The third unit of the Geology: Structure of the Earth series, produced by Northumberland County Council, follows on from the previous units and looks at the how, why and where of earthquakes, how they affect the Earth's surface, people and buildings, and how they are predicted. As in previous units, Unit 3 contains...

Unit 4 of the Geology: Structure of the Earth series, produced by Northumberland County Council, leads on from the third unit, which looked at the effects of earthquakes on the surface of the Earth, to now discover the effects inside the Earth. Students find out about how...

In Unit 5 of the Geology: Structure of the Earth series, produced by Northumberland County Council, students investigate the Earth's magnetic field. In particular, they discover how small traces of magnetism, preserved in rocks for millions of years, can allow geologists to plot the former positions of continents...

The last unit in the Geology: Structure of the Earth series, produced by Northumberland County Council, pulls together all that students have learned from Units 1 to 5, relating the different features of the Earth's structure to each other and developing further the theory of plate tectonics. The unit investigates...

These resources from the European Space Agency climate change initiative education resource pack allow students to learn how a built up environment can lead to the urban heat island effect, so called urban hotspots. This phenomenon leads to temperature rises in cities that exceed those in surrounding rural...

Volcanoes can be found on many planets and satellites in the Solar System, although not all volcanoes are the same as those found on Earth. It is the conditions on the planet and its composition that determine the shape of the volcanoes and the material that is erupted.

Students will use topography data to...

This resource, from ESA, is intended to familiarise students between the ages of 11 and 14 with the subject of satellite imagery. Satellite images are of increasing importance in a great many domains and are dramatically changing the way the world and physical phenomena are perceived.

Their use and...

The spacecraft that have orbited around Mars and landed on its surface have shown us (via images and data) that there is no liquid water on the surface of Mars. However, these satellite images have also revealed to us features that appear to have been created or carved out by flowing water. In fact, scientists feel...

Scientists must design and evaluate many ways of extracting water from the lunar permafrost before planning lunar colonies and manned missions using the moon as a base.

In this activity students will construct a solar water collector. Using the collector, students will collect and calculate the amount of...

The loose fragments of material on the Moon’s surface are called regolith. This regolith, a product of bombardment by meteorites, is the debris thrown out of the impact craters. By contrast, regolith on Earth (called ‘soil’ as it contains organic material) is a product of weathering. ‘Weathering’ describes all the...

In this activity children take on the role of Earth observation scientists submitting a request for an image they would like for their research. This gives them the opportunity to consider the possibilities of pictures taken from orbit (and the limitations) and to write scientifically for a specific audience. It...

Man-made satellites are put in specific orbits around our Earth and other planets to do certain jobs e.g. to send digital communications or to monitor the weather. These orbits can be distinguished by height above the planet and the orbital period. The orbits of natural satellites are much more varied and these...

This resource contains a synopsis of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth assessment on wildfires written in language suitable for A level students, so can be used as an exercise in reading comprehension and note taking. It looks at natural and anthropogenic causes of wildfires, their benefits and...

This resource considers what the microscopic plants and animals found over a salt marsh can show about past sea levels. The two activities in this resource explore these microscopic sea level recorders and how researchers use them to understand sea-level change.

In the first activity, students explore the...