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Activity
It's About Time

Volcanic History of Your Community

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Did you know there are 20 volcanoes erupting at any given time? Pupils look at various igneous rocks, read local geologic maps, and determine if their area has a history of volcanic activity. A reading passage and analysis questions...
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Lesson Plan
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Channel Islands Film

Island Rotation: Lesson Plan 1

For Teachers 4th - 12th Standards
How do scientists provide evidence to support the theories they put forth? What clues do they put together to create these theories? After watching West of the West's documentary Island Rotation class members engage in a series of...
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Unit Plan
Columbus City Schools

The Mystery of Earth’s History

For Students 8th Standards
Every living creature can leave a fossil record, yet most fossils belong to extinct organisms rather than ones currently living. Scholars learn about dating rock layers, fossils, and the environment of the past. Pupils understand that...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Volcanoes: Windows Into The Earth

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students investigate the concepts related to volcanoes and focus upon Mt. St. Helens. They define the difference between an active and dormant volcano. They conduct research using a variety of resources. The information is used in order...
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Lesson Plan
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World History Digital Education Foundation, Inc.

COVID-19: Comparison with the Influenza Pandemic of 1918

For Teachers 9th - 12th
A timely instructional activity uses documentation from the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918 to compare it to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Scholars watch a short video, analyze sources, complete a worksheet, and write a claim with...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Happy Birthday, Earth!

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Pupils visualize the Earth's ecosystem at a specific time period and how Earth has changed over time. They create a detailed journal entry for a specific time period and create a birthday card to Earth.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

13 Ways to Tell Time Backwards

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students explore different ways geological time can be measured: comparing the time dimensions for each method, the mechanisms of each method, and the materials used.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fossil Hunters!

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore the various ways in which geologists create fossil records. Working in pairs, students create a model of a fossil record through a hands on activity. They relate their experience to recent discoveries in geology and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Crinoids: Flowers f the Iowa Seas

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Learners study the rocks and fossils associated with the geologic landscape of Iowa. In this rocks and fossils instructional activity, students examine fossils that would be found in the Iowa landscape that show evidence of marine...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Coastal Geology and Geomorphology

For Students 9th - 12th
In this coastal geology activity, students use Google Earth to locate the Oregon coastline. Students then complete 6 short answer questions based on coastal geology.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Finding the Ages of Rocks and Fossils

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers practice dating fossils. They learn the concept of "deep time"--that earth was formed billions of years ago. They experience excellent hand-outs and virtual age tutorial links.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

AP: Chapter 26: Origin of Life

For Students 9th - 12th
Five pages take biologists on a generalized survey of the origin of life. Queries are made regarding theories of how life developed, ancient Earth conditions, and the ever-changing field of taxonomy. The experiments of different...
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Lesson Plan
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Science 4 Inquiry

Layers and Laws: The Law of Superposition and Index Fossils

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
What can layers of rock teach us about the climate? Young scientists solve a mystery about who stole a cookie by applying the law of superposition. Then, they apply the same concept to solve a more difficult mystery, trying to determine...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Geology in the News

For Teachers 5th - 10th
Students discover the underlying scientific principles in common, daily events.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Great Lakes Homepage for Kids

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Here are some outstanding lessons on the geology and history of the Great Lakes. These lessons are divided into Grade 4 -6, and Grade 7 - 8 activities. The activities all use the background information, maps, graphs, data, and Great...
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Unit Plan
Columbus City Schools

Diversity of Living Things

For Teachers 8th Standards
Here's a topic classes can really dig—the fossil record. Use the well-organized and thoughtful road map to take eighth graders back in time to unearth the answer. Learn how our climate has changed, and how organisms have changed along...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dating Sedimentary Strata

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students investigate how the age of sedimentary strata is determined. In this sedimentary strata instructional activity, students work through problems that show that geological history covers millions of years. They distinguish between...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making Fossils

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders examine the differences between cast and mold fossils. They discuss geological time and how many fossils are millions of years old, then create a cast fossil using clay and a shell, and a mold fossil using a shell and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Glaciers and Ice Wedging

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders observe and identify a variety of weathering and geological activities in the area in which they live. This focuses primarily on what happened during the Ice Age, and how, even today, glaciers are shaping and re-shaping...
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Lesson Plan
Texas State University

Earth: Deposition and Lithification

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Geology geniuses analyze sediment samples with a hand lens and sort according to physical characteristics. They also learn about the processes of cementation, compaction, and lithification within the rock cycle. The lesson plan is...
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Worksheet
Great Books Foundation

On the Origin of Species

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
How did Charles Darwin support his controversial theory of evolution with evidence? Use an excerpt from his 1859 work On the Origin of Species to reinforce the importance of making inferences within an informational text, and to discuss...
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Unit Plan
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Curated OER

Volcanoes: Third Grade Lessons Plans and Activities

For Teachers 3rd Standards
Discover how rocks are formed from volcanoes during a geology pre-lab activity. Third graders describe the volcanic rock samples and creating a model of Mt. Lassen, located in California. The lesson culminates in a discussion about how...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

GeoSleuth Schoolyard

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students discover that geology is something that is all around them. In groups, they participate in an activity in which they collect evidence and make observations. They solve a "murder mystery" in examining the history of a landscape.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

The History of Life

For Students 9th - Higher Ed
In this history of life worksheet, students complete a crossword puzzle by figuring out the vocabulary words associated with the 11 clues given. Then students review how paleontologists use fossils to learn more about past living things...