This is a short video outlining the causes and effects of a magnitude 9.2 earthquake in Alaska in 1964. Additional resources include a background essay and discussion questions.
This animation illustrates how seismic waves travel through the earth to a single seismic station. Scale and movement of the seismic station are greatly exaggerated to depict the relative motion recorded by the seismogram as P, S, and surface waves arrive.
This animation illustrates the movement of the three basic waves associated with an earthquake and the effect of these waves on a building.
This parent guide supports parents in helping their child at home with the 6th grade Science content.
This resource accompanies our Rethink 6th Grade Science course. It includes ideas for use, ways to support exceptional children, ways to extend learning, digital resources and tools, tips for supporting English Language Learners and students with visual and hearing impairments. There are also ideas for offline learning.
In this lesson, students experiment with representative materials to understand crustal interactions. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to list and draw the three types of plate interactions and name one landform that results from each plate interaction.
In this lesson, students explore how convection currents cause crustal plate movement.
In this lesson, students use blocks of wood to distinguish among fault types and describe the movement along each type.
In this lesson, students use slinkies to imitate and better understand the two types of waves assocaited with earthquakes.
In this lesson, students experiment with how tectonic forces form mountains. Students will recreate each landform made by drawing it on paper or using foam strips to model. After performing the force needed to create different landforms, students will label on paper the direction of the movement of the rock corresponding to each force.
This video discusses the causes and effects as well as the science behind the magnitude 9.2 earthquake that occurred in Alaska in 1964.
This interactive resource provides video clips of actual earthquakes to help students better understand the Richter scale and the Mercalli Intensity Scale.
Students will be able to describe the movement of tectonic plates, and differentiate between the three typical boundary types that occur between tectonic plates.
Students build their own seisomograph using an adapted loudspeaker and audio software.
In this activity, students will understand basic principles of earthquake engineering and design by working together as a team to design and build a structure.
Students read two descriptions of Earth's interior structure and summarize similarities and differences between the two and answer a series on analysis questions.
In this lesson, students will explore convection using classroom experiments on Earth and then compare the results with the results of the same experiment in the microgravity environment onbaord the International Space Station.
Investigate dynamics in the earth’s crust that explain multiple phenomena.
In this activity, students investigate dynamics in the earth's crust that explain multiple Earth Science phenomena.
GeoInquiries are designed to be fast and easy-to-use instructional resources that incorporate advanced web mapping technology. Each 15-minute activity in a collection is intended to be presented by the instructor from a single computer/projector classroom arrangement. No installation, fees, or logins are necessary to use these materials and software.
Students watch a video about hydrothermal vents and then use a map of plate tectonics to identify and mark where in the world the vents are most likely to be found.