Volcanoes

Anatomy of a volcano. From NOVA.

Lightning in a volcano and other crazy volcano events.

Geysers are heated by volcanic activity too. Visit Yellowstone National Park's site for a great interactive about geysers. Yellowstone has a long history of volcanic activity; the site features a useful image detailing convection in the mantle.

Teachers will find great materials at NeoK12 including lots of online resources, videos, and quizzes for your volcano unit.

Volcanic vocabulary can be an entirely new language. Do your best to keep up with this alphabetic glossary.

The highest volcano on Mars, Olympus Mons, is also the highest mountain in our solar system - 3 times higher than Mt. Everest. Learn more about Mars geology.

Volcano World is a great place to visit for additional knowledge, lesson plans, and more.

Learn more about volcanic hazards.

The Smithsonian Institute and USGS have produced a map-based resource called This Dynamic Planet that can be used for a variety of teaching activities with elementary and middle-school students. A teacher's guide is also available that includes a Pangaea puzzle lesson for 6th grade.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has a great site with multiple volcano resources for teachers. You will find details about volcanic science, videos and animations, current status on active volcanoes, maps, photos, lesson plans, webcams, and lots more.

Volcanoes: Magma Rising is a great interactive for whole-class or individual use from the American Museum of Natural History.

Oregon State University has terrific teaching resources for educators. Check out the earth science lesson plans on plate tectonics and volcanoes.

The Cascades Volcano Observatory has multiple resources for teachers.

The Hawaiian Center for Volcanology has details on all of the volcanoes in the Hawaiian Islands.

Teachers will want to check out this expansive list of Volcano Teaching Resources, with lesson plans, hands-on activities, worksheets, and printables for pre-school through high school.

Mount St. Helens eruption information.

PBS Learning Media has complete lesson plans on volcanoes that feature video clips, interactives, hands-on activities and maps. Designed for middle school students but can be easily adapted.

Check out these teacher resources that include amazing photos of volcanoes all over the world, with high-interest phenomena such as volcanic lightning, blue flame lava, and extra-terrestrial volcanoes. Classroom activities and lessons include Piles of Fire, Cake Batter Lava, and Gelatin Volcanoes.