Curated OER
Geography 12
Geography is such a fascinating subject for learners of all ages. Prepare learners with good guiding questions, which they can use while reading their texts. Each of the provided 13 questions requires a full paragraph response on the...
![Story Behind the Science: Just How Old Is Earth? [Pdf] Article](https://d15y2dacu3jp90.cloudfront.net/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "Story Behind the Science: Just How Old Is Earth? [Pdf] Article")
Story Behind the Science
Story Behind the Science: Just How Old Is Earth? [Pdf]
Article describing efforts in the 19th and 20th centuries to determine the Earth's age, particularly using naturally occurring radioactivity. It notes that scientific disciplines frequently overlap in the work they do. Questions are...
Story Behind the Science
Story Behind the Science: Understanding Earth's Age [Pdf]
Article describing early efforts, beginning with Aristotle, to determine the Earth's age, and the influence of current culture on the acceptability of new and radical scientific theories. Questions are posed throughout about the nature...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Hhmi: Biointeractive: Earth Viewer
Watch the earth change with this interactive app? What did Earth look like 250 million years ago? Or 1 billion years ago? Or 4.5 billion years ago? What was the climate like in the deep past? Find the answers with EarthViewer, an...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: How Old Is That Thing on That Rock?
Students using magnifying glasses to observe collected fossils, and then make inferences and hypotheses about the age of the specimens.
Other
Paleogeography and Geologic Evolution of North America
A collection of maps depicting the paleogeography of 550 million years of geologic history.
University of California
University of California Museum of Paleontology: Geologic Time
Learn about geologic time, including the age of the Earth by putting it in terms of pages in a book.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: A Constructivist Teaching Model for Conceptualizing Geologic Time
The activity fosters critical thinking and allows for student generated essential questions to further their understanding of Earth's history and geologic time.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: How Many Is a Million?
A visualization activity where students can conceptualize the age of the Earth by observing dots on paper, making calculations and estimations, and discussing their findings with classmates.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Earth Science: Tree Rings, Ice Cores, and Varves
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] How scientists can determine age and other features of a rock or material it contains.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Earth Science: Tree Rings, Ice Cores, and Varves
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] How scientists can determine age and other features of a rock or other material.
American Geosciences Institute
American Geosciences Institute: Earth Science Week: Geologic Time Scale Analogy
Introduce students to the vastness of geologic time and the concept of scale.
American Geosciences Institute
American Geosciences Institute: Earth Science Week: Texas Rocks
For this investigation, students start exploring the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) online version of the geologic map of Texas. The geologic time scale shown will help them figure out how old the rocks are in various parts of Texas.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Life Science: Timeline of Evolution
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] For life to evolve from simple single-celled organisms to many millions of species of prokaryotic species to simple eukaryotic species to all the protists, fungi,...
US Geological Survey
Usgs: Geologic Time
This large U.S. Geological Survey site offers a look at the age of the earth, how radiometric dating is used to calculate it, the major divisions of geologic time, and the classification and use of fossils.
Extreme Science
Extreme Science: How Old Is the Earth?
We say Earth is 4.6 billion years old, but how do we know? How do we measure its age? This article focuses on these questions and how long life has been on Earth.
American Geosciences Institute
American Geosciences Institute: Earth Science Week: It's About Time
To understand how a geologic time works, young scholars make a personal timeline and compare it to a geologic timeline.
Science Struck
Science Struck: How Was the Earth Created
This resource gives a detailed explanation of the stages that the Earth and the solar system went through beginning with their origins in the Big Bang up to the present time.
The Wonder of Science
The Wonder of Science: Ms Ess1 4: Geologic Time Scale
Work samples, phenomena, assessment templates, and videos that directly address standard MS-ESS1-4: geologic time scale.
Center for Educational Technologies
Earth Floor: Geologic Time
This is a nice explanation of geologic time and Earth's major eras. Although this site is designed for younger students, it is mostly text with few images.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Life Science: 4.2 Influences on Darwin
Learn about Darwin's influences that led to his discoveries of change in species over time.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Earth Science: Age of Earth Study Guide
A quick review of the age of the Earth.
Instituto Latinoamericano de la Comunicacion Educativa
La Ciencia Para Todos: Ciencias De La Tierra
In this site you will find several topics about our planet Earth: remote perception from space, earthquakes and the structure, age and composition of our planet Earth.