Rocks are time capsules; each has an amazing story to tell

 'A rock is a time capsule – a message from the past; bringing to life the extraordinary stories of ordinary rocks'

When we see a rock as a bundle of evidence of how the Earth used to be, we can begin to look for the clues that tell us about its past history, and the past history of the planet.

Related activities can be found in our Visualising deep time category and in our Rocks category.

Identifying rocks

The new Earthlearningidea today is 'A forgotten rock garden - 1; help a geologist identify a treasured outdoor collection'

This activity involves matching a set of photographs to their descriptions and locating them on an overall scene. This could form a useful revision activity, once students have acquired experience of a range of rocks, minerals and fossils. Answers to the matching exercise are provided.

Other related ELIs can be found in the Earth Materials 'Rocks' category.

How can you tell which grains come from which rock?

'Rock grain cut out; how can you tell which grains come from which rock?'

This cutting out and pasting activity is designed to encourage pupils to think carefully about the characteristics of rock grains and how they fit together, in the sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rock groups.

Related activities can be found in our Earth Materials category.

Climate change and ice core evidence

'How can the ice core evidence for climate change be explained? - an educational opportunity for discussing evidence, hypotheses and possible responses'.

This ELI gives an opportunity to demonstrate how a complex scientific topic can be used in the classroom to show how science depends upon evidence and interpretation.

Related activities can be found in our Environment category

How salty is the Dead Sea?

'Why is the Dead Sea dead? - measuring salinity'. 

This ELI is a classroom activity to measure the density of water of different salinities. Students can describe how dissolving salt in water increases the density of the water.

Related topics can be found in our Environment category.

Rising sea levels

'How will rising sea level affect our coastlines? ... and what can be done to adapt to rising sea levels?'

This ELI involves a discussion of how climate change projections might affect sea level and what the impacts of sea level rise are likely to be, particularly for coastal cities, inhabited deltas and atoll communities. Possible adaptation methods are also considered.

Many activities related to climate change and how we might adapt can be found in our Climate change category

Planning a geological survey

New ELI today -  'Mystery Isle; plan a geological survey of a fascinating island'.

Pupils are asked to use their first day on an island to “get their eyes in” and to plan for further investigations. When completed they can apply the main principles of geology to a new situation, interpret geological evidence from photographs and explain the problems of using initial information to form firm conclusions about the geology.

Many more activities related to mapwork can be found in our 'Investigating the Earth' category.