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- Density of ores and rocks
- Earthlearningidea - progress
- Artificial glaciers help farmers in India
- Investigating impact craters
- Manila Flood - 26th September 2009
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Have you tried the Earthlearningidea 'Eureka! - detecting ore the Archimedes way'? A rock that feels heavy may contain mineral ores. But how can we find out if rocks that feel heavy for their size really are more dense than ordinary rocks? The simple way to find out is to use the method discovered by the famous scientist Archimedes more than 2000 years ago. To investigate if something is heavy for its size (has a high density) or light for its size (low density) we need to measure how heavy it is (its mass) and what size it is (its volume).
You can do all this if you try this activity.
We have published lots of activities using minimal resources and equipment - click on Keywords on our website.
One of our supporters in India demonstrated some Earthlearningideas at the 6th International Conference on hands-on-Science, at Ahemedabad, India during 27-31 October 2009.
He reports that it was much appreciated.
For our Italian readers - five more translations were added to the site today. Click here to view the page.
To see how our activities have spread across the world, click here.
Have you tried out latest new Earthlearningidea 'Craters on the Moon'? We should be pleased to receive your comments and suggestions.
To offset the disruptive irrigation effects brought on by global warming, the small village of Stakmo, India has been developing a method for creating its own artificial glaciers. The process involves diverting unused autumn and winter runoffs into specially constructed rock reservoirs that hold the water. As the weather grows colder, the collected water freezes, maintaining the supply of water until spring when it begins to melt. This innovative technique provides water to farmers during the planting season when natural glaciers still haven't thawed due to their higher elevations.
This information has been added in the 'Extension ideas' of 'Modelling for rocks: what's hidden inside - and why?'
Investigating the shapes and sizes of impact craters on the Moon is the latest Earthlearningidea. This activity can be used in an astronomy lesson, or in a situation where teachers wish to set pupils an investigation in which the procedures are decided by the pupils themselves, rather than following a pre-determined set of instructions. It can also be related to the effects of meteorite impacts on the Earth, past, present and future, with discussion about the possible relationship between meteorite impact and mass extinctions.
What was it like to be there - the Manila flood in the Philippines, 26th September 2009. This is an Earth science teacher's eye witness account of surviving the worst flood for more than 40 years and no-one was prepared. This experience has galvanised the teacher's commitment to educate the next generation in understanding how the Earth and its sub-systems work. He says, "With climate change becoming more evident each passing day, we really have to get our act together."
This has been published as an extension to our Earthlearningidea 'Flood through the window'.
If you have personal experiences of natural hazards, please send them to us so that everyone can understand what it is really like to live through such an event.
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