Weathering - questions you can ask at any rock face

Today's new ELI is 'Questions you can ask at any rock face 1: weathering'. This activity helps teachers to ask suitable investigative questions about weathering anywhere where rocks are exposed.

Many more ideas for teaching weathering can be seen on the website.

Watch the moving sediment in a bottle gutter

Try this extension idea to an earlier ELI - 'Moving sediment in an even smaller bottle gutter; using cut-off plastic bottles as ‘stream tables’ so that all pupils can take part'.
You can see nearly all the sediment movement visible in the ‘Mighty river in a small gutter’ Earthlearningidea activity at the scale of a cut off 2 litre bottle. The advantage of using cut-off bottles is that all groups in the class can carry out the activity at the same time.
Sediment movement seen:
- Erosion hollow where the water is poured in
- Transportation of the sand down the bottle (by rolling, sliding and jumping grains)
- Deposition of sand in the pool at the bottom – in a small micro- delta
(High energy flow = erosion; moderate energy
flow = transportation; lower energy flow = deposition)

Questions for any rock face - planning for field work

The new ELI today begins a new series which deals with questions you can ask when standing in front of any exposure of rocks and soil. We start with  Planning for field work; preparing your pupils before setting out to "ask questions for any rock face".

Pupils are asked the following questions:-
- Why are we going outside? Can’t we just look at rocks in the nice warm classroom?
- What hazards might we meet on the walk from school, and what should we do to be safe and comfortable?
- What dangers might we meet at the rock face? How can we stay safe?
- What are we going to do when we get there?
- What equipment do we need to take with us?
More ideas for fieldwork can be found on our website and, of course, all the questions you can ask at a rock face from weathering to fossils to folding to economic use will be published over the next few months.

Playground planets - solar system to scale

'Playground planets' models the relative sizes of the planets and their distances from the Sun.
One of our readers has sent us a video clip which puts the distances into perspective. Click here to view.

Others ideas can be seen in the extension to this activity.
More 'Earth in Space' activities can be found on our website.

Sand on a sill - a rock cycle discussion

The new ELI today is 'Sand on a sill; what will happen to a sand grain left on a window sill? - a rock cycle discussion'

This discussion activity has been devised to encourage pupils to think about rock cycle processes in the context of the area outside their own school. By leading the small group discussion using questions such as: ‘What might happen next?’, ‘And then?’ or ‘Can you think of another idea?’, teachers should be able to encourage pupils to consider a range of different processes and products of the rock cycle and how these link to other Earth cycles.
This Earthlearningidea is an international collaborative research project 
The project derived from a discussion on research into Earth science education at the International Geoscience Education Organisation conference, GeoSciEd VII, in Hyderabad, India in 2014.
Please take part in this project by filling in the Observer Evaluation sheet and returning it to the Earthlearningidea Team. You may also find the Group Prompt sheet helpful

Ripple marks on paving slabs?

Have you every wondered what caused the ripple marks you can often see on paving slabs? Try the Earthlearningidea 'Sand ripple marks in a washbowl'. You can now demonstrate this out of doors by using an empty CD container, as shown in this extension idea.

There are lots more ideas for teaching Earth science outside the classroom on our website.

How do you conserve a geodiversity site?

Today's new Earthlearningidea is 'So, you want to conserve a geodiversity site?' 

If you found the most amazing geological site, like one of those shown in the photos, and thought it should be conserved for all to see, for many years to come, what could you do? This is a planning activity focussed on conserving a site of geoscientific importance.
After doing this activity pupils can:
- explain why a geological site is valuable and important;
- describe the different factors that need to be taken into account to preserve a geodiversity site;
- prepare a case to be presented to others arguing for the conservation of a geological site.
Many more teaching ideas about the environment can be found in Teaching strategies on the website.