Helping students understand that the scientific community's claims change through time, sometimes radically, allows them to develop a well-grounded sense of the "nature of science." Learning to reason about how scientific claims come to be accepted, and later refuted, is important for understanding the tentative nature of scientific…

Current high school Earth Science curricula and textbooks organize scientific content into isolated "units" of knowledge. Within this structure, content is taught, but in the absence of the context of fundamental understandings or the process of how the science was actually done to reach the conclusions. These are two key facets of scientific…

Provides background information on how scientists have learned about the history of the Earth, including studying fossils, dating rocks, and tracing geological movements. Included are teaching activities about prehistoric animals, state fossils, tracing animal movement and evolution, and discovering fossils. Contains reproducible handouts and…

Provides background information on the layers of the earth, the relationship between changes on the surface of the earth and its insides, and plate tectonics. Teaching activities are included, with some containing reproducible worksheets and handouts to accompany them. (TW)