Discovering the ocean floor: using Earth Learning Ideas

Ocean waters cover about 71% of the Earth’s surface, but with only 25% of the seafloor explored in any detail, scientists claim to know more about the surface of the Moon and Mars than they do about the seafloor of our own planet. And yet the plate tectonic revolution, which relies so much on evidence from the ocean floor, has flourished since the 1960’s despite what is ‘hidden’ beneath the waves.

Our poster provides an insight into some of the free classroom resources from the online Earthlearningidea website that simulate those technologies used to map the ocean floor and provide the evidence for plate tectonic theory. (https://www.earthlearningidea.com/English/Investigating_the_Earth.html#ocean). It is designed to complement the GIFT 2025 workshop run by our EGU Geoscience Education Field Officers (GEFO) team and to demonstrate the Earthlearningidea activities that play an important part in the workshops undertaken in our respective countries. It is also presented in fond memory of Professor Chris King who was the instigator and inspiration of this and so many other geoscience education projects in the UK and abroad.

These, and other activities, are available on the Earthlearningidea website (https://www.earthlearningidea.com/), a free repository containing more than 450 ready to download activities that have been translated into different languages. All are designed to develop students’ critical thinking and research skills, while developing their knowledge and understanding of Earth processes and products.

EGU Geoscience Education Field Officers (GEFO) are a team of geoscience teachers and researchers who provide professional development to schoolteachers with elements of geoscience in their teaching curricula, through interactive hands-on workshops. The team is supported by the European Geosciences Union Education Committee and is active in eleven countries around Europe. (https://www.egu.eu/education/).