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Information Resource for Teachers

Traditionally, geology is not a subject which many people have a background in as few of us were taught it at school. Therefore, the ScottishGeology.com partnership understands the difficulties that teachers can face when it comes to teaching what can be an unfamiliar subject.

There are however, many resources and support organisations available which can help with this situation. With the right knowledge and tools, geology can become a truly engaging subject for many pupils – think dinosaurs, volcanoes, fossils, earthquakes, minerals and more. And with a better understanding of the Earth, developing an informed attitude towards the environment becomes easier too.

Here are some links for support organisations in the UK, and some websites that you may find useful:

• Scottish Earth Science Education Forum (SESEF) – Your first port of call: Scotland’s foremost support organisation, offering FREE CPD workshops and resources (in conjunction with ESEU - see below). [http://www.scottishgeology.com/SESEF/index.html]
• Earth Science Education Unit (ESEU) – UK’s foremost support organisation, works extensively with SESEF in Scotland. [http://www.earthscienceeducation.com/]
• Earth Science Teachers’ Association – primarily an English association, but with a growing Scottish contingent. Has a quarterly journal. [http://www.esta-uk.org/main.html]
• Joint Earth Science Education Initiative – targets mainly English secondary curriculum, but full of experiment ideas and fascinating facts on Earth [http://www.chemsoc.org/networks/learnnet/jesei/index2.htm]
• Suppliers – on their website, ESEU has links to suppliers of books, maps, equipment and specimens etc. [http://www.earthscienceeducation.com/suppliers/index.htm]

Some useful websites:

• British Geological Survey Education – a large section targeted at schools covering various topics on general geology and British geology [http://www.bgs.ac.uk/education/home.html]
• Earth Science World Image Bank – a fantastic resource of free photographs for educational use [http://www.earthscienceworld.org/imagebank/]
• Open University Image Library – another great resource of free photographs and amazing reconstructions of past environments for educational use [http://www3.open.ac.uk/Earth-Sciences/image-library/image-library.shtml]
• Oxford University Natural History Museum Learning Zone – a great site full of information and activities on rocks, fossils and minerals [http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/thezone/index.htm]
• BBC Interactive Timeline – an interactive journey through geological time, looking at how the continents have moved through time [http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/rocks/flash/indexfull.html]
• BBC Landscapes – an interactive look at the Scottish landscape for P4/5 [http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/sysm/landscapes/index.shtml]
• BBC Walking With Dinosaurs – a good site looking at different types of early life [http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/prehistoric_life/]
• Enchanted Learning – a large site offering information on many science/earth science aspects [http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/]
• GeoLearning Web Geology – a flash-based learning resource; at Higher to university entry level, but with simple step-by-step graphics and easy to follow text. Would also be good for teachers looking for good background information [http://www.ig.uit.no/webgeology/]
• Rockwatch – a national club for those pupils who are fascinated by all things geology [http://www.rockwatch.org.uk/]
• Scotese Palaeomaps – Christopher Scotese is one of the world’s leading palaegeographic scientists (recreating past maps). His website gives maps and animations of earth at different times in geological history, including the Pangaea super-continent [http://www.scotese.com/earth.htm]
• USGS Earthquakes for Kids – information and online activities, including the chance to Ask a Geologist [http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/kids.php]
• Volcano World – lots of information on volcanoes all over the world; including the chance to Ask a Volcanologist [http://volcano.und.edu/]
• Scotland’s Natural Heritage Zones – not designed for schools (i.e. you may need some background knowledge), however very useful if you want to know what’s important in your area of Scotland [http://www.snh.org.uk/futures/Data/pdfdocs/EARTH_Heritage.pdf]
• NASA World Wind – similar to Google Earth, this free resource (to install on your computer) lets you zoom in on areas of the earth [http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/]

Note: ScottishGeology.com is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

It can sometimes be difficult to access a simplified geological map of Scotland. This link takes you to a downloadable geological map which is free to use.