This site presents a take-home web-based project for introductory geology students. The exercise has the students interpreting the sedimentary geology (lithology and fossils) of the Grand Canyon to create a geological history for the region. It is an open-ended exercise with no absolutely correct answer; it involves students acting as scientists - that is, the way real scientists think and combine ... Full description.

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.

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 is an interactive exercise about Geologic Time. It focuses on how geologists and archaeologists determine the ages of rocks and ancient artifacts. This is a beta release of an instructional activity still under development. Virtual Dating contains two modules as well as a demonstration version. One module is Virtual Dating Isochron for rocks and minerals and the other is Virtual Dating Radiocarbon ... 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 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.

Athro, Limited is a for-profit corporation that publishes high school and college level biology, earth science, and geology course supplements and independent learning materials on the Web. This site provides instruction in interpreting the order of events in three hypothetical and one real geological section. For each section there is a list of events and an animation of the history of the section ... Full description.

This on-line book, published by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), discusses the use of fossils in determining the age of rocks. The publication covers how to place events in correct temporal order, a description of the geologic time scale, the use of fossils to indicate rock ages, the law of fossil succession, index fossils, and radioactive dating. 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.