ELI activity for November - Rock detective

Our November activity has now been published on our website - Rock detective - rocky clues to the past. Pupils will use the characteristic properties of a set of local rocks to sort them into sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rock groups.

Please let us have your comments, suggestions and ideas about this topic.

More links for Tsunamis

We have been sent the following links from Geoscience Education and Outreach Services of Australia:-

The Geological Society of Australia has a link on its resources page - scroll down and click on 'Tsunami facts'.

Geoscience of Australia also has a good tsunami site.

We were also sent more information about the booklet we mentioned in our post of 16th October. The article was published by the Australian Science Teachers' Association on 12th July 2005.

Extension ideas and activities for 'A tsunami through the window'

We have just published the comments we have received so far about our activity 'A tsunami through the window'. If you have further thoughts and ideas, then please comment on the post of 30th September.

More about Tsunamis

Steve Kluge and David Robison from New York, worked on seismograms as soon as these began coming on-line after the disastrous Sumatran tsunamis of December 2004. They created an inquiry-based lab exercise appropriate for high school and first year introductory level college students that involves the analysis of various aspects of data collected during and right after the quake - including locating the epicenter, timing the tsunami, measuring the human impact, and more.

Click here to see the webpage which has links to the activities.

The activity has been done by thousands of students around the world since then, and is featured in the journal of the National Earth Science Teachers' Association (NESTA).

Thank you very much for sending this link Steve; the project looks excellent.

One laptop per child

Just as Earthlearningidea is trying to provide a means of learning and exploration for children with little access to education, so is this initiative - 'One Laptop per Child'

The XO laptops are created expressly for the world's poorest children living in the most remote environments. Files from the machines can be backed up on a 'school server' or via an on-line system provided by Google. Click here for more details.

It seems that the laptops would be able to access Earthlearningidea activities. What a wonderful combination! Does anyone have more information about this please?

Here are some more links to information about these laptops. Click here and here.

Physics of the tsunami that re-drew the Sri Lankan coast

A booklet, 'Jala Tharanga - Physics of the Tsunami that re-drew the Sri Lankan Coastal Map' has been written by Ranjith Dediwalage, Head of Science at St. Leonard's College, Melbourne, Australia. The idea is that people can donate money through the purchase of the booklet at $5.00 each and learn some science at the same time. All the money raised will be given to the Panadura Fisheries Village Rehabilitation Fund in Sri Lanka. Ranjith can be contacted by email.

More links for Earthlearningidea

Earthlearningidea has been linked to the websites of UCL Department of Earth Sciences, 'Useful Earth Science Links' and there is an article and a link on the website of the Royal Society of New Zealand. This is very good news. We are also pleased to report that subcription numbers to ELI continue to rise steadily. Please write your comments on this blog.