Go Back to Harcourt Search

 

Grade Four
What processes change landforms?

Forces of nature are constantly changing the surface of the Earth. Click on these web pages to explore caves and climb mountains. Find out more about the landforms where you live.
 
 

Clicking on the Go button will open a new browser window and take you to a website outside of sciLINKS. You can resize the window as you wish. Just remember to close that window when you're done—your computer will thank you for it!
Title: Water Science for Schools
Description: Find information on almost any water topic at this USGS site. Included in the site are: water basics, water use, Earth's water, water quality issues, map gallery, data library, picture gallery, glossary, and activity center and many water links.
URL: http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/index.html
Title: A Science Odyssey: You Try It: Plate Tectonics
Description: See how the Earth moves in this simulated activity. This site has great animations and explanations on plate tectonic theory, sea floor spread, and the continental slide and crush. It also contains a related section on people and discoveries.
URL: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/tectonics/index.html
Title: Virtually climb the Vancori-summit!
Description: What is it like to climb a volcano? This is the start page for two virtual climbs of Italy's Mt. Stromboli. You can go right up, or stop to sightsee and see the flowers along the way.
URL: http://www.swisseduc.ch/stromboli/volcano/virtual/index ...
Title: Kure Beach
Description: Kure Beach is a high density recreational beach with oceanfront sand erosion. A short term solution to this problem is beach renourishment. These photos show Kure Beach being renourished.
URL: http://www.ncsu.edu/coast/pjournal/ncsouth/kure/kure.ht ...
Title: Volcanoes
Description: Did you know there are different types of volcanoes? Click here for photos and a brief description of each type. This page also provides links to other interesting volcano information.
URL: http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/interior/v ...
Title: Weathering
Description: Maybe you know that weathering is the breakdown of rocks into smaller and smaller pieces, but did you know there are different types of weathering? Click here to learn about mechanical, chemical and biological weathering.
URL: http://www.geography4kids.com/files/land_weathering.htm ...
Title: Understanding Plate Motions
Description: Students visiting this site will develop a good understanding of how the plates move and how such movements relate to earthquake activity.
URL: http://www.sciencemaster.com/jump/earth/plate_motion.ph ...
Title: Five Types of Volcanoes
Description: View the five types of volcanoes and a brief description of each type at this USGS page.
URL: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/VolcanoTypes/volcano ...
Title: Mauna Loa
Description: Mount Everest may hold a world record, but it is not the biggest mountain. Mauna Loa, located on the island of Hawaii, is the biggest single mountain. Click here to learn what makes this mountain so big.
URL: http://www.extremescience.com/MaunaLoa.htm
Title: What Is a Volcano?
Description: Where did the name volcano come from? Click here for the answer to that question and a brief description of volcanoes and volcano formation.
URL: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Outreach/AboutVolcanoes/what_ ...
Title: Earth's Active Volcanoes
Description: Click here for a page full of links to the world’s most active volcanoes. Just choose a region and select the specific area your interested in.
URL: http://www.geo.mtu.edu/volcanoes/world.html
Title: Volcano Watch
Description: Where in the world are the most active volcanoes? This site will show you. Click here for satellite images and java animation of the most recent volcanoes.
URL: http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/data/volcano.html
Title: 20th Century Volcanic Eruptions and Their Impact
Description: Information on 20th Century volcanoes is provided in a time line fashion at this US geological site. Click on the volcano name if you need more information.
URL: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/LivingWith/VolcanicFacts/volc ...
Title: Color Landform Atlas of the United States
Description: Can you identify the landforms in your area or your state? Click on this map and learn more about your region of the United States.
URL: http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/states/states.html
Title: Plume Volcanism
Description: Click here and learn about a bubble of material called a plume that rises to the Earth’s surface creating volcanoes and volcanic rises. Compare Earth’s rises to Venus and Mars and learn why this process is an important way our Earth cools dow
URL: http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/glossary/plumes. ...
Title: Krakatoa
Description: Click here to learn about the eruption of the island of Krakatoa, one of the most powerful volcanic explosions in the history of the world.
URL: http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/interior/K ...
Title: Animated Movie of the Mt. St. Helens Eruption
Description: Watch Mount St. Helens blow! This page is a QuickTime movie of the eruption of Mount St. Helens.
URL: http://www.cotf.edu/ete/movies/msh.mov
Title: Animated Movie of a Volcano Collapsing
Description: Click here to watch a QuickTime movie of a volcano collapsing.
URL: http://www.cotf.edu/ete/movies/caldera.mov
Title: Plot That Quake!
Description: Help students gain a better understanding of why earthquakes happen and where they are most likely to occur with this weekly earthquake plotting activity. This site provides a detailed lesson plan, resources, and links.
URL: http://seismo.berkeley.edu/seismo/istat/digiguide/EQ.ht ...
Title: Losing Ground
Description: Find two activities which demonstrate how the effects of farming practices in the early 20th Century contributed to severe soil erosion of a large portion of the North American grasslands. and became known as the Dust Bowl.
URL: http://forces.si.edu/ltop/pdfs/2-5-LosingGround.pdf
Title: The Ocean's Sand, A Natural Resource
Description: Here you will learn about and discover why we need sand and gravel. Read about beaches, erosion, and learn about the causes of beach erosion. Examine sand, make a beach profile, and participate in a sand size analysis activity.
URL: http://www.mms.gov/mmskids/PDFs/sandanaturalresource.pd ...
Title: Unique Landforms
Description: This page provides a lesson plan in which the effect of erosion is studied utilizing a video and a internet research on the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, Antelope Canyon in Utah, and Pumpkin Patch Concretions in California.
URL: http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/progra ...
Title: Erosion
Description: Erosion is happening all around us. Even though you may not recognize it, the forces of erosion are constantly shaping our planet. Learn more about erosion, investigate, and describe how erosion is affecting the earth in your neighborhood.
URL: http://teacher.scholastic.com/dirtrep/erosion/invest.ht ...
Title: Rocks for Kids
Description: This site is for kids of all ages who love rocks. Here you will find out stuff about rocks & minerals and where to go to find out more.
URL: http://www.rocksforkids.com/
Title: Do Rocks Last Forever?
Description: These four experiments will have students exploring the effects of mechanical and chemical weathering.
URL: http://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/information/kids_geo ...
Title: Weathering and Erosion Splashdown
Description: This activity can be used to help students see how plant roots can slow down erosion.
URL: http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=11138
Title: How Does the Rain Shape the Earth?
Description: How does rain shape the earth? To see erosion in action, try this simple science lab. Can you predict what will happen to the dirt after you pour the water over it?
URL: http://teacher.scholastic.com/dirt/erosion/index.htm
Title: Wind Erosion
Description: Study how the wind moves sand on a beach with this wind erosion activity. What effect does the moving sand have on buildings? Can your students think of ways to minimize this effect?
URL: http://www.spacegrant.hawaii.edu/class_acts/Wind.html
Title: Gelatin Volcanoes
Description: Get "jiggy” with some red gelatin and see how and why magma moves inside volcanoes. You will need gelatin, a pegboard and lots of paper towels, but the mess is worth the effort! Great background information is available at the teacher’s page.
URL: http://www.spacegrant.hawaii.edu/class_acts/GelVol.html
Title: Erosion
Description: How does land erode? These experiments simulate wind, water, and glacial erosion. Materials are simple and readily available.
URL: http://askeric.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Les ...
Title: Volcanoes
Description: What happens when a volcano forms underwater? Ms. Frizzle’s class knows and when your kids do this hands-on activity, they will know too!
URL: http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=1671
Title: Making a Volanic Eruption
Description: This lesson does not have a lot of background information, but it does have good recipe for making a volcano and a great link to current volcano information.
URL: http://octopus.gma.org/surfing/weather/eruption.html
Title: Stream Table
Description: Use this activity to show your students how a stream erodes, then transports and deposits materials.
URL: http://www.spacegrant.hawaii.edu/class_acts/Streams.htm ...
Title: Volcanoes
Description: Demonstrate how volcanoes erupt with this lesson on volcanoes. The instructions are vague, but include a list of materials. The best part of this page is the link to the awesome virtual field trip!
URL: http://askeric.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Les ...