Earth Activities
The lessons below are teacher-favorite lessons focused on Earth. For more search options or to search by other science target, missions and other criteria, visit our Fast Lesson Finder. You can also search by curriculum standards on our popular Curriculum Standards Quilts.
Earth Lessons:
Earth-Moon Activity
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Earth, Earth's Moon
Short Description: Students work in pairs using different-sized spherical objects to represent Earth and the Moon. They use the diameter of the objects to establish this scale.
Exploring the Earth's Magnetic Field: The Earth as a Magnet (Lessons 1-23)
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: K-4, 5-8, 9-12
Body: Earth
Mission: Earth Science (Earth)
Short Description: This is a workbook of 23 activities spanning the needs of K-12 teachers who want to discuss Earth's magnetism in varying degrees of detail. It includes web-based activities, and a variety of hands-on experiments with magnets and electromagnetism. Students will use models to learn how Earth's magnetic field protects us from polar storms, and describe the shape of Earth's magnetic field in space and learn it's correct name.
Exploring the Earth's Magnetic Field: #1 Playing with Magnetism
Topic: Magnetism
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Earth
Mission: Earth Science (Earth)
Short Description: Students will identify items that are attracted to magnets, experiment with an invisible force and learn about polarity.
Exploring the Earth's Magnetic Field: #10 A Simple Magnetometer
Topic: Magnetism
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Earth
Mission: Earth Science (Earth)
Short Description: Students will create a magnetometer to monitor changes in the Earth's magnetic field. With this magnetometer they will discover properties of oscillation -- the period and amplitude.
Exploring the Earth's Magnetic Field: #12 What is an Oscillation Period?
Topic: Magnetism
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Earth
Mission: Earth Science (Earth)
Short Description: Although the mirror sensor card has no pendular motion, it does oscillate from side to side in the horizontal plane. This motion can be studied by students to learn about oscillations in the horizontal plane, as opposed to the pendular oscillation in the vertical plane. Note also that perpendicular forces do not affect each other so although gravity is pulling on the magnet, this force does not disturb the horizontal motion.
Exploring the Earth's Magnetic Field: #13 What is an Oscillation Amplitude?
Topic: Magnetism
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Earth
Mission: Earth Science (Earth)
Short Description: Although the mirror sensor card has no pendular motion, it does oscillate from side to side. This motion can be studied by students to learn about torsional oscillation in the horizontal plane, as opposed to the pendular oscillation in the vertical plane.
Exploring the Earth's Magnetic Field: #14 The Mathematics of the Simple Oscillator
Topic: Math
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Earth
Mission: Earth Science (Earth)
Short Description: This lesson is for the calculus or honors physics student. The mathematics of the "simple magnetometer" are further explored to see how the systems of it work.
Exploring the Earth's Magnetic Field: #15 The Inverse-Cube Law of Magnetic Forces
Topic: Magnetism
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Earth
Mission: Earth Science (Earth)
Short Description: Students use their "simple magnetometer" to measure the deflection of the magnetometer spot and by plotting the data, discover that magnetism follows an inverse-cube law of change.
Exploring the Earth's Magnetic Field: #16 Magnetic Storms from the Ground
Topic: Magnetism
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Earth
Mission: Earth Science (Earth)
Short Description: Students will plot changes in Earth's magnetism, and identify the regions where magnetic storms are the most intense.
Exploring the Earth's Magnetic Field: #17 Investigating Magnetic Storms
Topic: Magnetism
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Earth
Mission: Earth Science (Earth)
Short Description: Students will identify how frequently magnetic storms of different severities occur during the year and during the solar sunspot cycle.
