The PALEOMAP Project illustrates the plate tectonic development of the ocean basins and continents, as well as the changing distribution of land and sea during the past 1100 million years. The reconstruction of paleoclimates is also discussed. Maps are viewed as animations where the time component can be user-manipulated. Included are a variety of background materials which supplement the animations. ... Full description.

This website integrates video footage and information with lesson plans and activities to teach students about the concept of relative dating. Students will graph a range chart for ammonites, determine the geologic age for several rocks, and determine which rocks will be most useful for oil companies looking to drill oil. This site contains lesson plans, student worksheets, discussion questions, 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 website provides students with an introduction to the history of life and how it resulted in today's biodiversity. There are three tiers of difficulty available for different grade levels. During this tour students learn about geologic time, fossils, ancestral relationships, cladograms, variation, natural selection, and extinction. Students learn that life has been around for a very long time ... Full description.

This reference provides detailed information and activities related to the geology of Yosemite National Park. The introduction provides a history of ideas on Yosemite's origin. An overview describes the geologic history of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. An interactive timeline is featured to provide users with a temporal reference on park history. For students, there is a field journal with interactive ... Full description.

This web site provides a short, interactive, four-question quiz on earthquakes focusing the the largest earthquake in both the world and in recent US history, preparedness, and the development of seismic instrumentation. Full description.

The Virtual Courseware Project produces interactive online simulations to help enhance the learning and teaching of geology and other Earth and environmental science topics. Each lab provides a brief introduction to the topic and a quiz to assess understanding of the material. Materials include an activity in which seismic waves are used to determine the magnitude of an earthquake and to locate its ... Full description.

This on-line project is part of the Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) program. As they complete this series of lessons, students will use real-time data to solve a problem, study the correlation between earthquakes and tectonic plates, and determine whether or not there is a relationship between volcanoes and plate boundaries. Musical Plates has four Core Activities that ... Full description.

In this activity, students are introduced to sequencing and geologic time through relative dating techniques. Students begin by categorizing cards of nonsense words, then move on to cards with pictures of fossils. Once students begin to grasp "relative" dating, they can extend their knowledge of geologic time by exploring radiometric dating and developing a timeline of Earth's history. There is a ... Full description.

This is a series of interactive modules that explore the history of life on Earth, while focusing on the processes of science. Each module contains suggested lesson plans and an extensive teacher's guide. In addition, each module has a suggested grade level and an adaptable grade level. Full description.