Maybe your students can take a short bus ride to a coastal outcrop, a sun-baked mesa, or a snowy forest. Maybe they can walk to a public park just a block off campus. Or maybe they can find a wealth of Earth science right at the edge of the playground.
Whatever the setting, the specific natural systems and processes available at your location for observation and interaction likely will determine which activities you conduct.
You may choose to set up multiple “education stations” at your location, where a teacher will lead a small group of students in an activity before sending them along to the next education station. Following are 17 educational activities that you are invited to adopt or adapt, as appropriate, for your students.
- Build a Rain Gauge Grades 5-9
- How Can You Test Your Soil Grades 5-9
- Make Your Own Compass Grades 6-8
- Plant an Ozone Monitoring Garden Grades 6-9
- Sky and Cloud Windows Grades 3-8
- Soil Properties Grades 5-10
- Your Own Greenhouse Grades 3-5
- Earthquake on the Playground Grades 7-12
- Dig Into Soil Grades K-4
- Look Up! Observing Weather Grades K-4
- Streams and Water Quality Grades 9-12
- Be a Paleontologist! Grades 3-12
- Find Your Bearing: Mapping Grades 7-12
- Building Geology: Rock and Mineral Hunt Grades 6-12
- The Human Rock Cycle Grades K-5
- Writing Earth Science Grades K-12
- Earth Science Art Grades K-8
To find more Earth science activities, designed for both in and out of the classroom, visit Earth Science Week or order an Earth Science Week Toolkit. Visit AGI Education to learn more about Earth science curricula, professional development, and additional resources.