Examining Fossils

This activity provides a basic knowledge of the principle of tree ring dating by using simulated core samples. Students first determine the age of a “tree cut down in 2019” then extend their understanding of tree ring correlation by determining the age of a “tree cut down” decades ago.

Using a model, in the form of a game, students make sense of the different geological processes by which earth materials are cycled and the ways that these processes produce the three different types of rock. Students also consider how the flow of energy drives various geological processes that form rock. Finally, students develop...

This activity begins with a fictional newspaper story describing how hikers may have discovered diamonds in a national forest. In Part I, students then observe rock samples and use a table of characteristics to help identify each rock as igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary. Students then use this knowledge to identify the type of rock...

Student groups use specially designed and annotated puzzle pieces representing the earth’s continents to investigate the idea of continental drift. In Part I, an exploratory activity, students attempt to fit the puzzle pieces into one large continent using clues provided by the shape and the geologic evidence contained on each piece. In...

This activity provides an active-learning alternative to traditional passive methods of studying the rock cycle. As students “become” a small quantity of earth material and “travel” through the rock cycle, they experience the interrelated processes and materials that shape the world around us. Eight rock cycle stations, each representing a...

Students examine four drill cores representing a fictional series of rock layers. They then use the evidence from each drill core to create a stratigraphic column for each location and use evidence from the cores to correlate to the layers from the different locations. They are then challenged to use this fossil evidence to...