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.
The two ELIs today are dealing with fieldwork, the first is about planning to obtain the best outcomes and the second is about safety.
(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
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?'
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.'
Related activities can be found in our Natural Hazards category.
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.
We continue our series investigating geological time with '‘Looking so far into the Abyss of Time’; how to visualise the immensity of geological time...with a rope!'.
This ELI is an exercise to demonstrate the extent of geological time-scales and the need for meaningful geological reference points, obtained from fossils and other geological events, recorded in the rock record.
Go to 'Visualising deep time' in our Geological Time category for other related activities.
The ELI today continues our theme of geological (deep) time with 'But how old is it? Investigating radioactive dating of rocks and minerals'.
This activity investigates how radioactive (radiometric) or absolute dating of rocks and minerals works.
Related activities can be found in our Geological Time category - Visualising deep time.
Continuing our theme of geological time, the ELI today is 'The origin of the Earth – at arm’s length: the age of the Earth - with a good stretch of imagination.'
This activity teaches the great length of geological time in a fun way. It could be used to reinforce other methods of helping pupils to understand the concept of “deep time”, e.g. during a quick-fire revision session.
Related activities can be found in our Visualising Deep time, Geological Time category.
For the next few weeks, we will be considering geological time. The ELI today is 'The toilet roll of time; make a geological timeline to take home'.
This activity has been devised to address the common lack of knowledge about geological time. Research has shown that many people have no idea of the great length of geological time nor of the order of the key events during the geological history of the Earth.
Related activities can be found in our Geological Time category, Visualising deep time.
Our new ELI today is the 9th in our Essential Minerals series - 'Essential Minerals for the Green Revolution – 9 Critical Minerals for the USA'
This Earthlearningidea defines the purpose of a national critical minerals list for the current and future needs of the USA’s industries and technology. This activity could form an extension of the ELI series on metal ores which are essential for the “new” technologies as well as the growth of existing industries.
Related activities can be found in our Minerals category.
We continue our theme of Essential Minerals for the Green Revolution with 'Rare Earth Elements; vital components in modern technology'.
This activity could be used in a lesson on the need to identify and exploit rare earth minerals in vital applications in many different fields, ranging from optics to energy saving devices and medical equipment. They are particularly important as catalysts in industrial processes and in the manufacture of strong magnets.
Other related activities can be found in our Minerals category.
Our ELI today is 'Essential Minerals for the Green Revolution – 6 “The Three Ts”; Tin, Tungsten and Tantalum'.
This ELI involves contrasting good practice in extracting essential minerals with illegal mining. It includes a brief survey of world production of the “Three Ts”.
Related activities can be found in our Minerals and Mining and the Green Revolution categories.
We thought you would enjoy a fun activity as we end our magnetism and plate tectonics series. 'Hands on magnetic stripes; demonstrating how oceanic ridge magnetic stripes form, with several pairs of hands'.
Related activities can be found in our Plate tectonics and Magnetism categories.
Today's new ELI is 'Mapping Magnetic Anomalies; modelling the palaeomagnetic evidence for plate tectonic boundaries on the ocean floor'.
This ELI involves modelling plate boundaries (divergent and transform) from a simulated geomagnetic data survey. Students can describe how the pattern of magnetic stripes was collected from ocean exploration surveys and they can identify evidence of plate boundaries from the pattern of palaeomagnetic anomalies. They can also explain that magnetic anomalies and magnetic stripes are associated with reversals in the Earth’s geomagnetic field.
Related activities can be found in the following topics on our website, Magnetism, Plate tectonics and Oceanography.
Our ELI today is 'Human magnets! - modelling ancient and modern magnetic fields, using your pupils'.
Today we consider 'Hotspots; modelling the movement of a plate across the globe'.
Following the devastating earthquake (7.7 magnitude) which occurred in Myanmar on 28th March, today's ELI is all about seismic waves. 'The slinky seismic waves demo; using slinkies to show how earthquakes produce P-, S- and surface waves'.
More activities related to Earthquakes can be found in our Natural Hazards category.
The new ELI today is 'Laser Quest 2 – above the waves; seeing evidence for plate tectonics beneath the oceans - using satellites.'
This ELI is a simulation to demonstrate the principle behind satellite mapping of the ocean floor based on gravitational anomalies recorded at the ocean surface.
Related activities can be found in our 'Oceanography' category.
The ELI today is 'Magnetic stripes; modelling the symmetrical magnetic pattern of the rocks of the sea floor.'
The new ELI today is "Essential Minerals for the Green Revolution – 8 Critical Minerals; essential mineral – critical mineral: what is the difference?"
This ELI defines the purpose of a national critical minerals list for the future needs of the UK’s technology.
Many ELIs about essential minerals can be found in our Minerals category.
Sink holes have been in the news in the UK over the last few weeks. Our ELI about this topic is 'Sink hole! Demonstrate sink hole processes in action'.
Sink holes commonly form over limestone bedrock, but also develop where the underlying materials are even more soluble, such as rock salt and gypsum deposits. This classroom activity models the dissolving of underground materials and the impacts this can have at the surface.
Other activities can be found in our natural hazards category.
The new ELI today is 'When did the poles ‘flip’? Simulating how the Earth’s Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale was established.'
This activity can be used to help teach students to understand how the pattern of ocean floor anomalies (magnetic stripes) can be dated; something they rarely appreciate. It might be used prior to a lesson on the palaeomagnetic evidence for plate tectonics on the ocean floor.
Related activities can be found in our Plate tectonics and Oceanography categories.
The ELI today is - Marie Tharp: "The valley will be coming up soon". Bruce Heezen: "What valley?" ‘A woman scientist in a man’s world’ – what was it like?
Marie Tharp identified oceanic rift valleys. She is one of the key figures not only of early oceanography but also in the development of plate tectonic theory. The activity helps pupils to think what it might have been like to be a female scientist at a time when science was dominated by men.
Related activities can be found in our Oceanography and Plate tectonics categories.
We continue our ocean floor theme with 'Model a spreading ocean floor offset by transform faults; a model of the transform fault ‘steps’ in oceanic ridges and their magnetic stripes'.
The new ELI today is 'Laser Quest 1 – below the waves; seeing evidence for plate tectonics beneath the oceans - using echo sounding'.
This activity is a simulation to demonstrate the principle behind the echo sounding method of mapping the ocean floor topography.
Related activities can be found in the 'Oceanography' and 'Plate tectonics' categories.
The ELI today is 'Measuring the depths of seas and oceans: How is it done? - a simple demonstration of how we measure sea floor depths and relief'.
Related activities can be found in our Oceanography category.
Today's ELI is 'Continental split – the opening of the Atlantic Ocean; modelling how the continents moved, from Pangaea to today'.
This is a scissors and paper activity modelling the relative positions and movements of the continents as the ocean floor spreads either side of an oceanic ridge.
Other activities related to constructive or divergent plate margins can be seen in our Plate Tectonics category.
Our ELI today is about flooding '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'.
Related activities can be found in our Natural Hazards category.