Earth Learning Idea
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ELI is publishing free Earth-related teaching ideas, designed to be practical resources for teachers and teacher-trainers all over the world. They publish new Earth Learning Ideas every two weeks.
Earth Learning Idea
2d ago
'Exploring current flows through straits; testing the L. F. Marsili model of Bosphorus currents (1680)'.
This activity models the flow of seawater of different densities through straits, addressing several concepts within Earth sciences (concentration, density, diffusion) by means of modelling.
Related activities can be found in our Oceanography category ..read more
Earth Learning Idea
4d ago
The ELI team is now publishing three more activities which will be useful when teaching climate change. The first is: 'Ocean acidification – The other CO2 problem; see how acidified water affects calcareous marine organisms'.
A demonstration, involving blowing into neutral water to produce a weak acid. Powdered seashells are added and react with the acid, as a quick-acting laboratory example of how an acidifying ocean affects the life of many marine organisms.
Other related activities can be found in 'Climate change' in the 'Resources and Environment' category.
  ..read more
Earth Learning Idea
2w ago
'Ice-thickness from scratch: visualising past processes by calculation
Modelling glacial striation-formation by calculation – thinking through the assumptions'.
This ELI involves a field simulation of the scratching of striations on bedrock by the debris frozen into an ice sheet, used to approximately calculate the thickness of the ice sheet and to discuss the assumptions made. The activity has been devised to enable pupils to gain a deeper understanding of the glacial processes which erode bedrock surfaces.
Related activities can be found in 'Sedimentary processes' in the Earth energy/proces ..read more
Earth Learning Idea
2w ago
The new ELI today is another in our very popular 'Picturing . . .' series - 'Picturing Landforms -1; visualise and draw landforms from a verbal description'.
Pupils learn to describe spectacular and popular landforms sufficiently accurately that they can be drawn by someone else. This can lead to an in-depth understanding of the particular landform.
Other activities in the series can be seen in the 'Picturing . . .' table ..read more
Earth Learning Idea
1M ago
'Rock detective – rocky clues to the past; investigating your local rocks to find out how they formed'.
This activity is all about sorting rocks according to their properties, which depend upon how they were formed. Pupils use the characteristic properties of a set of rocks to sort them into sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rock groups. This works reasonably well for most rocks, but there are exceptions which are explained in the activity.
Other ELIs about rocks can be found in the Rocks section of Earth Materials ..read more
Earth Learning Idea
1M ago
Our new ELI today is the third in a series of 'Teaching geology to students with visual impairment (VI) - modifying geological materials for students who cannot see'.
Using the three ELI activities in this series, pupils with visual impairments can actively participate in learning geology. They can engage with real geological materials used so frequently when teaching the subject. They can also share in learning, using these models alongside visually acute students.
The other activities in the series are in the Cross Category topics lists ..read more
Earth Learning Idea
1M ago
New ELI today is 'Make a mini lime kiln and discover limelight; investigating the results of heating limestone.'
This ELI is a pupil activity to decompose limestone by heat and to discuss the uses of the resulting quicklime. It's a good activity for science, geography or environmental science classes.
Click on Engineering and Industrial Geology for related activities ..read more
Earth Learning Idea
2M ago
'Mineral or not? Discussion about what is a mineral and what is not'.
This is an activity centred around pictures or samples to enable pupils to distinguish between a mineral in the Earth science sense and other ways in which the term is commonly used.
Many related activities about Minerals can be found in the Earth Materials section of our website ..read more
Earth Learning Idea
2M ago
The new ELI is the last in the current series of Essential Minerals for the Green Revolution. It is "Essential mineral – critical mineral: what is the difference?"
This activity defines the purpose of a national critical minerals list for the future needs of the UK’s technology. It could form a summary of the Earthlearningidea series on metal ores which are essential for the “new” technologies as well as for the growth of existing industries.
The full series of 'Essential Minerals for the Green Revolution' can be found in the Minerals section of Earth Materials on our website ..read more
Earth Learning Idea
2M ago
'Back in time, “Alligators spotted in London” @ELI_Earth - July 1
Retrieving and communicating information'.
Pupils obtain information and use it to interpret past environments. The activity could be used in science, geography or environmental studies lessons. Writing the story involves a cross-curricular link with the arts.
Other related activities may be found in 'Visualising deep time' and in Cross-Curricular ELIs ..read more