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Ecology And the Conservation of Natural Resources
Students study Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift and how the continents were connected in one large land mass called Pangaea. They examine plate tectonics and the theory that the earth's surface is composed of large moving...
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Cultures of the Ring of Fire
Students explore the Ring of Fire. In this Ring of Fire lesson, students research information about the Ring of Fire and plate tectonics. Students write 2-page research papers regarding their findings.
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Earthquakes And Volcanoes
Students investigate the concept of plate tectonics through focusing a research study upon the occurrence of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. They find information that is used for class discussion. Students complete a mapping of...
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Vocabulary for Earthquakes and Volcanoes
For this plate tectonics worksheet, students define 27 terms associated with earthquakes and volcanoes such as subduction zone, mantle, and divergent plate.
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Are You Ready to Shake
Learners examine earthquakes and tsunamis. In this Earth science lesson plan, students investigate the causes and hazards associated with earthquakes and tsunamis.
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Stressed to a Fault!
Eighth graders describe how stress builds up in the Earth's crust by the movement of tectonic plates. In groups, they relate the three types of stresses to the types of plate movements and explain how the stress causes faults to form. ...
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Planet Earth in Cross Section
Students will examine the layers of the Earth. In this geology lesson, students create a scale model of the Earth's interior using cash register tape. They will determine the percentage of error in the scale compared to the actual size...
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Plate Tectonics
Students simulate the three types of plate boundaries using robots. In this earth science lesson plan, students explain how earthquakes and volcanoes are formed. They collect real-world earthquake data and plot them on the map.
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The Changing Earth
Learners explore the Earth's crust. In this earth science lesson plan, students participate in 2 activities that demonstrate physical and chemical weathering. Learners also play Jeopardy with topics including volcanoes, earthquakes,...
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Hydrothermal Vent Challenge
Give our ocean voyagers the "Hydrothermal Vent Challenge!" It is a worksheet that guides them through an exploration of hydrothermal vents and the chemical reactions that occur when lava meets seawater. Using a collection of websites,...
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Sun and Weather
How is the Earth's weather created? Middle schoolers will explain how the Sun's energy is transformed into different forms. They will perform mathematical calculations of volume, mass, and temperature. They they will explain the...
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Drifting Continents
In this plate tectonics instructional activity, students study the continents map and complete 8 short answer questions related to them. They predict what the Earth will look like millions from now.
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Inside Earth
In this science worksheet, students find the words related to the study of earth plate movements and the answers are found at the bottom of the page.
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Plate Boundaries
For this earth science worksheet, students examine the different processes that are involved in the movement of tectonic plates to cause earthquakes.
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The Layered Earth
Learners role play plate tectonics by creating a "plate statue" made up of students. In this earth science lesson, learners describe how Earth's movement cause earthquakes and volcanoes. They draw and name the different layers of the Earth.
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Tic-Tac-Toe for Layers of the Earth
Eighth graders identify the different layers of the earth. In this earth science instructional activity, 8th graders choose a project to do from a given list according to their learning style. They present their finished project in class.
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Solid Earth Socratic Questions
Students participate in a whole class discussion to relate what they know about earthquakes to the processes of plate tectonics. They respond to prompts that lead them to conclusions about the layers of the earth.
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The Ocean Floor
Practice reading comprehension by approaching oceanography through 2 pages of informational text. The text compares the ocean floor to the Grand Canyon to gives learners perspective, and gives a brief coverage of the earth's crust and...
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Get the Drift?
The anticipatory set is clever: give groups five minutes to work on the puzzle and then discuss what strategies they used to match the few that connected. This introduces middle schoolers to the concept of continental drift. A portion of...
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It's Going to Blow Up!
Get your ocean explorers online, reading articles about submarine volcanoes. They answer a series of questions and take a geometery challenge in which they calculate how much of a volcano has been blown away. Make sure to explore several...
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Mystery of the Megaplume
Read through the extensive background information and then lead your geology or physical oceanography class through an investigation of actual temperature anomaly data from the Juan de Fuca ridge. They translate the data onto a plot,...
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Mantle Motions
Students define vocabulary words associated with lithospheric plate motions. They create and write down a motion to act out each vocabulary word, and participate in a game of demonstrating the actions associated with each word.
National Science Teachers Association
Adopt-a-Dino
Earth historians research a specific dinosaur, write a paper about the Mesozoic era that it lived in, create an artistic rendition of the environment, and give a presentation in class about what they learned. Be aware that there are...
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Earthquakes: Second Grade Lesson Plans and Activities
What causes earthquakes? Second graders learn about stresses from plate movement with a set of hands-on activities. After tracing fault lines on a map with yarn, class members create a paper plate model of Earth to show its layers and...