Geology Education Links
Please check out the following links to further your knowledge of geology and earth science:
NYLearns
NYLearns.org believes it is important to make educational resources and content available to everyone, free of charge. Within their public environment, teachers, administrators, and parents can access:
- The Curriculum section, which features all of the NYS Learning Standards and is searchable by standard area, grade level, course, and key word;
- The Educational Resources section, with over 11,000 peer-reviewed instructional resources that are searchable by standard area, grade level, content type, and key word;
- A catalogue of face-to-face and on-line professional development opportunities for teachers across New York State
Buffalo Public Schools Science Department
The BPS Department of Science Education's focus is to analyze our student progress, review our science program's goals and direction, and help our students meet the NYS Standards.
The Geological Society of London
The Geological Society of London (1807) is the UK national society for geoscience. It is a learned and professional body, and a registered charity. It exists to promote the geosciences and the professional interests of UK geoscientists.
The USGS and Science Education
The U.S. Geological Survey provides scientific information intended to help educate the public about natural resources, natural hazards, geospatial data, and issues that affect our quality of life. This website provides links to selected online resources to support education (K-12) and college inquiry and research.
The USGS and Science Education Links
The following are links from the USGS and Science Education site:
Mud Fossils
This website is a teaching kit of lower elementary grades that includes lesson plans, activities, and other resources for teaching about fossils. (Includes guides and lesson plan.)
Fossils, Rocks, and Time
This general guide provides an overview of geologic time and the use of fossils to determine the age of layers in the earth.
Rocks and Images
This website has basic information about sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks, and has a links page that provides useful links to many sources of information about rock, minerals, and fossils.
Rocks and Minerals
This website provides introductory information about rocks and minerals with a glossary of commonly-used geology terms.
Rocks and Geology of the San Francisco Bay Region
The landscape of the San Francisco Bay region is host to a greater variety of rocks than most other regions in the United States. This introductory guide provides illustrated descriptions of 46 common and important varieties of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rock found in the region. Rock types are described in context of their identification qualities, how they form, and where they occur in the region. The guide also provides discussion about of regional geology, plate tectonics, the rock cycle, the significance of the selected rock types in relation to both earth history and the impact of mineral resources on the development in the region. Maps and text also provide information where rocks, fossils, and geologic features can be visited on public lands or in association with public displays in regional museums, park visitor centers, and other public facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Minerals in our Environment
This report consists of a PDF file of a color poster (approximate dimensions 36 x 60 inches) showing how we use minerals in our everyday life.
Mineral Resources: Out of the Ground Into our Daily Lives
This poster show the common usage of mineral resources in our homes, offices, and equipment we use daily.
Building Stones of Our Nation's Capital
This on-line publication provides descriptions and examples of all the kinds of stone used in the buildings and monuments in the Washington DC area, and discusses the impact of acid precipitation on our national landmarks.
Minerals in Sports
Learn about the amazing materials that go into sports equipment, and the minerals that these materials are derived from!
Natural Aggregate: A Primer
This website describes the origins of sand, gravel, and crushed stone and their uses and importance to society.
Geologic Maps and Mapping
Geologic maps describe the rocks and soils at the surface, provide information about what rocks lie at depth, describe the ages of rocks and soils, and show where features such as earthquake faults and landslides lie. Geologic maps are made by studying the rocks and materials exposed at the surface and depicting information about those rocks on a map. This resource page is particularly useful to help students understand geologic maps of areas near where they live or study.
National Geologic Map Database
This exhaustive database provides bibliographic access to many thousands of geologic, geophysical, and other kinds of maps available in USGS publication, websites, and in popular science journals, etc.
Tapestry of Time and Terrain
This map combines shaded relief and geology on a single map of the 48 states. It is a useful resource for discussing physiographic provinces within the conterminous U.S. Printed wall-size maps are available for purchase from http://ask.usgs.gov/.
The North America Tapestry of Time and Terrain
The North America Tapestry of Time and Terrain is woven from a geologic map and a shaded relief image. This digital combination reveals the geologic history of North America through the interrelation of rock type, topography and time. Regional surface processes as well as continent-scale tectonic events are exposed in the three dimensions of space and the fourth dimension, geologic time. This map is an expansion of the original United States Tapestry of Time and Terrain, produced in 2000.