Teachers' Corner
Drawing by Summer Morgan
(Links will open in a new browser window)
This page is designed for K-12 science teachers as a resource for a variety of earth science-related subject matter including earth science Web links, local and national organizations, museums and local events in the Northwest of interest to teachers and students. As an instructor of earth sciences, I welcome any and all suggestions that may help make this page better. If you have information or Web resources that may be beneficial to other science teachers, please contact me via my e-mail address and I'll post it. If you have any specific questions regarding the earth sciences, please feel free to contact me. If I can't answer your questions directly, I'll try to give you references or suggest other earth science professionals that can. I look forward to hearing from you and your students! This page will be continuously updated, so please check back often.
Space and Astronomy
Visit www.kidscosmos.org. This exciting site focuses on space information and exploration for kids and teachers. Be sure to visit the Field Trip to Mars! The tour includes geology features common to Mars and Washington State including floodplains, Glacial Lake Missoula and Grand Coulee, volcanoes, earthquakes, dust devils, sand dunes, and other topics with background material. The site is divided into a Just for Kids version and General Interest.
Volcanoes
Drawing by Derek Paul
See my main Web page for some very interesting and informative Web pages dedicated to the study of volcanoes and volcanic processes.
My favorites include the Michigan Tech., Cascades Volcano Observatory, and Volcano World pages. These excellent pages have updated information, maps and graphics on volcanic activity worldwide.
Don't miss the Mount St. Helens
National Monument Teacher's Corner 
, where you can take a virtual fly-by
tour of Mount St. Helens, the crater, and more.
For you teachers who want something different in the classroom, try a private commercial page called Rockware (www.rockware.com/). At this site you can access a fun free program entitled ERUPT. This program is free to download and kids love it! This is a pretty realistic modeling program that simulates volcanic eruptions and essentially you put in a host variables, such as eruption style, intensity of eruption, wind direction, etc. Then the program builds a volcano. Kids can simulate Mt. St. Helens to Hawaiian lava flows. It's a fairly realistic program and you can teach kids the basics of modeling volcanic eruptions. It's really fun to hook your computer up to a big screen projector and view in large scale. The kids will go crazy. The program has an automatic option in which the program creates it's own volcano with sound effects. Turn it on, come back in an hour and you have a volcano.
Fossils
Jurassic Coast
"...[T]he Dorset and East Devon coast (southern UK) contains a fascinating
glimpse into the ancient past including the entire Jurassic period of geological
time."
Regional Resources
Unfortunately, the Inland Northwest is not renowned for great fossil collecting. However, there are a few sites within a couple
hours drive of Spokane where students and teachers can actually dig fossils. Here are a few:
Stonerose:
The Stonerose site, located in the beautiful Republic Valley, contains museum quality specimens of Eocene (approximately 47 to
50 million year old) plants and some animals (mainly fish and insects). The fossils are currently being studied by paleobotanists
from the Burke Museum in Seattle but the public is invited to dig for a small fee. For teachers, this is an excellent locality to
bring students to introduce them (via hands on learning) to the world of paleontology, paleobotany, as well as other aspects of science.
Kids can keep specimens with the approval of Stonerose staff (newly discovered species are unearthed constantly and must be kept and
studied by the scientists). The staff at Stonerose are more than happy to accommodate teachers and their classes. The location has a
wonderful interpretive center for students to examine the vast array of Stonerose fossils. Teachers,
go check out Stonerose!
Clarkia Fossil Beds:
These are located near Clarkia, Idaho. More information will be posted regarding this site in the future.
Museums, Dinosaurs, and Dinosaur Digs!
JOBARIA!
DON"T MISS THIS PAGE!!! This is an absolutely fascinating and
indispensable series of pages for K-12 teachers and students! Jobar means desert giant in native Arabic, hence Jobaria is one of the
newest and strangest giant dinosaur creatures unearthed from a recent expedition to the Sahara Desert of Niger, Africa. This page,
designed by world famous dinosaur expert Dr. Paul Sereno and his colleagues, offers lesson plan ideas as well as assessment standards
for various school districts from around the country. It also offers kids an opportunity to see some of the exciting new discoveries
of GIANT DINOSAURS from the Sahara Desert of Niger and Morocco. Here is an opportunity to travel along with dinosaur experts while they
discover some of the most bizarre dinosaurs imaginable. Paul and his graduate students will be taking another exciting expedition to
Niger this fall (2000) and kids and teachers can get live uplinks during their adventure. GOOD LUCK to Paul and his crew!
Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology
This is one of the world's finest museums for dinosaur paleontology showing one of the world's the richest dinosaur sites, the Red Deer
Valley of Alberta, Canada.
Dino Russ's Lair
Dino Russ has all you need or
want to know about dinosaurs!
PaleoNet
A network for dinosaur fans and paleontologists
Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
Weather Phenomena
Teachers, there are many great weather-related pages out there, from simple, photo pages to real-time data pages. Get actual daily satellite images and teach kids the basics of weather processes and phenomenon such as tornadoes, hurricanes and thunderstorms. Track weather systems and teach kids to become atmospheric scientists! My favorites include:
Drawing by Derek Paul
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
This site has everything! From daily weather forecasts and satellite images to an archive of cool weather phenomenon photography. Check it
out!
Live Weather Images
This page is absolutely amazing! It has every map and satellite image you could ever want. Check out the really cool ocean surface water
temperature map and teach kids about hurricane predictions.
Spokane Area Weather
This site, maintained by NOAA and National Weather Service in the Spokane area, has real-time weather information for the Inland Northwest
region, including spectacular satellite images and weather forecast information. Teachers can have students access this site to make their
own forecast models as well as describe potential weather conditions in other Inland Northwest locations beyond the immediate Spokane area.
There is also outreach and educational information on this site.
USA Today Weather
Learn the basics of some exciting weather phenomena.
The Tornado Project
A commercial page but with books, videos and other tornado-related info.
Earthquakes!
The following are several earthquake-related Web pages designed specifically for students and teachers. There are several animations and excellent tutorials on the mechanics of earthquakes as well as the hazards associated with earthquakes.
- Surfing the Net with Kids: Earthquakes
- Life along the Faultline: Exploratorium
- FEMA for Kids: Earthquakes
- Savage Earth: Restless Planet
As with many of the earth science-related phenomena, there are many Web sites with tons of info., but my favorite seismic sites include:
National Earthquake Information Center
Get up to date information and data on earthquakes worldwide. Students can see where earthquakes occur as related to plate tectonics
and geology. This site has great maps and earthquake site information, such as locations, magnitudes and depths of earthquakes.
Pacific Northwest Earthquakes
This page is maintained by the Geophysics Department at the University of Washington and has up-to-the-minute and historical information,
maps, etc. regarding earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest.
Pacific Northwest Seismograph
Network
Real-time seismograph data from several Cascade volcanoes; students can view real seismic data and see what's
"happening" under the volcanoes!
Virtual Earthquake
This interesting page allows students to
determine the location of a mock earthquake using the method of triangulation. The program is offered by Cal. State University and is
very "user-friendly" with all the directions and procedures easy to follow. This program allows the student to create their
own earthquake using specific seismic parameters. The program calculates the earthquake epicenter and displays the results with very
nice map graphics, and upon successful completion, the student receives a seismic certificate! Click on the "Virtual
arthquake" section.
Local and National Organizations
National Association of Geoscience Teachers
(NAGT)
This national organization has regional sections with a variety of activities such as conferences, field trips,
publications, lesson exercises and photo slides for teachers of all grade levels, from K -12 to college-level earth sciences. The
Pacific Northwest section homepage is:
http://www.csmt.ewu.edu/csmt/geol/thomson/nagt/nagtnw.html
Northwest Mining Association (NWMA)
This organization offers opportunities
for K-12 teachers via classroom visits and demonstrations regarding the importance of geology, mineral resources and responsible mining
practices for today's society. Kids can learn about minerals and the importance of mining via hands-on demonstrations. For more info.,
visit the NWMA Web site.
Northwest Geological Society
This organization, based in
Seattle, meets monthly to discuss geologic "happenings" of the Pacific Northwest. The group gives talks and leads field
trips to a variety of exciting geologic locations.
Washington Science Teachers Association
This organization has a yearly conference that offers wonderful opportunities for K-12 science teachers. Learn about a variety of science-related subjects, get lesson plan strategies, classroom materials, field trips, and much more!
Meteorites and Fireballs
Cascade Meteorite Laboratory - Portland State University
For more information, contact Alex Ruzicka at ruzickaa@pdx.edu or Dick Pugh at
(503)287-6733.
Minerals
The following links specifically address the study of minerals and the importance of minerals as a geologic resource to our society.
The Mineral Gallery
This commercial site offers crystals and other items for sale but teachers and students can use The Mineral Gallery for looking up mineral
information and mineral identification. Particularly useful is the "Full Text Search" option where key terms can be entered and minerals
with specific properties will be displayed. It is a useful tool for unknown mineral identification. Teachers can provide students with
mineral clues and then have them identify the unknown using this search engine.
Mineral Information Institute
This page is my favorite with a ton of FREE downloadable information and lesson plans for teachers. Be sure to visit this site!
Mineral Matters
Another excellent page for teachers that want ideas for mineral education. This page contains fun games and project ideas. Kids can
learn how to identify minerals, grow crystals, create a mineral & rock collection, and many fun games about minerals. Check it out!
Minerals and Metals
This page has a fantastic interactive exercise for kids entitled "Start a Mine", which takes kids through the entire process
of mineral exploration and development of a mine. The page also has a section on Mining and the Environment that teaches kids &
teachers about modern mining and the environmental responsibilities modern mining companies are taking toward our environment.
Diamond Dan Publications A commercial page with teaching resources at affordable prices.
Diamonds in the Rough
This page concentrates on the diamond deposits in Arkansas and contains some fun exercises for kids.
TheImage.com Minerals
This site provides a list of many common and less common minerals along with photos and specific information on individual minerals.
Other Great Resources!
Teachers, take advantage of your local colleges and universities. These places of "higher" learning have geologists that would be more than happy to answer questions, give tours or come and talk geology to your classrooms. Check my announcements page for upcoming presentations and events. In the Spokane area, contact:
Spokane Community College Geology
Eastern Washington University Geology
Washington State University Geology
Central Washington University
TEACHERS and fans of the Earth Sciences: I will continue to update and add to this page. Please send me suggestions or comments and I'll be sure to post all the relevant stuff so others can enjoy the wealth of EARTH information out on the Web!