Getting the big picture of Earth's layers

The 8th graders in New Albany-Plain Local Schools got a great understanding of Earth's layers!
Kirsten Jaster and her teaching team attended the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program's Geology workshop for teachers and took some great lessons and materials back to their classrooms.

The students completed a small Scaling Out Earth's Layers foldable model, then used math skills to transfer the information and create a huge version.

Jaster said, "They were surprised by the depth of the mantle, as it is about 70% of the Earth's composition. They were also surprised by the "thinness" of the crust. They found it interesting that the core, although at 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit, is a solid due to the immense pressure. Overall, they liked the project and putting them together in the hall gave them a full picture moment."

"Going to the workshop as a teaching team really helped us all be on the same curriculum page," said Jaster. "Doing the actual activities there, as well as photos we'd taken of some of the workshop products, all helped us in putting together our unit. We were able to take the workshop lessons as a base and dive deeper and make it fit our needs in our classrooms."