Topics and Teaching strategies | ELI home

INVESTIGATING THE EARTH

Fieldwork
Geomorphology
Geophysics
Magnetism
Mapwork
Oceanography

FIELDWORK

Title & Description English More Ideas and Videos
Do-it-yourself dip and strike model (with DIY clinometer) (ELI+)
Using a model to measure and understand dip, dip direction, strike and apparent dip
DIY Dip and strike model  
Earth science out-of-doors: preserving the evidence
What evidence of the present times might we find in a million years from now?
Earth science out-of-doors  
Fieldwork: ‘All powerful’ strategy
Discussing geological histories in imaginative ways
All powerful  
Fieldwork: Applying ‘the present is the key to the past’
An outdoor activity to apply the present to the past - using Earth science-thinking in reverse
Present is the key to the past Teaching Video
Fieldwork: Envronmental evaluation
Developing a strategy for evaluating the environment
Environmental evaluation  
Fieldwork: Interactive re-creation
Activities using simple transportable apparatus to simulate features in the field
Interactive re-creation  
Fieldwork: Now and then – spotting the difference
How did the conditions differ between today and when the rock was formed?
Now and then  
Fieldwork: Questions for any rock face - Planning for fieldwork
Preparing your pupils before setting out to “ask questions for any rock face”
Questions for any rock face - planning  
Fieldwork: Questions for any rock face 1: weathering
What questions about weathering might be asked at any rock exposure?
Questions for any rock face - weathering  
Fieldwork: Questions for any rock face 2: erosion
What questions about erosion might be asked at any rock exposure?
Questions for any rock face - erosion  
Fieldwork: Questions for any rock face 3: soil
What questions about soil might be asked at any rock exposure?
Questions for any rock face - soil  
Fieldwork: Questions for any rock face 4: rock group (sedimentary or igneous)
What questions about the type of rock might be asked at any rock exposure?
Questions for any rock face - rock group (sedimentary or igneous)  
Fieldwork: Questions for any rock face 5: sedimentary grains
What questions about sedimentary grains might be asked at any rock exposure?
Questions for any rock face - sedimentary grains  
Fieldwork: Questions for any rock face 6: fossils
What questions about fossils might be asked at any rock exposure?
Questions for any rock face - fossils  
Fieldwork: Questions for any rock face 7: tilted or folded rocks
What questions about tilted or folded rocks might be asked at any rock exposure?
Questions for any rock face - tilted or folded rocks  
Fieldwork: Questions for any rock face 8: faults
What questions about faults might be asked at any rock exposure?
Questions for any rock face - faults  
Fieldwork: Questions for any rock face 9: metamorphic rock
What questions about metamorphism might be asked at any metamorphic rock exposure?
Questions for any rock face - metamorphic rocks  
Fieldwork: Questions for any rock face 10: sequencing
What questions about sequencing geological events might be asked at any rock exposure?
Questions for any rock face - sequencing geological events  
Fieldwork: Questions for any rock face 11: tectonic plates
What questions about relationships to tectonic plates might be asked at any rock exposure?
Questions for any rock face - tectonic plates  
Fieldwork: Questions for any rock face 12: potential of the quarry or cutting
What questions about the potential of the site might be asked at any rock exposure?
Questions for any rock face - potential  
Fieldwork: Questions for any rock face 13: quarry economics
What questions about potential for quarry re-opening might be asked at any rock exposure?
Questions for any rock face - economics  
Fieldwork: Questions for any rock face 14: recording
What questions about recording geological data might be asked at any rock exposure?
Questions for any rock face - recording geological data  
Fieldwork safety: The ‘What could hurt you here?’ approach to field safety
Teaching how to keep safe during fieldwork and other outdoor activities
Fieldwork safety  
Fieldwork: The view from the site
Using the view of the local area to tune yourself into the local geology
The view from the site  
Fieldwork: The ‘What makes a good educational experience’ approach to planning fieldwork
Thinking through the fieldwork strategies that are most likely to inform and inspire
Fieldwork strategies (ELI for Educators)  
Fieldwork: Urban fieldwork – the stories from materials, colours, lines and shapes
Find out the stories told by materials used in building and for decoration
Urban fieldwork Teaching Video
Recreating the rocks – step by step
Simulating a dipping sedimentary rock sequence though a sequence of Earthlearningideas
Recreating the rocks  
View to the future – and the past
Using a viewpoint or overview educationally
View to the future – and the past  

GEOMORPHOLOGY

Title & Description Activity More Ideas and Video
Picturing Landforms -1
Visualise and draw landforms from a verbal description
Picturing landforms 1  
Picturing Landforms -2
Visualise and draw landforms from a verbal description
Picturing landforms 2  

GEOPHYSICS

Title & Description Activity More Ideas and Video
Electrical ground probing
Measuring the electrical resistance of the ground to find buried objects
Electrical ground probing  
Modelling remote sensing geophysics (ELI+)
Using a mock gravitometer and magnetometer set up in the classroom
Remote sensing geophysics  
Under pressure (ELI+)
Calculating the intense pressure underground
Under pressure  
Water pressure - underground (ELI+)
Demonstrating how hydrostatic pressure increases with depth
Water pressure underground  

MAGNETISM

Title & Description Activity More Ideas and Video
Frozen magnetism (ELI+)
Preserving evidence of a past magnetic field in wax
Frozen magnetism Teaching video
Human magnets! (ELI+)
Modelling ancient and modern magnetic fields, using your pupils
Human magnets!  
Magnetic Earth (ELI+)
Modelling the magnetic field of the Earth
Magnetic Earth Teaching video
Extension
Magnetic stripes (ELI+)
Modelling the symmetrical magnetic pattern of the rocks of the sea floor
Magnetic stripes Teaching video
Magnetic stripes- Hands on magnetic stripes (ELI+)
Demonstrating how oceanic ridge magnetic stripes form with several pair of hands
Hands on magnetic stripes  
Recipe for a magnetic Earth and a magnetic detector
Using a stress ball and small magnet, with a needle and thread to model magnetic Earth
Magnetic Earth and magnetic detector Teaching video
Why won’t my compass work on the other side of the Equator? (ELI+)
Understanding the three-dimensional magnetic field of the Earth
3D Magnetic field Teaching video

MAPWORK

Title & Description English More Ideas and Videos
Geological mapwork from scratch 1: a conical hill (ELI+)
Draw your own cross sections - of increasing difficulty
Mapwork 1: conical hill  
Geological mapwork from scratch 2: valley with simple geology (ELI+)
Draw your own cross sections and 3D geological model
Mapwork 2: valley with simple geology  
Geological mapwork from scratch 3: valley with dipping geology (ELI+)
Draw your own cross sections and 3D geological model
Mapwork 3: valley with dipping geology  
Geological mapwork from models 1: plain with simple geology (ELI+)
Draw and make your own 3D models of the geology of a flat region
Mapwork from models 1: plain with simple geology  
Geological mapwork from models 2: cuesta with simple geology (ELI+)
Draw and make your own 3D models of the geology of a cuesta
Mapwork from models 2: cuesta with simple geology  
Geological mapwork from models 3: valley with horizontal floor (ELI+)
Draw and make your own 3D models of the geology of a valley with a horizontal floor
Mapwork from models 3: valley with horizontal floor  
Geological mapwork from models 4: sloping ridge and valley (ELI+)
Draw and make your own 3D models of the geology of a sloping ridge/valley area
Mapwork from models 4: sloping ridge and valley  
Geological mapwork from models 5: folded geology on block models (ELI+)
Draw and make your own 3D models of areas with folded rocks
Mapwork from models 5: folded geology  
Geological mapwork from models 6: plain with faults in the direction of dip (ELI+)
Draw and make your own 3D models of the geology of a flat region with faulted rocks
Mapwork from models 6: plain with faults in direction of dip  
Geological mapwork from models 7: plain with faults parallel to the outcrops of the beds (ELI+)
Draw and make your own 3D models of the geology of a flat region with faulted rocks
Mapwork from models 7: plain with faults parallel to the outcrops  
Geological mapwork from models 8: plain with different types of fault (ELI+)
Draw and make your own 3D models of the geology of a flat region with faulted rocks
Mapwork from models 8: plain with different types of fault  
Geological mapwork: using surface geology to make a geological map (ELI+)
Match the photos to a map to see how a geological map works
Mapwork - surface geology  
Jelly BabiesTM approach to understanding 3D geological maps (ELI+)
Use Jelly BabiesTM cut at the dip angle to highlight structures on geological maps
Jelly BabiesTM and 3D maps  
Opengeoscience 1: igneous intrusions and lavas
Opening geological maps to the world
Opengeoscience 1  
Opengeoscience 2: tilted and folded rocks
Opening geological maps to the world
Opengeoscience 2  
Teaching geology to students with visual impairment (VI)
Modifying block models to teach map-work to students who cannot see
Block models in mapwork for students with VI  

OCEANOGRAPHY

Title & Description Activity More Ideas and Video
Atmosphere and ocean in a tank: High flow, low flow?
Hot, cold and particle-filled density currents as they flow in the atmosphere and ocean
Atmosphere and ocean in a tank Extension
Video
Teaching Video
Atmosphere and ocean in a lunchbox
A model for all pupils – of hot, cold and cloudy density currents
Atmosphere and ocean in a lunchbox  
Exploring current flows through straits
Testing the L. F. Marsili model of Bosphorus currents (1680)
Current flows through straits (Marsili model)  
Lost at sea – the amazing journeys of rubber ducks around the world
Studying ocean currents following the Friendly Floatees ocean spill
Rubber ducks at sea  
Sea-floor mapping 1 - Measuring the depths of seas and oceans: How is it done?
A simple demonstration of how we measure sea floor depths and relief
Measuring the depths of seas and oceans
Sea-floor mapping 2 - Modelling sea-floor mapping
How to simulate an echo-sounder study of seafloor topography
Modelling sea-floor mapping
Sea-floor mapping 3 - Sounding the Pacific Ocean
An echo sounder traverse of the eastern Pacific
East Pacific traverse
Sea-floor mapping 4 - Marie Tharp: ‘The valley will be coming up soon.’ Bruce Heezen: ‘What valley?’
‘A woman scientist in a man’s world’ - what was it like?
Marie Tharp: ‘A woman scientist in a man’s world’
Sea level in a plastic cup
Eight ways to change the water level in a plastic cup – and global sea level
Sea level in a plastic cup