What goes on during an earthquake? Who came up with the theory of plate tectonics? What can the fossil record tell us about the evolution of life on Earth? These are all fine questions, and students and educators with a thirst for geological knowledge will find the answers to these (and many more) questions in the "Earth Revealed" television series. Offered as part of the Annenberg Media website,...

If you are having difficulty remembering the details of the Earth's geological structure or the nature of major minerals and rock types, you can consult this excellent introductory course offered as part of MIT's OpenCourseWare initiative. The materials are drawn from Professors Perron and Jagoutz's 2011 "Introduction to Geology" course, and they include a number of lecture notes, available for...

Many people might know about the life cycle of a rock, but it can be a process that is hard to understand without a handy visual aid. Just such a series of aids can be found right here, courtesy of Mark Francek of Central Michigan University. These rock cycle animations display some of the most common rock-forming processes, including the crystallization of magma to form igneous rock, rock erosion...

The RocksForKids site is produced by two amateur, Canadian "rockhounds" and collectors, actually a K-12 teacher and an architect. The site provides introductory information and Web links on rocks and minerals for school children. Topics include: How Rocks & Minerals are formed, Identification of Rocks & Minerals and Uses of Rocks & Minerals. There is also a section for teachers offering...

Designed as part of the Professional Development for Geoscience Faculty series at Carleton College, this particular set of resources is designed for those teaching students about petrology. For those who might be unfamiliar with this discipline, petrology is the branch of geology that studies the origin, composition, distribution, and structure of rocks. The materials on this site are divided into...

Teachers, are you looking for new activities to excite your students about the evolution of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks? This website, developed by the non-profit organization Math/Science Nucleus, provides numerous hands-on activities for each grade from kindergarten through sixth. The chemistry section deals with the mystery of why and how minerals and rocks are formed. The...

Maintained by the BBC Education Web site, The Rock Cycle Experiments page contains ten activities related to the rock cycle, beginning with weathering and ending with the uplift of rocks. Each activity pops up after clicking the link within the very well done interactive diagram of the rock cycle. The activities are simple but effective; for example, the transportation lesson has students run...