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Earth Science Education
Earth Science Classroom Activities
This section is designed to provide educators and students with handouts, demonstrations, and suggestions for classroom activities, which foster an interest in the earth sciences. As material is made available, we will add it to this section. If you have suggestions, or would like to volunteer material that you think is useful in the classroom, call Steve Greb (859)-323-0542 or send a message by e-mail to greb@uky.edu for more information. We welcome your original contributions.
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It's About Time. Exercises and activities to demonstrate geological time using paper, clocks, calendars, fields, etc. Also, notes and images of important dates in geologic time. |
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Geologic and Paleontologic Cookbook. Recipes that use food to demonstrate earth science concepts during class or at the dinner table. |
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How fossils form activities. Links to activities that demonstrate how fossils form |
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Trilobite Masks. An activity in which students use paper plates to make masks based on fossils of trilobites. Great for Mardi Gras! |
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Draw T. rex. Activity in which students use knowledge of modern animals to accurately flesh out the skull of a T. rex. |
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Can You Find….on the "Progression of Life" Poster? Activity in which students search for different kinds of animals and plants on the "Progression of Life" poster by Stephen F. Greb (1988). |
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Fossil Shapes Extension Activity. Activity in which students try to determine the shape of a three-dimensional object from two-dimensional slices through the object. |
- Earth Science Education Network, Kentucky Geological Survey. Alphabetical listing of selected earth science topics in which the best of the web have been chosen. Read the annotations under each link and find those that mention K–12 lesson plans and classroom activities. Hundreds of lessons are available.
- Collaborative Lesson Archive, Kent State University. This site lets K 12 teachers search available Internet lessons and activities by grade level and key words.
- Carol's Home K-12 Geology, Carol Mankiewicz, Beloit College. A collection of activities in a grade-based matrix, which was a product of a Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM) committee on K-12 education. Includes activities under these subject headings: Rocks and Minerals; Earth Works; Water Works; Fossil Explorations; Maps; Time and Design; Geology, Society and the Environment. These linked activities are part of a larger collection of hands-on earth science activities available from SEPM.
- The U.S.G.S. and Science Education. U.S. Geological Survey. This site provides scientific information intended to help educate the public about natural resources, natural hazards, geospatial data, and earth-science issues that affect our quality of life. Discover selected online resources, including lessons, data, maps, and more, to support teaching, learning, education (K-12), and college inquiry and research. Educational resources are categorized into primary (K-6), secondary (7-12), undergraduate, California standards (K-12), "schoolyard" geology, and the learning web. Within each category a symbol code quickly describes if the link contains complete teaching modules, classroom activities, computer labs and images, or if there is a cost for the material. A pdf document includes web addresses and ordering information for some of the survey's more popular educational materials
- Earth Science World, American Geological Institute (AGI). This organization is a nonprofit federation of 34 geoscientific and professional associations. AGI sponsors Earth Science Week (the second week of October annually), and provides ideas and information for participation in Earth Science Week . Under the option, Request a Kit, you can order a free packet with posters and bookmarks for organizing Earth Science Week activities locally. Earth Science World also has on-line K-12 activities and lessons. At AGI's home page there is a separate education section with an information clearing house, curriculum designed by AGI members with funding from the National Science Foundation, an earth science source book, and ideas for developing local earth science in the community projects.
- Resources for K-12 Earth Science Education, Geological Society of America. This site contains lesson plans and additional resources for numerous activities in Elementary, Intermediate, and Secondary education under the following headings: Earth Science in General; Earthquakes and Volcanoes; Energy; Environmental Science; Geology and Geologic Time; Mapping and Geography; Paleontology and Evolution; Plate Tectonics; Rocks, Minerals, and Mining; Space Science; Water; and Weather and Climate. Also includes a link to free geoscience images to use for teaching, and a report on the status of secondary earth science teaching.
- Earth Exploration Toolbook, Carleton College. A collection of earth system science activities written for secondary and college teachers, which uses online data sets and analysis tools (spreadsheets, online graphing, online mapping, etc.) to teach the following topics; Atmosphere; Biosphere; Climate; Earth’s Cycles; Geography; Human Dimensions; Hydrology; Oceans; Solar System and Astronomy; Solid Earth; Surface Processes; and Time/Earth History.
Return to Earth Science Education Network Page
Black and white images of animals and plants from Earth's past, which you can down load for use in classroom activities.
