Geology workshop provides useful activities for classroom

Christina Bowden of Ada Exempted Village Schools said, "If I can take a new activity and use it in the classroom, it makes the workshop worthwhile. Since I took several activities from your workshop, I feel it was a very successful professional development opportunity and I would highly recommend it to any Earth Science teacher."

Bowden used the activities with students in Geology, an elective general level class for juniors and seniors who need a science to graduate, representing a wide range of abilities. It is a semester class that reviews the fundamentals of Geology learned in 8th grade science and goes a little deeper.

Her class did the following activities from the workshop:

• Puzzling Evidence
• Modeling Sea Floor Spreading
• Scaling out Earth's Layers

The last activity coordinated with their chapter on Earthquakes. In considering the layers of the earth, her students were surprised by how little people have drilled down into the earth.

Bowden commented, "I thought the activities fit very well with my objectives and added to the lessons. You blended the knowledge of subject professionals with the knowledge of classroom teachers. I can honestly say it was one of the best workshops I have ever attended."