Bringing a fossil to life

'What was it like to be there? - bringing a fossil to life' is our latest Earthlearningidea.
Try to bring fossils to life in the imaginations of your pupils by asking a series of key questions. Encourage them to use the evidence from the fossils themselves to answer the questions, rather than by guessing. Ask them to suggest what other evidence might help them to give even better answers. Questions to ask are as follows -

When it was alive:
- What sort of place was this animal living in?
- What did it breathe?
- What did it eat?
- Was it a hunter? — or hunted? — or both?
- What could it have seen?
- What could it have sensed?
- How did it die? — can we tell?
- What happened after it died?
Pupils have to use their creativity and imagination to bring the animals and their environments to life, whilst 'bridging' between life today and in the past.
Let us know how you get on with this activity by writing a comment on this blog or by contacting us by email.

Quarry through the window

'Quarry through the window - what would you see, what would you not see?' This is our latest Earthlearningidea - click here to view the activity in English. It can also be found in Spanish in the 'Resources and Environment' category (Recursos y Medio Ambiente) - click here.
Many people don't realise that, to build our buildings, to construct transport links and to make dams and reservoirs, we have to extract millions of tonnes of material from the ground — and that this comes from quarries. Most people would not like a quarry in their 'backyard', but quarries have to be sited where the materials are found underground, and not too far from where they are needed, because it is very expensive to transport bulk materials like quarry products for long distances. So, some rock, sand and gravel quarries and clay pits have to be sited near towns and cities.
Ask your pupils to try this activity and send us their work. We will publish the best.

Dinosaur death - did it die or was it killed?

Dinosaur death- did it die or was it killed? Was this a Cretaceous crime scene? - using rock and fossil forensic evidence to find out. This is our latest Earthlearningidea - click here to view this exciting new activity. A large fossil skeleton has been found in rocks near your school. Did the animal die naturally or was it attacked and killed? Use your detective skills to investigate what really happened long ago. Pupils use evidence from rocks and fossils to build up a picture of how the dinosaur died - like a detective builds up a case from a crime scene.
This is a very popular activity in the UK. Let us know how your pupils react.

Flood through the window

Our new Earthlearningidea 'Flood through the window - what would you see, how would you feel?' is now available on our website - click here to view.
Pupils are asked to visualise a flood seen through the window and imagine its likely impacts now and in the future. Sudden flooding episodes can even affect area with steep slopes, but are much more common in flat, low-lying areas subject to major weather phenomena.
Please try this out with your class and let us know how you get on. Perhaps you could send us the pupils' work which we will publish.

Earthlearningidea across the world

This map, produced by Google analytics, shows the countries where Earthlearningideas have been viewed. The darker the shading, the more visits to the site. The blog has been visited 6190 times since it began in May last year and we have reached 101 countries.
The activities are available in English and Spanish but are now being translated into Norwegian and Italian. We hope to add more languages in the future.
We are over half-way through our weekly publications now so please keep your comments coming.

Blow up your own volcano!

Simulate your own volcanic eruption by using either of the two methods explained in this activity - soapsuds volcano and coke volcano. Before either of the demonstrations, try asking the pupils what they think causes the lava to come out of a volcano.
The nature of a volcanic eruption depends on many factors, including the type of underlying magma, its temperature, the quantities of gases dissolved under pressure, the thickness of the overlying rock and its extent of fracture. A small range of these variables may be seen in these activities.
Click HERE to view a short video clip of the soapsuds volcano.
Please let us have your comments and/or suggestions about these exciting activities.

The porosity of rocks

The Space within - the porosity of rocks. For this Earthlearningidea, the pupils make a sedimentary rock by packing any roughly sphere-shaped things of the same size, e.g. oranges or marbles, into a suitable container. The oranges or marbles are like the grains which make up a sedimentary rock, like sand grains in a sandstone.
You can get the pupils more involved in this demonstration as follows: when a container is full of spheres, ask ‘Is it full’? After they answer ‘Yes’, you add water to show that there was still lots of space.
Similarly, before pouring in the water, ask them to predict how much water could be added. Most will be surprised at how much water can be poured in – and that apparently solid materials can be more than a third space.
Natural sandstones have porosities that range up to around 50%, so they may have plenty of space for water or oil/gas. Natural clays can have porosities up to more than 80% - but they are often impermeable, since the pore spaces are so small that water cannot flow through.
Try this activity with your pupils and let us know how you get on.