The earth's elements are a fascinating thing to explore hands on.
Earth science is best taught through interactive, hands-on games because of the abundance of materials that teachers can use. Earth science focuses on the movement and relationships of soil, rocks, water, wind and natural disasters. The teacher should be sure to let students touch and experience these things first hand through guided games and projects.
Name That Planet
Students are more likely to understand the planets if they are asked to pick one to study for its unique details and characteristics. After picking their planet, students can figure out how hot or cold it is, what type of soil it has, how gravity interacts with objects there, and any other characteristics that may set their planet apart from others. Once they collect this background information, students present their planet to the class so that all students are introduced to each planet. Afterwards, test whether or not students were paying attention by playing a Name That Planet game. Call out the characteristics of a planet but not the name, and whichever student raises her hand first is allowed to guess. Reward correct guesses with small prizes as initiative.
Naming Minerals
Go to such websites as sciencekit.com or storeforknowledge.com or go to school supply stores to find rocks and minerals that you can use for tactile teaching. This will give the students a chance to touch the things they are learning about, to feel the different textures and to distinguish rocks and minerals from each other by their physical characteristics. Once every student has had a chance to touch and look at every rock and mineral, have them close their eyes, rearrange the order in which they touched them, and ask them to blindly feel each rock or mineral and name it from their previously acquired knowledge.
Build a Volcano
You can find an easy volcano model recipe at mahalo.com, along with numerous other websites and science texts. This will be a good project for students to work together in teams of three to five. With some basic materials, each team can attempt to make the most realistic volcano, both in appearance and style of eruption. This project is a long-term assignment, as each step of the building process will require time for the materials to set in for the next step. Allow students ample time to mix, build and detail their volcanoes over the course of the week, and then make the finale an eruption competition between the teams. Giving out awards for things such as most realistic, best eruption, and hardest working team will encourage and reward the efforts of each team.
Excavation
Every kid likes to play in the dirt, so why not give them time to do so during school hours? Bury fake fossils and mock artifacts that resemble those found by archeologists on digs to uncover history. Hide them throughout the school yard, and send the students on a search. Bury objects at different depths and, if time allows, under different kinds of rock, soil or sediment. Make sure that each student digs properly and carefully while retaining the integrity of the earth around the object and the object itself. Have students analyze their object and what the depth of the burial might mean for how old the object is.
Tags: their planet, chance touch, each team, Earth science, most realistic, Name That
