How to teach the Earth’s structure for younger students

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Ground your younger students with a solid foundation in the layers of the Earth

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Infographic poster, fact sheet and differentiated worksheets with three levels of scaffolding. Display the poster in your classroom or on a projector. Alternatively, print it and use it as a handout.

Use the accompanying resource as a Directed Activity Related to Text (DART). The resource consists of information cards for learners to add properties and statistics to, relating to the different layers of the Earth; a diagram with blank spaces where learners can glue their completed cards and a set of pie charts for learners to complete.

Poster as pdf.
Fact sheet at MS Word or pdf.
Unscaffolded worksheet as MS Word or pdf.
Partially scaffolded worksheet as MS Word or pdf.
Fully scaffolded worksheet as MS Word or pdf.
Teacher notes as MS Word or pdf.

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Formed around 4.5 billion years ago, Earth is the only planet in our solar system known to support life.

Earth has a layered structure. Each layer has unique chemical and physical properties.

Source: © Dan Bright

Source: © Dan Bright

Source: © Dan Bright

Source: © Dan Bright

The thin outermost layer of the Earth, where we live. Divided into: continental crust and oceanic crust

The mostly solid layer between the thin outer crust and the dense core. Made predominantly of silicates

Responsible for the Earth's magnetic field, the outer core mostly consists of liquid iron and nickel

Although at a temperature well above the melting point of iron, the inner core is solid

Did you know…?

If there were a queue of buses from the centre of the Earth’s inner core to the crust, it would be 532,500 buses long.

Want more?

If you want more posters and downloadable activities for teaching 11–14 science, try these. And for support on how to teach Earth science topics for your 11–14 learners, read these CPD articles.

Posters and activities

CPD support

More resources

Help learners visualise the structure of the Earth and boost their confidence with plotting information on scales by drawing a scale model of the Earth.
Determine if all limestone is the same with this investigation for 11–14 year olds where learners will plan, implement and evaluate a practical investigation.
Meteorites can give us clues to the composition of other planets. Use meteorite composition data including numbers below zero and percentage values to develop learners’ key mathematical skills with this data analysis resource for 11–14 year olds.