3-D Model of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano

Make your own 3D model of Iceland's most famous recent volcano. Click here to read all about the eruption and the subsequent volcanic ash plume - see satellite images and an explanatory video clip.
For more ideas on activities about volcanoes for your pupils, visit the Earthlearningidea website and look up 'volcanoes' in the keyword index.

Modelling the properties of the Mantle

What are the photos of people playing with silicone putty demonstrating? Click on our latest Earthlearningidea to find out - 'Bouncing, bending, breaking; modelling the properties of the mantle'
Understanding how the rocks of the mantle can behave in a brittle way is not difficult – pupils will know that when a rock is hit with a hammer, it will break! Seismic evidence shows that the Earth’s mantle may also transmit earthquake waves, by the elastic deformation of the mantle rocks, showing they must be solid. However, mantle rocks may also “flow” or creep, given enough time and under the conditions of higher temperatures and pressures existing within the Earth. Some textbook writers assume that pupils will not be able to understand that flow can happen in a solid material and therefore state that the mantle is largely liquid, even though seismic evidence contradicts this.
Visit our website for lots more Earth-related activities for you to use with your pupils.

Name that Sample

A few weeks ago we published information about 'Send us your sample' where you can receive free images from a scanning electron microsope of any sample you send. The company has now launched Name that Sample, in which a sample is shown (example above) and the person who guesses what it is wins a brand new netbook computer.

Can you work out the geological history?

Can your pupils work out the geological history of the sequence of rocks shown above? The answers are given in the Earthlearningidea 'What is the geological history? - sequencing events to reveal a history using simple stratigraphic principles'.
This is one of many Earth-related activities, all of which are free to download from our website.

Waves in the Earth Part 2 - Human molecules

In this activity, 'Waves in the Earth Part 2 - Human molecules' pupils are pushed around to demonstrate the properties of seismic waves. This is most effective when the slinky demonstration has been carried out first.
These two activities are more of our ELI+ Earthlearningideas and are both very popular in the UK. Please do let us know what your pupils think; doing these activities often helps the learning process - do your pupils agree?

Want to see a specimen with a Scanning Electron Microscope?

'Send us your sample' - you can send your sample and have it scanned by a powerful desktop Scanning Electron Microscope. This service is FREE and the organisers think it is a good way for teachers to take a proactive approach to teaching science. You can send anything - - soil (as in photo), fossil, dead insect, broken iPhone - - - . You can view reports of work the organisers have done here.
Since this campaign was started there has been a lot of interest from professionals, educators and students all around the world.
Recently a video has been posted on YouTube.

Extension - 'Craters on the Moon'

A reader has sent some extension ideas for 'Craters on the Moon'. Click here to view the activity and here to view the extension.
The Earthlearningidea team was very pleased to receive these suggestions. We hope that many more of our activities will have extension ideas sent to us by teachers from around the world.

ELI around the world now shows the countries and the 'cities' of the world that our activities have reached since the project began in May 2007. We have reached 160 countries and 5903 cities.