Curated OER
Deforming Earth's Crust
A short and straightforward slideshow presentation is a great addition to your lesson on plate tectonics. With demonstrative diagrams and helpful facts, the presentation helps to reinforce a concept that can be a little tricky for...
NorthEast Ohio Geoscience Education Outreach
Investigation of Plate Boundaries
Demonstrate the movement of lithospheric plates due to convection in Earth's mantle. Learners then model the movements that occur along plate boundaries using colored clay.
Curated OER
All Shook Up
Students measure movements in the Earth's crust due to seismic activity. Students calculate the amount of displacement in horizontal and vertical direction due to an earthquake.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: Tsunami: An Interactive Guide
A complete, interactive learning activity covering the science of tsunamis, preparedness, research, and historical tsunamis. Excellent animations and real, historical recordings of survivors allow the learner to experience what happens...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: How Mountains Are Formed
Students investigate how mountains are formed. Concepts include the composition and structure of the Earth's tectonic plates and tectonic plate boundaries, with an emphasis on plate convergence as it relates to mountain formation....
Other
Digital Library for Earth System Education: Teaching Box: Mountain Building
A suite of lessons focusing on all aspects of how mountains are formed. Inquiry-based exploration of mountain building includes the rock cycle, mountain formation, plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes, erosion, rocks, minerals, and...
US Geological Survey
U.s. Geological Survey: Rock'n on Shakey Ground [Pdf]
The basics of earthquake science including factual information about how and why they happen. Also includes some hands-on activities and experiments for students.
Australian Museum
Australian Museum: Plate Tectonic Processes
A comprehensive site on plate tectonics and the Earth. Read how the oceanic and continental crusts, as well as the heat and the pressure within the Earth affect plate tectonics.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Earth and Space Science: The Engine That Drives the Earth
Material to begin an exploration of volcanoes, earthquakes, and plate tectonics. An hour-long video is accompanied by learning goals, an outline and overview, details on volcano types, plate boundaries, and "hot spots," and ideas for...
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Geology: Plate Tectonics
An basic introduction to plate tectonics and the Earth's processes related to this phenomenon.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Plate Interactions Challenge
Identify real-world cases of boundary interactions and predict the most likely future geologic outcomes. In the lightning round, unscramble four geologic terms.
Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology
Iris: Pacific Northwest vs. Sumatra: Flash Rollover
This rollover compares the earthquake of 1700 in the Pacific Northwest with the 2004 Sumatra earthquake and tsunami.
Other
Scec: Wallace Creek Interpretive Trail
Go on a geologic adventure in this interactive, online trail guide to the Wallace Creek site on the San Andreas Fault.