Earth's changing atmosphere: Comparison activity

This versatile, ready-to-use resource that supports both foundation and higher tier students in understanding Earth's changing atmosphere.

What's included

• PowerPoint presentation with clear activity instructions and differentiated example answers for foundation and higher tier students
• Student worksheet featuring Earth diagrams for annotating early atmosphere vs. present-day atmosphere composition
• Flexible approach allowing for simple naming of gases (foundation) or detailed explanation of atmospheric evolution processes (higher tier)

Download the free PDF worksheet, or subscribe to access the fully editable Word and PowerPoint files.

How to use this resource

This versatile activity works brilliantly as a starter to introduce the topic, a plenary to consolidate learning, or as a quick assessment to gauge understanding. For foundation students, focus on identifying the main gases in each atmosphere. Challenge higher tier students to explain the processes that changed atmospheric composition over time, such as photosynthesis, volcanic activity and human impact. You could also use it as a homework task or revision exercise before assessment.

Looking for more like this?

Expand your Earth's atmosphere teaching toolkit with these related resources:

• Try our popular Earth's atmosphere - spot the difference activity for an alternative approach to this topic
• Browse our complete Chemistry of the atmosphere collection for more targeted resources

Explore our broader Earth chemistry section for resources on the rock cycle, climate change, and natural resources