Teaching Activities

Geologic time scale hiking tour group project part of Teaching Activities
Erik Haroldson, Austin Peay State University
Students work in groups to develop content for am online hiking tour which is matched to the geologic time scale. This project has been used as a semester group work project in an introductory geologic history ...

Grade Level: Graduate/Professional, College Upper (15-16), College Lower (13-14), High School (9-12)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Project
Subject: Geoscience:Geology:Historical Geology
Activity Review: Passed Peer Review

Dino Doom part of Teaching Activities
Sina Kirk, Arizona State University at the Tempe Campus
This is an online learning experience that transports learners around the world to different locations related to the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event. Students will collect and analyze evidence to ...

Grade Level: High School (9-12)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Classroom Activity, Lab Activity, Project
Subject: Biology:Ecology:Food Webs, Geoscience:Paleontology:Extinction and Diversity , Geoscience:Geology:Historical Geology
Activity Review: Passed Peer Review

In-Lecture Story Problems part of Teaching Activities
Kyle Fredrick, Pennsylvania Western University - California
Authors: Dr. Kyle C. Fredrick, Department of Earth Sciences, California University of Pennsylvania (fredrick@calu.edu)Dr. Cailey B. Condit, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts ...

Grade Level: Graduate/Professional, College Upper (15-16), College Lower (13-14), High School (9-12)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Classroom Activity
Subject: Geoscience:Geology:Historical Geology
Activity Review: Passed Peer Review

Scaffolding Temporal Reasoning with Geologic Timelines part of Teaching Activities
Nicole LaDue, Northern Illinois University
This 30 minute activity engages students in ordering and spacing geologic history events on a meter stick. Students engage in an inquiry cycle, individually first, then with a partner before receiving feedback on ...

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), High School (9-12)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Classroom Activity
Subject: Geoscience:Geology:Historical Geology
Activity Review: Passed Peer Review

Teaching radioactive decay & radiometric dating: an analog activity based on fluid dynamics part of Rates and Time:Teaching Activities
Erika Grundstrom, Vanderbilt University
Radiometric dating/geochronology is a difficult concept for students. Using the (rather messy) medium of shampoo, students watch it flow through holes of different sizes, determine the exponential decay equation, ...

Grade Level: College Upper (15-16), Graduate/Professional, College Lower (13-14), High School (9-12)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Lab Activity, Classroom Activity
Subject: Geoscience:Geology:Historical Geology
Activity Review: Passed Peer Review

The Cosmic Calendar part of Rates and Time:Teaching Activities
Erika Grundstrom, Vanderbilt University
In this activity, one takes ALL of time, from the beginning of time (i.e., the Big Bang) all the way up to today, but one compresses it into one year. One can do this for all levels of students depending on how ...

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), High School (9-12), College Upper (15-16), Intermediate (3-5), Middle (6-8)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Classroom Activity, Problem Set, Discussion, Lab Activity, Project, Writing Assignment
Subject: Geoscience:Geology:Historical Geology
Activity Review: Passed Peer Review

Personal Timeline part of Rates and Time:Teaching Activities
Rebecca Teed, Wright State University-Main Campus
Students start this worksheet by listing the most important events in their own lives, plotting them on a timeline, and then doing the same with Earth history events. Usually, their personal timelines will resemble ...

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), College Introductory, High School (9-12), Middle (6-8)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Project
Subject: Geoscience:Geology:Historical Geology, Sedimentary Geology:Stratigraphy, Geoscience:Paleontology
Activity Review: Passed Peer Review

Living with Volcanoes: An Introduction to Geoarchaeology part of Environmental Geology:Activities
Alison Jolley (AJ), University of Waikato
This activity introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of geoarchaeology through a case study of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE. It combines short lectures with questions requiring analyses of a ...

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14):College Introductory, High School (9-12)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Classroom Activity
Subject: Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Volcanism, Geoscience:Geology:Environmental Geology, Historical Geology, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards, Sociology
Activity Review: Passed Peer Review

GEOLogic: Lagerstatten and Unique Fossils part of Quantitative Skills:Activity Collection
Laura Guertin, Penn State Brandywine
Students are asked to match up several unique fossils with the site and location where it was found and it's geologic age.

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), High School (9-12), College Lower (13-14):College Introductory
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Classroom Activity, Lab Activity
Subject: Geoscience:Geology:Historical Geology, Geoscience:Paleontology
Activity Review: Passed Peer Review

GEOLogic: The Big Five Mass Extinctions part of Quantitative Skills:Activity Collection
Laura Guertin, Penn State Brandywine
Students are asked to match up the five largest mass extinction events with their relative dates, approximate duration, and severity (percentage of species that became extinct) based on clues given from various perspectives.

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), High School (9-12), College Lower (13-14):College Introductory
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Lab Activity, Classroom Activity
Subject: Geoscience:Geology:Historical Geology
Activity Review: Passed Peer Review