effects of plate movements, and explore the reasons for earthquakes and volcanoes. They will label and measure the thicknesses of each layer of the Earth (lithosphere, asthenosphere, etc.) and record their results, construct models from sand and clay to illustrate what happens at the three types of plate ... Full description.

The glossary has about 60 terms that are primarily types of volcanoes or vents, eruption types, and eruptive products. Clicking on a term displays a captioned photograph illustrating the concept and a glossary definition. Below the photgraph are related glossary terms and sometimes other information or photograph links. Full description.

Rock Hounds is a group of activities, puzzles, literature sources, and quizzes that may enhance any K-12 geology unit. Rocky, the Rock Hound, leads learners through an adventure and gain an understanding of the rock cycle including how sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks form. A lesson plan included in the Teaching Connections section compiles these resources into a progression that could ... Full description.

This volcanoes site provides information about volcanoes as well as a classroom activity. There are video clips which show some of the features discussed, such as types of lava and eruptive styles. Topics covered by the text include how rocks melt, where and why volcanoes occur (plate tectonics), hot spots, volcanic hazards, forecasting eruptions and coping with risk. The classroom exercise involves ... Full description.

This site explains how to use evidence from fossils to understand the ecology of ancient organisms. Fossils provide clues and together abiotic and biotic factors combine to form complete ecosystems, each with its own unique ecology and history. Predator and prey relationships and dispersal are used as examples to show how fossils can also tell us about biotic factors, such as what organisms are present ... Full description.

This interactive site demonstrates how fossil evidence and the principle of superposition are used to determine the age of rock layers and fossils. It contains several examples of index fossils and how they are used to date events. Geologic changes including continental drift are also related to fossil evidence. Full description.

Alfred Wegener, the German scientist who proposed the idea of continental drift, had always been interested in geophysics and also became fascinated with the developing fields of meteorology and climatology. During his life, Wegener made several key contributions to meteorology: he pioneered the use of balloons to track air circulation and wrote a textbook that became standard throughout Germany. ... Full description.