Channel Islands Film
Arlington Springs Man: Lesson Plan 2
West of the West's documentary Arlington Springs Man and a two-page scientific article about the same topic provide the text for a reading comprehension exercise that asks individuals to craft a one page summary of information gathered...
Curated OER
History's Thermometers
Ancient coral beds give scientists clues to past ocean temperatures in much the same way that tree rings indicate historical weather conditions. High school scientists examine coral oxygen isotope ratios and plot the data as a function...
NOAA
History's Thermometers
How is sea coral like a thermometer? Part three of a six-part series from NOAA describes how oceanographers can use coral growth to estimate water temperature over time. Life science pupils manipulate data to determine the age of corals...
Curated OER
Dating Sedimentary Strata
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...
Curated OER
The History of Life
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...
Curated OER
Assessment & Evaluation
Seventh graders study elapsed time, radioactive decay and half-life. In this time machine lesson students complete several activities and view a presentation.
NOAA
Plate Tectonics I
Young geologists get a glimpse beneath the earth's surface in this plate tectonics investigation. After first learning about the different layers of the earth and the constant movement of its plates, young geologists work in small groups...
Curated OER
A Scale of the Earth
Students create a scale model of the different eras, periods, and epochs of Earth's 4.6 billion year history. In addition to different time periods, other major events will also be added to the model from fabricated radioactive decay...
Curated OER
Rocks, Minerals, and Erosion
Young scholars identify and describe rocks that contain records of the earth's history and explain how they were formed. They formulate questions about and identify needs and problems related to objects and events in the environment, and...
Curated OER
work in pairs for the activities of this lesson which include researching and identifying butterflies, writing, and a brief oral presentation.
Students explore the concepts of rdioactive decay and dating. They generate a radioactive decay table, use their data to plot a decay graph, develop the concept of half-life, and then use the graph to find the age of a mummified seal in...
Curated OER
Impact Craters
Students investigate the factors affecting the size of a crater. In this space science activity, students collect data from the activity and graph them. They explain how velocity of impact relate to crater size.
Curated OER
Developing a Local Stratigraphy
Students examine rock strata for the distribution, deposition, and age of sedimentary rock. They describe rock types in a variety of outcrops and construct a regional stratigraphy.
Curated OER
Crater Creation
Students examine the Oregon state quarter and discuss how Crater Lake was formed-geologically and according to Native American legend. They practice making predictions and identifying the beginning, middle, and end of a story.
National Museum of Nuclear Science & History
Alphas, Betas and Gammas Oh, My!
Referring to the periodic table of elements, nuclear physics learners determine the resulting elements of alpha and beta decay. Answers are given in atomic notation, showing the atomic symbol, mass, atomic number, and emission particles....
NOAA
Exploring Potential Human Impacts
Arctic sea ice reflects 80 percent of sunlight, striking it back into space; with sea ice melting, the world's oceans become warmer, which furthers global warming. These activities explore how humans are impacting ecosystems around the...
Curated OER
Crater Creation
After looking at the back of a quarter featuring Oregon terrain, learners distinguish between fiction and non-fiction and identify the beginning, middle and end of a story. First, they listen to legends that describe the creation of...
Curated OER
Dell House Dig
Pupils experience an archaeological dig exploring off the shore of Black Hawk Island and Wisconsin River. They study in the same place where the infamous Dell House once stood. Dell House and its historical significance is reviewed...
Curated OER
National Park Service: What Is Geologic Time?
A discussion of geologic time, along with a presentation of evidence for the time span involved.
Other
Western Oregon University: Earth System Science: Geologic Time [Pdf]
An 81-page slideshow that looks at the principles of geology with respect to relative dating, at different concepts describing geological processes, at absolute age and radiometric dating, at the eons and eras in the geologic time scale,...
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.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Fourth Grade Science: Earth Science: Relative Ages of Rocks
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Looks at how stratigraphy can be used to determine the relative ages of rocks, how unconformities occur, ways to match rock layers in different areas, and how...
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Geologic Time and Correlation
In this amazing interactive tutorial you will learn about what methods are used by geologists to learn about the history of the Earth. Investigate a geologic time scale and learn about how scientists have developed and organized a record...
Other
Planetary Society: Relative and Absolute Ages in Histories of Earth and the Moon
A lengthy scholarly article that discusses the geologic time scale, its history of development, age-dating events that occurred in different eras, and how absolute and relative dating are used to assess the ages of the Earth and Moon....
University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas: Texas Memorial Museum: Understanding Geologic Time [Pdf]
A lesson plan containing two activities for students to gain a better understanding of geologic time scale. The first activity allows students to get a visual of geologic time by role playing events in time on a football field. The...