Evidence given by dinosaur footprints

'The meeting of the dinosaurs - 100 million years ago; the evidence given by dinosaur footprints'

Fossil tracks, such as footprints, can provide a great deal of evidence about the environment at the time when they were made and about how the animals lived and moved.
Other activities involving dinosaurs can be found on our website.

Catastrophic processes - a discussion of sedimentary beds

The new ELI today is 'If a sedimentary bed were laid down outside now – what would it be like? A discussion of beds and catastrophic processes'

A class discussion to develop the idea of a ‘bed’ of rock and how beds might be deposited catastrophically. The type of bed that could be deposited very much depends on the altitude and character of the area. Both likely and less likely scenarios are described in this ELI..
The activity can be used with any age of pupils or adults.
Many more Earthlearningideas in the Natural Hazards caregory can be found on our website.

Rocks music; create your own instrument

The new Earthlearningidea today continues our cross-curricular theme with 'Rocks music; create your own geo-instrument'

For this activity, the pupils should be able to identify the rocks they use and should be able to say whether they are sedimentary, igneous or metamorphic. This activity fits in well at the end of a topic where pupils can explore other aspects of the subject of study. It encourages creative thought and breaks down barriers pupils may make between scientific subjects and the arts.
Other cross-curricular activities can be found on our website; geo-art, geo-literature and Earthquakes in art. Geo-music will be published later this year.

Rock cycle in wax

'The rock cycle in wax; using a candle to demonstrate the rock cycle processes'

In this ELI a candle is used to demonstrate several rock cycle processes, and is effective in consolidating understanding of the rock cycle at the end of a lesson.
Many activities related to the rock cycle can be found on our website.

What happened when? Working out sequences of events

New ELI today - 'What happened when?: sorting out sequences using stratigraphical concepts. Are the age-based stratigraphical concepts principles or laws? – and how do you use them?'

The stratigraphical concepts used for age sequencing can be applied through indoor and outdoor exercises in both natural and constructed situations and they are great fun to do!
More activities about working out geological sequences can be found in our Geological time category on the website.

Fold mountains: the Himalayas in 30 seconds!

'The Himalayas in 30 seconds! Making a miniature fold mountain range in an empty box'

This activity models how lateral pressure can squeeze rocks into folds and faults, and imitates the way in which fold mountain ranges are formed. It could be used to extend a physics lesson on forces, or to aid understanding of the ways in which Earth’s surface features affect weather systems such as the monsoon, in geography.
Many more activities related to fold mountains and plate tectonics can be found on our website.

Urban fieldwork - the stories told by building stones

The new ELI today is 'Urban fieldwork – the stories from materials, colours, lines and shapes; find out the stories told by materials used in building and for decoration'

In this activity. pictures focussed on colours, lines and shapes are used  to begin to tell the stories of the stones used in urban areas. This urban fieldwork helps to show that, wherever stones are found or used, the features within them can be used to tell the stories of how they formed, and sometimes, how they were later deformed.
Many activities related to buildings stones and to field work can be found on our website.