Geosphere Links For Teachers

Arranged in alphabetical order.

Caves

• More Than Skin Deep: Teachers Guide to Caves - From the National Park Service.

Earthquakes

• Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research - The Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research is a national center of excellence in advanced technology applications. It seeks the reduction of earthquake damage and losses through research, development and application of new knowledge.
• National Earthquake Information Center - USGS, Good place to find maps on earthquake sites, online publications, and computer generated simulation models.
• Nevada Seismological Laboratory - Contains great graphics, pictures, illustrations, on-line lecture, etc. of earthquake related info.
• Putting Earthquakes in Their Place: A New Map of Global Tectonic - Using a number of global databases, hundreds of research reports, satellite photos and modeling technology, a group of NASA researchers has constructed a complete tectonic map of the globe.
• Seismograph Station - UC-Berkley, A resource guide designed to aid teachers in the presentation of seismology and other earth sciences in the classroom. Contains listings of free and low cost publications as well as internet resources.
• Southern California Earthquake Center - Go to Outreach for educational materials, lesson plans, movies, slideshows, etc.       
• Twenty-four Hour Aftershock Forecast Map - From the USG.
• USGS Quake Information - United States Geological Survey's News on Earthquakes.

Glaciers

• (The) Glacier Gallery - Provides an in-depth look at the different types of glaciers, their features and characteristics, and how glaciers can shape the land around them. 
• Illustrated Glossary Of Alpine Glacial Landforms - Here's a site that shows photos of glacier features side by side with topo maps.

Minerals

• (The) Mineral and Gemstone Kingdom - The Mineral and Gemstone Kingdom is a free, interactive, educational guide to minerals and gemstones. Extensive information has been researched and categorized. The content is geared for both amateurs and experts.

Planet Earth

• (The) Earth Through Time - Check out these wonderful historical geology resources from Wiley.
• Geologic Time: The Story of A Changing Earth - An interactive textbook from the Smithsonian Institution.
• GPS and Elementary School Children - Slide Show presentation of using a hand held remote sensing device ( Global Positioning System) to map out shapes in a field with primary age children. Learn orientiering skills while learning about geometry topics of perimeter, area, length and width.
• How Does Radioactive Decay Work? - This page from Teaching Quantitative Skills in the Geosciences helps faculty communicate essential quantitative ideas that students struggle with in terms of radioactive decay.
• Jason Project 6: Island Earth - Great site for ACTIVITIES and LESSONS. Great for teacher and students.
• University of Nebraska Vertebrate Paleontology - A site devoted to vertebrate paleontology in Nebraska. Great pictures and general information about Nebraska fossils.

Plate Tectonics

• ODSN Plate Tectonic Reconstruction Service - In this site, you can calculate platetectonic reconstructions of any age back to 150 My.
• PALEOMAP Project - The site illustrates the plate tectonic development of the ocean basins and continents, as well as the changing distribution of land and sea during the past 1100 million years.
• Plate Tectonics - The progress of the earth sciences and the advancement of technologies associated with the understanding of our planet during the 1940's and 50's have led geologists to develop a new way of looking at the world and how it works.

Soil

• Dr. Dirt Soil Lessons - Lessons with hands-on activities for soil horizons made of pudding, plowing implements, soil as a filter and sand castle engineering.
• Natural Resources Conservation Service Soils Site - Lesson plans and teaching tips from the USDA.

Volcanoes

• Alaska Volcano Observatory - Contains FREE and LOW COST materials. Great for pictures, satellite images, and maps.
• Cascades Volcano Observatory - Good general volcano info. Great pictures, definitions, facts, figures on volcanoes worldwide. Has educational outreach button with links to ACTIVITIES and LESSON PLANS.
• Volcanoes: Can We predict volcanic Eruptions? - Contains Information about how to predict volcanic Eruptions.
• Volcano Problem Solving Modules - Five activities on volcanoes which allow students to interact with the WWW to help complete the activities.
• Volcano Web - An excellent online lesson which uses the internet to research info on volcanoes and then write a report on the results
• Volcano World - Contains LESSON PLANS, ACTIVITIES, teachers guides, references, virtual field trips, computer guided LESSONS, current volcano data, pictures, movies, definitions, and diagrams. An EXCELLENT site for teachers and students.