This educational resource describes the science behind volcanoes and volcanic processes. Topics include volcanic environments, volcano landforms, eruption dynamics, eruption products, eruption types, historical eruptions, and planetary volcanism. There are two animations, over 250 images, eight interactive tests, and a volcano crossword puzzle. Full description.

This website contains a set of lessons on mineral identification. Upon completing this exercise, the student will be able to identify many of the common minerals by using the following physical properties: color, streak, luster, cleavage/fracture, hardness, crystal shape, and specific gravity. Teachers will need sets of minerals and some tools for students to work with. Links are available for growing ... Full description.

This website contains a set of lessons on how to identify igneous rocks using their textures, minerals, and physical properties. The student, working with rock samples and tools supplied by the teacher, will be able to identify some igneous rocks and will be given access to more information on the rocks. Links are available for learning about well-known volcano localities and to more general information. ... Full description.

This activity can be used as the introduction for a unit on mineral or crystal structure. It requires the students to create shapes cooperatively and put them together. This is analogous to individual crystals forming or to minerals forming. They will understand that minerals are made up of structures in certain patterns, and that these structures determine some of the properties of the minerals. Full description.

This lesson plan is part of the DiscoverySchool.com lesson plan library for grades 6-8. This lesson focuses on sedimentary rocks and how they are formed. Students review the rock cycle and three rock types: igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary. They then write children's books about sedimentary rocks to explain the process to a younger audience. Included are objectives, materials, procedures, discussion ... Full description.

Planet Oit is an online computer role-playing game in which the students play interplanetary explorers as a means to teach the concepts and principles of physical geology. Planet Oit has been designed as a coherent geophysical space where geological regions (desert, mountains, plains.) contain plausible phenomenon (mesa, playa, cave) which are populated with plausible objects (outcrops, boulders, ... Full description.

Minerals 4 Kids contains four Web-based activities offered for K-12 Education by the Mineralogical Society of America (MSA). These activities are entitled: Minerals in Your House, Mineral Groups, Mineral Properties, and All About Crystals. Also included are links to Mineral Games, the Rock Cycle diagram that leads to descriptions of the three rock types, and Ask-A-Mineralogist that enables the user ... Full description.

This interactive lesson on metamorphic rocks starts with a review of the rock cycle and goes on to describe the relationship between metamorphic rocks and their parent rock. The lesson then describes the agents of metamorphism (temperature, pressure, and chemical change) and moves into a discussion on contact, regional, and dynamic metamorphism. The remainder of the lesson consists of descriptions ... 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 collection of activities from the Ohio Geological Survey features a variety of activities for younger students. These activities use common materials to illustrate geologic topics such as crystal growth, plate tectonics, fossilization, rocks and minerals, and others. There are also games and puzzles, models of the Earth-Moon system and the Sun, and activities on geologic time, Ohio geology, soil ... Full description.