Free Back to School Resources for Earth Sciences

Do you teach Earth science (including climate change)? Know someone who does? Earth@Home has many resources that might be useful to you and your students this school year. Earth@Home is the Paleontological Research Institutions (PRI’s) free website to help anyone learn about the Earth and its history. Examples include:

Map of US and Major physiographic provinces of the contiguous United States. Each region is shown in a different color.

Introductions to the geologic history, climate, Earth hazards, rocks, fossils, topography, energy, and mineral resources of eight different regions of the United States.

Guides for the southeastern, south-central, southwestern, and western U.S. and Hawaii are available now. Guides for the northwest central, midwestern, and northeastern U.S. will become available soon.

Chapters for various topics in a growing free, online Earth science textbook. Topics include:

– Earth Systems
– Minerals, Rocks, Plate Tectonics, & Earth Hazards
– Climate, Climate Change, & Energy
– Fossils, Paleontology, & Evolution
– Geologic Time & Earth History

Overview of important Earth and life history events from each time interval on the geologic time scale.

Photo of students doing fieldwork in a rock pit

Explore Earth science online with this collection of Virtual Fieldwork Experiences.

Why does a place look the way it does? Virtual Fieldwork Experiences (VFEs) offer opportunities to explore sites that aren’t practical to travel to in person.

Interactive 3D models of fossils, minerals, and rocks. Most have public domain licensing, allowing you to freely make your own 3D prints.

Explore the types of fossils that have been found near where you live. From trilobites to dinosaurs, the United States has an incredibly rich fossil record that tells the story of how ancient animals and plants evolved, lived, and went extinct.

Graphic of Texas on a map with geological periods laid out topographically.

Trivia (e.g., state fossils and rocks) and geologic and topographic maps for each state in the U.S. (under development).

teudents working on a project in a classroom

Start discussions with real life examples, activities, and exercises related to climate change.


Other popular free resources on Earth@Home

Your students may enjoy following Gilbert D. Snail’s Earth@Home Science Road Trip this year. Most weeks Gilbert visits a new state and learns about its fossils, rocks, and cool places to visit. Follow Gilbert on PRI’s social media to find out where he is each week, and check back regularly on earthatome.org/roadtrip.

Earth@Home already has over 300 pages of content, much of it adapted from PRI’s Teacher-Friendly Guide to Earth Science series. Not sure where to begin? Consider attending a free Zoom workshop this fall. The next workshop will be on August 31 and will focus on Earth@Home content related to the western United States.

Most text and images on Earth@Home have Creative Commons licenses that allow you to use and adapt them as you wish for classroom use.

Even if you don’t teach Earth science, we still need your help! Please share Earth@Home (https://earthathome.org) on social media, or send the link to a teacher you know. Please also consider joining our Earth@Home email list to receive announcements about new additions to Earth@Home, subscribe by entering you email at the bottom of the page on https://earthathome.org. Finally, please send us an email if you have any questions, comments, or feedback about Earth@Home.

Bookmark this page to reference later or share it with a friend!

We hope that you and your students enjoy exploring Earth@Home!


Quick list of links to share:

  1. Regional guides to the Earth science of the United States. Introductions to the geologic history, climate, Earth hazards, rocks, fossils, topography, energy, and mineral resources of eight different regions of the United States. Guides for the southeastern, south-central, southwestern, and western U.S. and Hawaii are available now. Guides for the northwest central, midwestern, and northeastern U.S. will become available soon.
    URL: https://earthathome.org/hoe/

  2. Digital Encyclopedia of Earth Science. A growing online Earth science textbook.
    URL: https://earthathome.org/de

  3. Geologic Time Scale. Overview of important Earth and life history events from each time interval on the geologic time scale.
    URL: https://earthathome.org/geologic-time-scale/

  4. Virtual Fieldwork. Explore Earth science online with this collection of Virtual Fieldwork Experiences.
    URL: https://earthathome.org/vfe/

  5. Virtual Collection. Interactive 3D models of fossils, minerals, and rocks. Most have public domain licensing, allowing you to freely make your own 3D prints.
    URL: https://earthathome.org/vc/

  6. Fossils of the United States. Explore the types of fossils that have been found near where you live.
    URL: https://earthathome.org/hoe/us-fossils/

  7. Earth Science Quick Facts. Trivia (e.g., state fossils and rocks) and geologic and topographic maps for each state in the U.S. (under development).

    URL: https://earthathome.org/hoe/us-earth-science-quick-facts/

  8. Climate Change Activities, Experiments, and Exercises. Start discussions with real life examples, activities, and exercises related to climate change.
    URL: https://earthathome.org/de/climate-change-mitigation/activities-for-climate-change-mitigation-chapter