Greenhouse effect

The new ELI today continues our climate change series with 'Greenhouse effect in a bottle: how to simulate the effect of increased CO2 level on Earth's temperature'.

This ELI is a simulation where students test the effect of increased CO2 on the heating of the air in a bottle. This introduces the students to the phenomenon of global warming.

Related activities on climate change can be found in the 'Climate change' category.

Solar eclipse

Because of the solar eclipse which is happening today, we are publishing 'Why does the Sun disappear? Demonstrate what happens when the Moon hides the Sun'.

This activity can be carried out when investigating our Solar system. It compares the
relative sizes and positions of the Moon and the Sun in relation to the Earth.

Related Earthlearningideas can be found in our 'Eclipses - solar and lunar, Earth in Space' category.

Records of Earth's past temperatures

Our latest ELI+ is "‘Earth’s oxygen thermometers’ - simulating how ocean sediment and continental ice cores record past changes in Earth’s temperatures."

This activity is a simulation of how oxygen isotope analysis of deep-ocean sediments and continental ice-cores provides a record of past changes in Earth temperatures.

Other related activities can be found in 'Climate change' in our Resources and Environment category or within the alphabetical index.

Modelling the flow of seawater of different densities through straits

'Exploring current flows through straits; testing the L. F. Marsili model of Bosphorus currents (1680)'.

This activity models the flow of seawater of different densities through straits, addressing several concepts within Earth sciences (concentration, density, diffusion) by means of modelling.

Related activities can be found in our Oceanography category.

'Ocean acidification – The other carbon dioxide problem

The ELI team is now publishing three more activities which will be useful when teaching climate change. The first is: 'Ocean acidification – The other CO₂ problem; see how acidified water affects calcareous marine organisms'.

 

A demonstration, involving blowing into neutral water to produce a weak acid. Powdered seashells are added and react with the acid, as a quick-acting laboratory example of how an acidifying ocean affects the life of many marine organisms.

Other related activities can be found in 'Climate change' in the 'Resources and Environment' category.
 

Investigation into scratches on rocks caused by ice

'Ice-thickness from scratch: visualising past processes by calculation
Modelling glacial striation-formation by calculation – thinking through the assumptions'.

This ELI involves a field simulation of the scratching of striations on bedrock by the debris frozen into an ice sheet, used to approximately calculate the thickness of the ice sheet and to discuss the assumptions made. The activity has been devised to enable pupils to gain a deeper understanding of the glacial processes which erode bedrock surfaces.

Related activities can be found in 'Sedimentary processes' in the Earth energy/processes category.

Investigating and understanding spectacular landforms

The new ELI today is another in our very popular 'Picturing . . .' series - 'Picturing Landforms -1; visualise and draw landforms from a verbal description'.

Pupils learn to describe spectacular and popular landforms sufficiently accurately that they can be drawn by someone else. This can lead to an in-depth understanding of the particular landform.

Other activities in the series can be seen in the 'Picturing . . .' table.