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:
Exploring the Earth's Magnetic Field: #6 Plotting Positions in Polar Coordinates
Topic: Magnetism
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Earth
Mission: Earth Science (Earth)
Short Description: Students learn how to plot positions on a polar graph.
Exploring the Earth's Magnetic Field: #7 Measuring Distance on a Polar Map
Topic: Magnetism
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Earth
Mission: Earth Science (Earth)
Short Description: Using a scale, students will estimate distances from one point to another on a polar graph.
Exploring the Earth's Magnetic Field: #8 Wandering Poles in the Last 2000 Years
Topic: Magnetism
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Earth
Mission: Earth Science (Earth)
Short Description: Students plot the locations of the magnetic North Pole over the past 2,000 years.
Exploring the Earth's Magnetic Field: #9 The Magnetosphere and Us
Topic: Magnetism
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Earth
Mission: Earth Science (Earth)
Short Description: Students will label and describe parts of the magnetosphere and determine the size of the parts.
Gelatin Volcanoes
Topic: Planetary Surface Processes
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Earth
Short Description: Participants develop an awareness of how magma moves inside volcanoes, what dikes look like underground, and why Hawaiian volcanoes have rift zones by watching as red food coloring is injected into gelatin.
Geologic Landforms Seen on Aerial Photos
Topic: Landforms
Body: Earth
Short Description: Participants examine photographs to see how landforms are produced by the four major geologic processes.
Globe Visualization Student Activities
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Earth
Short Description: There are a variety of "Looking at Data" activities near the bottom of this page that examine Earth's hydrology, ranging from air temperature, to clouds, ozone, water temperature, salinity, amount of dissolved oxygen, and more.
Goldilocks and the Three Planets (Main Portal)
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Venus, Earth, Mars
Short Description: Students determine what some of Earth, Venus and Mars' atmosphere is composed of and then mathematically compare the amount of the greenhouse gas, CO2, on the planets Venus, Earth and Mars in order to determine which has the most. Link to the interactive feature.
Goldilocks and the Three Planets (Student Handout)
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Venus, Earth, Mars
Short Description: Students determine what some of Earth, Venus and Mars' atmosphere is composed of and then mathematically compare the amount of the greenhouse gas, CO2, on the planets Venus, Earth and Mars in order to determine which has the most. Link to the interactive feature.
Goldilocks and the Three Planets (Teacher's Packet)
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Venus, Earth, Mars
Short Description: Students determine what some of Earth, Venus and Mars' atmosphere is composed of and then mathematically compare the amount of the greenhouse gas, CO2, on the planets Venus, Earth and Mars in order to determine which has the most. Link to the interactive feature.
