Earth's easily seen surface features (mountains, volcanoes, and islands)--and the movement of the tectonic plates that lie below--offer hints about the processes that produced them. Inquiries in seismology, the study of earthquakes and other ground movements, can help students learn about Earth's geologic processes. This article describes an…

Google Earth is an exciting way to engage students in scientific inquiry--the foundation of science education standards and reforms. The National Science Education Standards identify inquiry as an active process that incorporates questioning, gathering and analyzing data, and thinking critically about the interplay of evidence and explanations.…

The website "Earthlearningidea" was developed for the International Year of Planet Earth in 2007 and continues with one new activity per fortnight. Activities are devised to catch the attention of students and to enable them to enjoy the science of the Earth. Many activities require minimal equipment, for schools in developing countries, but there…

Today's scientific theories are the result of a long collaborative process, sometimes over centuries, among many different scientists from various parts of the world. To communicate this concept to middle school students and introduce them to the theory of plate tectonics and continental drift, they are placed in the role of geologists attending a…

Presents a three-part exercise which provides undergraduates with opportunities to work with data related to the earth's magnetic field. Includes student materials for activities in determining the history of the earth's magnetic field, in finding the general pattern of declination, and for looking for a polar reversal history. (ML)

Discussed are two techniques that can be used to directly test the theory that the plates which make up the crust of the earth are still moving. Described are the use of satellite laser ranging and very long baseline interferometry. Samples of data and their analysis are provided. (CW)

Introduces a package of six interrelated units on plate tectonics and earthquakes. The Seismic Sleuths curriculum contains hands-on activities integrating math, earth science, and social studies. Units cover personal experience as well as the science of earthquakes while students also construct buildings to study earthquake resistance. One…

Describes an exercise in which students convert lithostratigraphic columns into chronostratigraphic columns, infer paleolatitude using paleomagnetic data, interpret depositional environments, determine the timing of deformation and terrane collision, construct models, and synthesize the results into a geologic history. Background data, procedures,…

Describes a computer program written in Microsoft BASIC for use on personal computers to calculate travel times of refracted waves in layered structures with arbitrary dipping interfaces. Exercises for student use are given to illustrate some of the basic properties of reversed refraction travel time graphs. (TW)

Describes how mylonite samples can be used to determine the sense of shear. Several sample collection techniques are presented. Criteria for shear sense determination are outlined and discussed so that they can be recognized and interpreted by students familiar with the use of a compass and a petrographic microscope. (TW)

The challenge for today's elementary teachers is not "whether" but rather "how" to use computers to effectively teach students essential skills and concepts. One exciting way of meeting this challenge is to use Geographic Information Systems (GIS), computer software that captures, manipulates, analyzes, and displays data on specialized layered…