Heat transfer from the Earth's core outwards

Today's new ELI is 'The heat is on; modelling the movement of heat from the Earth’s core outwards'.

This activity can be used to consolidate knowledge about the structure of the Earth and the heat flow within it in science or geography lessons.
Many more activities about the core of the Earth, structure of the Earth and plate tectonics can be found by using the search engine or the alphabetical index on our website.

Mary Anning and the evolution of life on Earth

The story of Mary Anning and her search for fossils is an inspiration for everyone. The Earthlearningidea, 'Mary Anning - Mother of Palaeontology; a woman in a man’s world' encourages pupils to think like Mary Anning.

Now, an animation by Anna Humphries can be viewed on the BBC website. Entitled “The girl who helped discover dinosaurs” it tells the story in a simple way for children, setting Mary in her time and place in a very sympathetic way.

 A still from the animation “The girl who helped discover dinosaurs”.
(Image: Courtesy of BBC)

Many more activities about fossils and the evolution of life can be found on our website.

Fieldwork safety: teaching how to keep safe outdoors

The new Earthlearningidea today is 'The ‘What could hurt you here?’ approach to field safety; teaching how to keep safe during fieldwork and other outdoor activities'.

This activity discusses how to introduce fieldwork safety in ways that the group is likely to remember. It is because fieldwork leaders are alert to safety issues, that fieldwork is one of the safer outdoor activities that pupils can undertake.
Many more activities associated with work outdoors for all ages, can be found on our website, through the search engine or alphabetical index.
Teachers may also like to read 'The 'What makes a good educational approach to panning fieldwork; thinking through the fieldwork strategies that are most likely to inform and inspire'.

New Smartphone app - Voyages in Deep Time

Voyages in Deep Time is an exciting project which has developed free smartphone apps to encourage people to visit and enjoy learning about their local rocks and landscapes that tell us what our part of the world was like millions of years ago – in deep time!
The app Voyager deeptime is a game taking  the user on a voyage of discovery and survival in ancient environments. It is aimed at young people (ages 10 – 15 years) but can be fun for everyone.

The app can be used either indoors working through the trail for the site and the way points using the images given in the app, or in the field doing the same thing but with the real rocks in font of you.

Teachers:   FREE teacher training day with subsidised travel being offered on Wednesday 22nd August or Saturday 1st September
To book your place, or to find out more, contact Beth Andrews.
The training days take place in Worcestershire.

The Voyager apps all have a lot of geological information about the whole of the geological timescale - a globe at the side changes the configuration of the continents and shows where we were at the time. At any point on the timescale where you stop, there is more detail about that Period.
In addition to this, for the particular stratigraphy that is relevant to the location on the ground where the app is based upon, there are palaeoenvironmental landscape reconstructions plus 'weather forecasts' and images of the plants and beasties of the time.

DOWNLOAD YOUR APP from Google Play or the AppStore NOW!

Fold mountains with your hands

Today's new ELI is another in the 'hands' series - 'Modelling folding – by hand; using your hands to demonstrate different fold features'.

Describing folding in rocks involves complex terminology. Through this activity, pupils use their hands to model and name the different terms used.
Many practical activities to demonstrate fold mountains can be found on our website.