Students examine seismic evidence to determine that the Earth must have a layered internal structure and to estimate the size of Earth's core. Note that lesson plan and supporting documents must be downloaded from this website.

Students work collaboratively using data maps to discover plate tectonic boundary processes. Data sets used are earthquakes, volcanoes, seafloor age, and topography.

In this activity, students will gain an understanding of how geologists determine rates of sea floor spreading between two tectonic plates. Students will also gain experience applying some basic, useful mathematical concepts such as the calculation and use of velocities and conversion from one set of units to another.

Students explore plate tectonics and understand how mountains, earthquakes, and volcanoes are related to the movements of plates.

This lesson has two parts. In part one, students use Slinkys to demonstrate S and P waves and then discuss how the motions of earthquakes might provide scientists with information about the Earth's interior. In the second part, students use toy putty to model the mantle of the Earth.

An engineering and design lesson for middle school (our 7th grade standards).

In the aftermath of a natural disaster, can you engineer a device that will keep medicine within a 40-60°F range using natural resources from the biome you live in, and/or debris created by the disaster for three days, until the Red Cross can arrive?

You are a team of relief workers in __________________after a major earthquake/tsunami has occurred. Your team lead as just told you about a young women with diabetes has been injured and needs insulin to be delivered __________ miles away (no open roads). Your team will need to research, design, and build a portable device to keep the insulin between _____ and ______ °(F/C) for _____ days. Once you return you will present the effectiveness of your device to your lead and a team other relief workers showing your both your design/device and explaining the process.

This publication provides a series of short articles for students, teachers, and parents originally published as a weekly newspaper feature. Concepts introduced in each feature are designed to address state and national science education standards. Written by USGS scientists, the articles go beyond traditional textbook information to discuss state-of-the-art thinking and technology that we use today.

In this activity, students create a wave box that demonstrates how earthquake waves can travel through a variety of materials as they travel away from the focus of an earthquake where the rocks first rupture.

Students will investigate waves through a series of activities. They will differentiate compressional, surface and transverse waves and how each of these waves acts during an earthquake. Students will also explore how a seismograph works and practice locating and plotting earthquake epicenters. Then, students will study liquefaction and relate it to damage due to earthquake waves.

Students explore plate boundaries and how they can help us predict where earthquakes are most likely to occur. They will also examine changes in the earth's surface that are caused by earthquakes.

Read the explanation the ancient Greeks had for earthquakes.  Then read the explantion we use today.  Then compare the two.  

In this unit, students will use analogies to investigate and explain the Earth's layers. They will also model tectonic plate boundaries and movements.

This interactive resource provides background information about the powerful forces that shape our world. The tutorial includes descriptions of the layers of the Earth, what causes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, how glaciers shape the land, and the theory of plate tectonics.

In this lesson, students will determine the locations of tectonic plate boundaries and use seismic waves to pinpoint the epicenter of an earthquake.

In this 5E lesson, students will be able to describe the effects of geological events on ancient civilizations.

In this lesson, students use an egg to represent our planet Earth and better understand the ratio and proportion of the crust, mantle, and core. Students will also be introduced to the scientific theory of plate tectonics.

In this lesson, students will run the climate modeling software, Educational Global Climate Modeling Suite (EdGCM), to visualize how temperature and snow coverage might change over the next 100 years. They will begin by running a "control" climate simulation to establish a baseline for comparison. After this first simulation, they will run a second "experimental" simulation. Then they will compare and contrast the changes in temperature and snow and ice coverage that could occur due to increased atmospheric greenhouse gases. Next, students will choose a region of their own interest to explore and compare their modeling results with those documented in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) impact reports. Through working with EdGCM, they will gain a greater understanding and appreciation of the process and power of climate modeling.

In this activity, students use books and the Internet to gather data about earthquakes and how they affect people. Language arts skills help in researching, generating ideas and questions, and communicating and interpreting data. Math skills help in measuring and finding locations with coordinate map systems. Art skills are used to create foldable graphic organizers.

Students conduct research to determine whether plate tectonics is operating at any other location in the solar system.

This website provides background information, data, historical records, hands-on activities, and graphics/media about earthquakes.