Sorting out the pebbles on a beach or anywhere you can find some

Have you ever tried putting the different pebbles you can find into families? Here are some ideas: 'Rock Explorers; putting rocks into families'.

In this ELI Early Years activity, as Rock Explorers, children investigate a variety of rocks and sort them into groups. They can sort rocks/fossils into groups using a range of criteria e.g. shape, size, colour, how heavy they feel. They can then create their own forms of classification.

Other ELI Early Years activities can be found in our Cross-Curricular activities.

If you suddenly arrived somewhere, what clues do you need to work out what the climate is like?

Continuing the climate theme of last week, today's ELI is 'Climate on arrival; if you suddenly arrived somewhere – what would tell you what the climate was like?'

This activity involves looking for features that might be indicators of the current climate. It explains the difference between 'climate' and 'weather'.

Related activities about climate and climate change can be found in our Resources and Environment category.

Differences in climate between coastal and landlocked areas

The new ELI today is 'Why coastal regions enjoy a milder climate than landlocked areas; modelling the ocean’s influence on climate by comparing the heat capacity of water and soil.'

This ELI is about building and testing a small-scale model of “ocean” and “land” to visualise the different heat capacity of water and land surface materials, as the main factor influencing oceanic and continental climates.

Related activities can be found in our Resources and Environment category - Environment.

Planning Fieldwork and considering safety

The two ELIs today are dealing with fieldwork, the first is about planning to obtain the best outcomes and the second is about safety.

(1) "The ‘What makes a good educational experience’ approach to planning fieldwork; thinking through the fieldwork strategies that are most likely to inform and inspire".

(2) "The ‘What could hurt you here?’ approach to field safety; teaching how to keep safe during fieldwork and other outdoor activities".

The first activity considers what is it that makes a good educational experience. This then becomes a means of generating a checklist to evaluate pupil fieldwork experiences.

The second activity suggests ways to introduce fieldwork safety in ways that the group is likely to remember.

Many more activities related to fieldwork can be found in 'Fieldwork' in our Investigating the Earth category

Identifying rocks when you're out and about

 If you are out for a walk and see some rocks, do you wonder what they are? Here are some questions to ask yourself, 'Questions for any rock face 4: rock group (sedimentary or igneous): what questions about the type of rock might be asked at any rock exposure?'

This field activity helps people to ask questions to help distinguish between sedimentary and igneous rocks. There are many Earthlearningideas about asking questions when looking at rocks. They can be found in 'Fieldwork' in our Investigating the Earth category.

Flood through the window

Following the devastating effects of the floods in Texas, our ELI today is 'Flood through the window - what would you see, how would you feel? Pupils picture for themselves what a major flood through the window might look like.'

This activity encourages pupils to really think about flooding and what it would be like to be caught in a sudden flash flood. The ELI gives a series of questions to help pupils realise the effects and their possible consequences.

Related activities can be found in our Natural Hazards category.

Relative dating of rocks

Our new ELI today is '‘Photo dating’; using photos to simulate the relative dating of the rock record.'

This activity has been devised to demonstrate the principles behind relative dating using zone fossils by substituting photographs, taken over a period of time within the experience of the students.

Related activities can be found in our Geological Time category.