Become a fossil hunter and dig up a dinosaur

Have you tried this Earthlearningidea - Dig up the dinosaur? How does a scientist set about digging up a large fossil, like a dinosaur? How can scientists ensure that they obtain maximum evidence from their discoveries and do not accidentally destroy vital clues? Find out with this activity.

The Himalayas in 30 seconds

This is a very popular Earthlearningidea. We have added a further extension idea using plaster of Paris instead of flour. Please let us know how you get on.

Photos of 'Quake shake - will my home collapse?'

A pupil in a rural school in Tamil Nadu, India, trying out this Earthlearningidea.
Click here to see more photos

Continuing our Darwin theme - -

This is Jothi showing teachers how to set up a wormery in order to carry out Earthlearningidea 'Darwin's big soil idea'. The teachers are taking part in an In-Service training programme in Theni district, organised by Jayaraj Annapackiam College for Women, Periyakulam, India, sponsored by Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology, Chennai, India.
Have you tried this activity yet? Let us know how your worms are doing. It took 15 days in the UK for them to completely destroy the original layers in the wormery we gave them - click here to see what they did.

Charles Darwin's 200th birthday - 12th February

To celebrate Charles Darwin's 200th birthday this week, we have published our Earthlearningidea 'A time-line in your own backyard'. We have also added some extension ideas to the original activity. Do please look at these and let us know what you think.
How do you teach this topic in your school? Is your idea better than ours?

Density of the Earth

Our latest Earthlearningidea is 'From an orange to the whole Earth: using an orange to model different densities of the Earth's layers'. Ask your pupils:-
- what will happen if you put a whole orange into a container of water?
- what will happen when you peel the orange and put the orange without its peel into water?
- what will happen when you put the orange peel into the water on its own?
Scientists know that the relative density of the whole Earth is 5.5 but the rocks of the Earth's crust have a much lower average relative density of 3.00. What does this tell you about the density of the layers inside the Earth?
This is a simple activity to carry out; tell us how you get on.

Salt - grow your own salt crystal

The photo shows some secondary grade teachers (teaching science for 6th,7th and 8th classes) trying out Earthlearningidea 'Salt of the Earth' during the In-Service training programme for secondary grade science teachers of Theni district. This was organised by Jayaraj Annapackiam College for Women, Periyakulam, India, sponsored by Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology, Chennai, India during January 2009. The demonstrator is Jothi. The teachers will ask their students to carry out this experiment in their homes with available vessels and wait for three months. They will then be asked to display their sodium chloride crystals. The student who has grown the largest crystal will be rewarded with a good book and will be asked to explain to the others the procedure he/she has followed in growing the biggest crystal.
Have you tried this Earthlearningidea? Who can make the biggest crystal with the most perfect shape? The activity provides a practical example of chemistry in action. Salt, sodium chloride, is a vital commodity; ask your pupils to investigate the main sources of supply of salt for their country.