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Activity
Curated OER

Relative Age Dating

For Students 6th - 8th
Modeling dough and paper cutouts in science class? Learn about how relative age dating concepts, like the Law of Superposition and cross-cutting relationships, can be used to describe the formation of sedimentary layers.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Modeling Geologic Time

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Students design, construct and interpret a model of geologic time and investigate change through geologic time.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Geologic Time Scale

For Students 6th - 8th
In this geologic time scale worksheet, students use a word bank to complete the geologic time scale provided. Students fill in the chart as it relates to the geologic time scale.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Geographic Regions and Backyard Geology with the USGS Tapestry Map

For Teachers 6th - 12th
A beautiful tapestry map of North America is examined by geology masters. The map incorporates the topography and geology of different regions. You can purchase printed copies or a large poster of the map, or if you have a computer lab...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Diversity of Life: Geologic Time Scale

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Learners investigate the history of Earth by creating a geologic time scale.  In this Earth History lesson, students practice sequencing events in their life as a way to get familiar with creating a time scale.  Learners complete their...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Geologic TimeString

For Teachers 4th - 10th
Students create a simple tool to visualize geologic time. They create knots to represent the K/T, P/T and Precambrian boundaries in a 4.6 meter string with each millimeter representing one million years. They then refer back to this...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Understanding the Geologic Timescale

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Young scholars identify and analyze how the geologic time scale was developed by investigating 11 periods of time and the vast expanse of time of the Earth's existence. They study their period, determine the important factors indicative...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Geologic Time

For Students 9th - 12th
In this geologic time instructional activity, students review how fossils were formed and the events that mark the various geological eras and periods. This instructional activity has 10 fill in the blank and 9 short answer questions.
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App
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

EarthViewer

For Students 6th - Higher Ed Standards
Can you imagine Washington DC and London as close neighbors occupying the same continent? Learners will be fascinated as they step back in time and discover the evolution of the earth's continents and oceans from 4.5 billion years ago to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Relative Dating-Telling Time Using Fossils

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Learners explore how to read fossil range charts. They develop an knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the fossil record. Students become familiar with the concepts index fossil and fossil range. Learners use bar graphs to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Time Machine: Evolution, Geology

For Teachers 8th - 11th
Students are taken on a simulated "voyage" backward in time, to the beginning of our planet. They "witness" that beginning, the origin of life, and a number of key events from then to the present.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

PATTERNS IN TIME

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students build a realistic sense of geological time, seek clues of transition fossils and find them.  In this investigative lesson students complete several activities and worksheets on fossils. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Relative Dating - Telling Time Using Fossils

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students use fossil range charts to explain relative dating. They graph for ammonites, marine organisms that went extinct at the same time as dinosaurs.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rock On!

For Teachers 4th - 6th
After five class sessions, young scientists will be able to identify common rock types: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. This plan involves hands-on activities, includes various handouts and worksheets, and requires there to be...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mesozoic Murals

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students create a mural of one of the Mesozoic Periods. In this geologic timeline lesson, students will research the plants and animals that lived in the Mesozoic Era in order to create a mural to scale that represents one of the three...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using Radioactive Decay to Determine Geologic Age

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students investigae using radioactive decay to determine geologic age.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Who Was Here First? Relative Dating

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Learners read about and complete question activities for the topic of relative dating. In this relative dating lesson, students read information for the topic and then complete two activities to further their understanding of geologic...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Old Is Mike?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine the absolute dating of fossils, they use a list of names and ages to determine the difference between relative age and absolute age. They explore the relative age and absolute age of people and of fossils.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

VARVES: Dating Sedimentary Strata: Geology, Paleontological Patterns

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students count the number of varves (annual layers of sediment) in shale billets, taken from the Green River Formation in Wyoming. The count is then extended to reflect the entire 260 meters of sediments where the billets originated.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Glacier Ran Through It

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Learners learn basic geological concepts while researching how ice age floods sculpted the plateau of the Columbia Basin. They synthesize their learning by creating annotated illustrations of the geological principles they studied.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Dinosaurs

For Students 5th - 6th
In this earth science worksheet, students match each vocabulary term, that names something specific related to earth science, with its correct description found in the right column. They identify different types of scientists and various...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Basin Filled With Time

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students use fossil leaves and a mathematical formula to study climate change. For this climate change and fossil lesson plan, students determine the differences in temperatures during two different times during the Cenozoic era using...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Geologic Time: Relative and Absolute Dating

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers investigate relative and absolute dating; determine the difference between the two dating systems; and apply this knowledge by creating a geologic timetable of their own.
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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...