Activities for Earth Science Teachers


More! Rocks in Your Head Worshop
Saturday, September 24, 2011

Location: American Natural Gas Alliance

Who Should Attend: The nationally acclaimed workshop, “More! Rocks in Your Head,” covers a full scope of earth sciences for elementary and middle school teachers. A comprehensive manual and course materials will enable full or partial incorporation into an individual teacher’s curriculum.

About the Course: Teachers will learn to teach with confidence guided in each section by: 1) background information; 2) vocabulary; 3) project information; 4) projects; 5) advanced thinking topics; and 6) cross-curricular ideas with language arts, social and other sciences, and math. All projects are hands-on, making earth science a fun and memorable learning experience. Interactive overview and review games such as Geo-Bingo and Geopardy lead to understanding and retention for all. For more information visit the MRIYH website.

Course Content: Students will begin their hands-on investigations with Disappearing Nickels and Earth Models, an edible study on the earth’s structure, the learn about different rock type with Mount Eruptus, Sedimentary Rock Socks, Mighty Morph and Power Pressure. They will learn how plants and animals change through geologic time by comparing Scenes of the Past created by them for the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras. Environmental processes like soil erosion, mining & reclamation, and cave formation with a non-renewable activity (Bottle of Gold: a Non-renewable Resource) and an exciting oil exploration game, where groups of students form oil companies (beginner, intermediate and advanced levels included). Other hands-on projects include The Body on the Beach (forensic geology), Class Cave, Get a Half-Life, Mineral Concentration, and Landform BINGO.

Duration/Credit Hours: 8 hours or 0.8 CEU (Continuing Education Unit)

Teachers Who Attend also will Receive: Each teacher will receive the More! Rocks in Your Head manual, written with background information, vocabulary, hands-on project, advanced thinking topics, and cross-curricular ideas. They also will receive labeled rock samples, labeled minerals with Test Kit, Hunt for Fossil Fuels oil exploration game, a certificate of completion for 8 hours of .8 CEU, and lunch.

Instructor Biography: Janie Schuelke, Geoscience Education Consultant, has been presenting this workshop and its predecessor (Rocks in Your Head) at AAPG Section meeting for the past 9 years. In more than 40 workshops, she has prepared more than 2600 teachers to teach earth science with hands-on activities, reaching more than 126,000 students per year. With an education in geology and work experience in both geophysics and teaching, Janie specializes in explaining complex information in an easily understood style for many levels, including those who think they are science challenged. In the training of teachers for the earth science, both information and motivation are necessary, especially at the elementary school level.

Registration: Contact the instructor, Janie Schuelke