Continuing with chemistry, our ELI today is 'An Element of fun; an entertaining way to teach Mendeleev's Periodic Table of elements'.
Related activities can be found in Minerals and Elements in our Earth Materials category.
Our ELI today is 'What am I made of? - a comparison between the chemistry of the human body and the rest of the Earth'.
This activity compares the chemical elements that make up a human body with those that make up the Earth. Notes and possible answers to some of the questions are provided.
Related activities can be found in Minerals and Elements in our Earth materials category.
Now we are approaching exam time, our ELI today is a good revision exercise, as are the other activities in the 'Picturing . .' series - 'Picturing igneous rocks 1 - visualise and draw igneous rocks from a verbal description'.
Related revision activities can be found in the table at the end of each 'Picturing . . ' activity:
Following on from looking at metamorphic rocks last week, today we investigate an exceptional piece of slate - 'Every rock tells a story; reading the rock history from an exceptional specimen of slate'.
Related activities can be found in Rocks in our Earth Materials category.
Today's ELI is 'Building Stones 4 - Metamorphic rocks; what are the differences between metamorphic rocks commonly used as building stones'.
This activity uses photographs of metamorphic rocks used for ornamental purposes. This activity follows ‘Building Stones 1’ and is intended for pupils to deepen their understanding of metamorphic rocks. A table showing how the series of Earthlearningidea building stone activities link together is given on the final page.
Related activities can be found in Rocks in our Earth Materials category.
Our new ELI this month is an addition to our ELI Early years activities 'Mud, Mud, glorious mud*; make your own bricks'.
This activity involves carefully measuring ingredients to make a pliable mud. The mud is then baked in the sun or in an oven to make bricks. The bricks can then be painted and/or used to make structures.
Related activities can be found in Engineering and Industrial geology in our Earth Materials category, or you can search for our 'Make your own . . .' series.
* from Flanders and Swan ‘The Hippopotamus Song’
Today, we are continuing to look at building stones with 'Building Stones 3 – Sedimentary rocks; how do the sedimentary rocks used for building stones differ?'.
A small group activity using photographs of sedimentary rocks used as building stones or for ornamental purposes. This activity follows ‘Building Stones 1’ and is intended for pupils to deepen their understanding of sedimentary rocks. A table showing how the series of Earthlearningidea building stone activities link together is given on the final page.
Related activities can be found in our Earth Materials category - Rocks.
Have you ever wondered about all the beautiful building stones you see when you walk round most towns and cities? Try this ELI - 'Building Stones 1– a resource for several Earthlearningidea activities; use a key to identify many different attractive-looking rocks'.
A small group activity in the identification of a wide range of rock types, using natural-scale photographs of rocks used as building stones or for ornamental purposes. The sheets of photographs are intended for use as the basis for several further activities.
Related activities can be found in our Rocks section of the Earth Materials category.
This activity asks pupils questions relating to all the senses to try to bring past environments of the formation of rocks to life.
Related Earthlearningideas can be found in our Rocks section of the Earth Materials category.
This is the second ELI about identifying rocks in an outdoor collection - 'A forgotten rock garden - 2; help a geologist identify a treasured outdoor collection'.
This activity involves matching a set of photographs to their descriptions and locating them on an overall scene. It could form a useful revision activity, once pupils have acquired experience of a range of rocks. The answers are provided in the text.
Related activities can be found in 'Rocks' in our Earth Materials category.
How do hydrothermal minerals form? Our ELI today gives the answer - "Interactive hydrothermal mineralisation: ‘the rock with the hole’ hydrothermal mineralisation demo".
This ELI is a demonstration of how hydrothermal fluids flow through rocks, presented in a way to interact with pupils.
Other activities related to minerals can be found in our Earth Materials, Minerals category.
The new Earthlearningidea today is 'A forgotten rock garden - 1; help a geologist identify a treasured outdoor collection'
This activity involves matching a set of photographs to their descriptions and locating them on an overall scene. This could form a useful revision activity, once students have acquired experience of a range of rocks, minerals and fossils. Answers to the matching exercise are provided.
Other related ELIs can be found in the Earth Materials 'Rocks' category.
'Rock grain cut out; how can you tell which grains come from which rock?'
This cutting out and pasting activity is designed to encourage pupils to think carefully about the characteristics of rock grains and how they fit together, in the sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rock groups.
Related activities can be found in our Earth Materials category.
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.
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.
The new ELI today is 'Soil pH testing; a way of introducing scientific practice into environmental education'.
Testing the pH of soil using shop-bought kits.
Other related soil activities can be found in this category.
This activity is all about sorting rocks according to their properties, which depend upon how they were formed. Pupils use the characteristic properties of a set of rocks to sort them into sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rock groups. This works reasonably well for most rocks, but there are exceptions which are explained in the activity.
Other ELIs about rocks can be found in the Rocks section of Earth Materials.
Keeping our theme of limestone - - '‘I’m pure calcium carbonate’ – the calcium carbonate question; a discussion focussed on common misconceptions about calcium carbonate'.
