Recreating Earth's layers and more!

All four of Alyssa Reynolds' 8th grade science classes at Elmwood Middle School learned about Earth's layers through hands-on activities from the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education program's Geology workshop. Reynolds attended the summer teacher workshop, where she experienced the lessons and received supplies for her classroom.

Reynolds did lessons from Differentiation of Earth's Layers and Active Earth: From Continental Drift to Plate Tectonics. "The lessons aligned well with my standards," Reynolds said. "The students really enjoyed the activities. They especially loved the preform model, and they had many “a-ha” moments while watching which materials floated, sank, or were suspended!" See a video of the activity here.

Reynolds also captured video of her students completing the Edible Tectonics lesson and Modeling Sea Floor Spreading.

"The workshop was wonderful in so many ways!" she said. "I truly appreciated the opportunity to go—it helped me gain new lessons, allowed me to network with other teachers, gave me great hands-on experience at the field trip, and I loved getting resources to take back to use in my classroom. I feel that it was the most beneficial PD I’ve ever had."