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Earth Science Snippets
Volcanic Tremor
Earthquakes happen almost everywhere – the sudden breaking of rocks to release tension built up in the crust and the …
Earth’s Rock Cycle Poster (Free)
Print your own Geoscience – downloadable PDF file.”Earth’s Rock Cycle”It is US Letter in size – but can be scaled …
Discover Hawaii’s Active Volcanoes – Homeschool Families 16-21 January 2026 (Trip II) – Join the waitlist
Discover Hawaii’s Active Volcanoes for Homeschool Families: 16-21 January 2026 If you are interested, please get on the trip …
Three reasons human civilization grew around volcanoes
Humans have lived and thrived around volcanoes for millennia. Often they understood the dangers as most eruptions are small and …
Graveyards as data sites
An excursion to a graveyard may seem a crazy thing to want to do with your students! But the …
Iceland for Educators 2023 – Photos
An amazing trip with wonderful people- and here are just a few of the highlights in photos. Want to join …
Volcano Resources
If you are teaching your students about volcanoes, here are some great resources you can use in your classroom or …
Field gear for Geologists & Rockhounds
So field season is just around the corner – and it’s time to make sure you have all the gear …
Radioactive dating and activity
Have your students listen to this podcast on radioactive dating. It goes just under 8 minutes. Then have them do …
Which way is up?
As the rocks on our planet are continually being moved around by Plate Tectonics, it is rare to find layers …
GEOetc Plate Tectonics Resources
Here are all the free resources to help you learn and teach about Plate Tectonics. If you are a GEOetc …
Benioff Zones – earthquake evidence for subduction
When we look at the earthquake evidence for Plate Tectonics, one amazing feature is the Benioff Zoned earthquakes that show …
Are our school students really scientists?
I think it is wonderful that we are having students ask meaningful questions and undertaking studies to try and answer …
TESTeacher Earthquakes – Free version
Welcome to The Earth Science Teacher. This is the quarterly member’s journal of GEOetc.com. Each quarter a new topic is …
Lava won’t kill you but these six things could!
Often the misconception people have is that lava is the most deadly thing about an erupting volcano! But this is …
Plate Tectonic Cycles
Plate Tectonic cycles have been happening on Earth as we know it today – with all its features – for …
Mineral and Rock Collection cards
I use mineral and rock collection cards with all my samples – even ones that are still sitting in plastic …
Milankovitch cycles – the Earth in space and climate.
In the 1920’s a Serbian geophysicist and astronomer called Milutin Milankovitch suggested that long term variations in how the Earth …
Earth Science over a Virtual Coffee
We are currently dealing with changes in the way we communicate with each and our students due to the COVID-19 …
Columnar jointing
One of the most dramatic geological features found around our planet is columnar jointing formed from the cooling of molten …
What is the Lithosphere?
Traditionally, when we talk about the layers of our planet we talk about the inner core, outer core, mantle, and …
Mineral Identification – a guide.
When you just start off exploring the wonders of minerals, working out mineral identification can seem a daunting task. It …
Gifts for Geologists & Rockhounds
So you need to buy a for the geologist in your life? Are you struggling to find something that will …
So you want to run a field trip? 20 tips and tricks!
So you want to run a field trip? I have been leading field trips for over 30 years, and have …
Iceland 2019 Photos
Just some of the photos from our 2019 Iceland trips. Come join us in Iceland 2022 More details here …
Climate change and understanding science
I have spent a lot of time measuring the weathering rates of marble gravestones. During my studies, I have discovered …
Why I don’t start Earth science by teaching rock and mineral identification
Many educators who are not Earth science trained, and many who are, flounder when trying to work out the best …
Scale – fields of view in geoscience
We view our planet using different scales. Most people use just the local scale – they see what is immediately around …
Understanding Polar Reversals
Understanding polar reversals helps us to understand an important piece of evidence for Plate Tectonics. When molten rock cools, some …
Divergent Plate Boundaries
One of the most amazing places on the Earth’s is where two massive tectonic plates are moving apart. Almost 99% …
Volcanoes as a STEM teaching tool
Trying to teach STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) in the classroom can often seem disjointed. Having a STEM teaching …
Geologist Field Gear – the six “H” essentials!
What are the essential pieces of field gear for a geologist – or in fact any geology enthusiast? What …
Olivine – one of simplest rock-forming minerals
Olivine is one of the simplest silicate minerals that can be found in igneous rocks on our planet. All the …
Conference Posters – tips to make an impact
So you have been successful in having your topic selected as one of the conference posters. Good job! Presenting a …
Silicates – a simple guide to the Earth’s rock forming minerals
While high school students are taught about chemistry using simple examples of inorganic and organic substances, very few are exposed …
Geoscientists need to talk to the public
Too often scientists ignore talking to the public. They would rather spend all their “communication” time and energy talking about …
Geological hammer – a beginners guide to buying your “forever hammer”
A geological hammer is often seen as an essential part of any field geologists equipment. Often called rock picks …
Cinder Cones – a unique volcanic feature.
Cinder cones are volcanic features that are found at volcanic sites where there has been some form of fountaining activity. Fire Fountains …
Evidence for Plate Tectonics
The evidence for Plate Tectonics is very conclusive. It is a very well supported theory, and while scientific debate continues …
Boundaries – how the plates interact
The Earth’s plates don’t just sit there. They move and interact at their boundaries – and that is what makes …
Plates – understanding the tectonic jigsaw pieces.
The Earth’s rocky outerlayer (the lithosphere) is broken up into around seventeen major pieces that we call tectonic plates. …
The Earth’s Crust – a simple way to view it.
The Earth’s crust – that outermost rocky layer of our planet – can be daunting to understand. To start …
Field Boots – an essential piece of equipment.
If you are a geoscientist you are going to need field boots. Even if you are being a “geoscientist” just …
Field Notes – what students need to learn to do.
Taking solid field notes is a skill that many students are not taught. The days of a geologist’s life recorded …
There’s mica in my toaster!
Mica has been used for many purposes over time and even in my short lifetime I have seen it in …
Space Geeks Timeline
Understanding time is something that geoscientists are just great at doing. But we get a little sick of people not understanding …
Lava flows – can you outrun a lava flow?
Most people believe that one of the major hazards of volcanoes are lava flows. They are surprised to find …
Diamonds are NOT a girl’s best friend
Diamonds are NOT a girl’s best friend – or so I tell my wife. And here is why. All minerals …
Mapping lava flows – using color to work out relative ages
Mapping lava flows using satellite images is a wonderful activity that you can do in your classroom. In some …
Field trips – they are critical for teachers!
Field trips are critical. Learning Earth science in the field is as important as learning to cook in a kitchen …
Spot the cleavage – a characteristic often misunderstood.
Cleavage is an important diagnostic feature of minerals. However it is often misunderstood. And more often mistaken for another mineral …
How to experience an Earthquake
Often we have to teach about phenomenon, like an earthquake, that our students have never experienced. We can read eyewitness …
I love a dike – my geology hook.
One of the reasons I fell in love with geology was finding evidence of igneous activity in the form of …
Not all that glitters is gold!
Gold – the metal on which many empires have grown (and withered) is a strange metal indeed. In nature it …
EarthCache – Let the Earth be your teacher!
An EarthCache is a special place that you can visit using GPS technology to learn more about the geology of …
How hard is mineral hardness?
How hard is a mineral? Geoscientists still use mineral hardness as a way to identify an unknown mineral. This …
Using a Circular Data Calendar
We are all looking at ways to collect and display data with our students. Most of the time the data …
The strange thing about Basalt.
Basalt. It’s the fine grained igneous rock that makes up the sea floor and sometimes spews forth from volcanoes on …
How long is deep time?
Deep Time is the term used by scientists to describe the vast amount of time that has passed since the …
What happened in the Permian?
The Permian period of time started around 299 million years ago when the Earth was in the deep freeze of …
Welcome to GEOetc
G’day, Howdy and Hi, My name is Gary Lewis and I am an enthusiastic and passionate geoscientist. I grew up …