Earthlearningidea in 2011

Earthlearningidea has continued to grow in 2011. In March we published our 100th activity with "'Crystallisation' in a pudding dish" and in October the number of downloads of our activities passed half a million. Also in 2011, our activities started to be translated into Portuguese and German. We shall continue to publish a new activity every two weeks throughout 2012.
For this last post of the year, the Earthlearningidea team would like to thank all the people who have made these achievements possible.

Thank you!

Modelling energy transmission in seismic waves

'Merry waves - all year round; modelling how the energy of seismic waves is transmitted' is our latest new ELI. At the end of the activity pupils can:-
• describe how energy is transmitted in the form of waves;
• note that there is no macroscopic displacement of mass involved in the process;
• explain how P and S waves move though the Earth’s interior;
• explain how a tsunami wave propagates though a mass of water.
This is one on many Earthlearningideas about Earthquakes and earthquake waves.

Subduction of underwater mountains

Amazing new images from the depths of the Pacific Ocean reveal one of Earth's most violent processes: the destruction of massive underwater mountains. They expose how tectonic action is dragging giant volcanoes into the ocean trench. The volcanoes are strung across several thousand kilometres of ocean floor and are moving westward on the Pacific tectonic plate at up to 6cm per year.
The extraordinary scene was captured along the Tonga Trench during a research expedition last summer. The trench is a highly active fault line running north from New Zealand towards Tonga and Samoa.
The video clip featured here could be used with any of our Plate tectonics activities

How Science works - famous people

Did you know that we have published a number of ELI activities about famous people who have contributed much to science? These include:-
Charles Darwin - Darwin's 'big soil idea' and
Darwin's 'big coral atoll idea'
James Hutton - James Hutton - or 'Mr. Rock Cycle'?
Mary Anning - Mary Anning - Mother of Palaeontology
Alfred Wegener and J. Tuzo Wilson - Wegener's 'continental drift' meets Wilson's ' plate tectonics'
William Smith - William Smith - 'The Father of English Geology'
Concerning William Smith, did you know that version 2 of iGeology includes a reproduction of the William Smith 1815 map? There is a 'fade-in' slider that allows you to change the transparency so you can compare William Smith's map with the current BGS map.
There is also a brief biography of William Smith.

Use a banana to simulate geological structures

Our new ELI this week is 'Banana benders'. Rocks can be folded into many shapes and can be broken by faulting. These fold and fault structures can be seen in mountain ranges, cliffs and even in small hand specimens. Try using bananas to see how these structures may be formed. Ask the pupils to draw or photograph their results and then try to label the fold and fault structures using the diagrams provided.
This is one of many Earth energy/processes activities you can find on our website.