Science Workshops
Want to dig into core science topics?
Want to use real science practices and ways of thinking to study these topics?
Our science topic workshops are for you!
Browse offerings below.
Heat and Energy in Earth's Tectonic System
In this workshop, you explore cycles of matter and energy within Earth’s tectonic system from a geological perspective.
Designed to support high school teachers following three-course models that integrate Chemistry and Earth Science, this workshop is relevant to anyone who wants to improve their understanding of how heat flow within Earth’s interior results in the creation and movement of tectonic plates. You do not need any previous knowledge of geology.
We briefly study the rock cycle and principles of radioactive decay. Then we dig into Earth’s interior structure and how geologists know what they know about that structure. We explore the heat flow and associated convection that drives the tectonic engine. In the end, you will understand more about the importance of these processes in shaping our planet’s surface and how arrangements of landforms provide evidence for the accepted model of Earth’s interior.
Heat and Energy in Earth's Tectonic System involves 16 in-person contact hours.
Contact us for more information.
Plate Tectonics and Earth's Physical Geography
In this workshop, you explore cycles of matter and energy in Earth’s tectonic system and the effect that tectonics has in shaping the planet’s surface.
Designed to support high school teachers following three-course models that integrate Physics and Earth Science, this workshop is relevant to anyone who wants to improve their understanding of how heat flow in Earth’s interior results in the creation and movement of tectonic plates – and how those plate movements help build the geography upon which we live. You do not need any previous knowledge of geology.
You receive brief introductions to minerals and rocks, the rock cycle, and principles of relative age. We discuss radioactive decay to understand sources of Earth’s internal heat and the age dating of rocks. We explore how convection from this heat drives the tectonic engine, and the forces that cause bodies of rock to fold and fault and where on the planet those forces frequently operate. In the end, you understand the importance of tectonics in shaping Earth’s surface features and that the spreading apart and crushing together of tectonic plates generate most of the rock types and landforms that make up the outer shell of our world.
Plate Tectonics and Earth's Physical Geography involves 16 in-person contact hours.
Contact us for more information.