The Cooling Core Crisis

Earth's fiery heart has been driving our planet’s surface for billions of years—but what happens if that heat starts to fade?

This storyline immerses students in an urgent scientific investigation, challenging them to uncover how Earth’s internal heat powers plate tectonics, how a loss of this heat could disrupt the carbon cycle and climate, and whether there is real evidence that the core is cooling. Along the way, students will explore key Next Generation Science Standards:

• HS-ESS2-1 – Develop a model to illustrate how Earth’s internal and surface processes operate at different spatial and temporal scales to form continental and ocean-floor features.

• HS-ESS2-3 – Develop a model based on evidence of Earth’s interior to describe the cycling of matter by thermal convection.

• HS-ESS2-6 – Develop a quantitative model to describe the cycling of carbon among the hydrosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, and biosphere.

  
  

Students will begin by using modeling tools to simulate plate movement and develop an understanding of how internal heat drives tectonic activity. Next, they will explore how a loss of plate movement could disrupt the carbon cycle, leading to potential shifts in climate. To determine whether Earth’s core is cooling too quickly, students will analyze evidence from Bowen’s Reaction Series, examining how different minerals crystallize at varying temperatures. This will allow them to assess whether changes in igneous rock formation suggest a significant drop in Earth's internal heat over time.

I plan to provide a more detailed breakdown of how I designed this unit, including guiding questions, daily lesson structure, and hands-on activities to support student discovery. However, for now, here’s a basic rundown of the storyline. If this sounds like something you’d love to bring into your classroom, I encourage you to check out the labs I created to guide students through this investigation!

Unit Overview

Urgent Briefing: Scientists have detected unusual changes deep within Earth's core. Some claim it's cooling faster than expected. If true, this could impact our planet in ways we’ve never seen before. Your mission is to investigate Earth's internal heat, uncover what it drives, and predict what will happen if the core continues to cool. The future of our planet depends on your findings!

How Does Earth’s Core Move the Plates?

Your first mission is to understand how Earth’s internal heat powers and drives plate movement. Before we can predict what happens when the core cools, we must uncover what keeps the surface of our planet in motion.

Using interactive modeling tools, your team will simulate real-world earthquake patterns and plate interactions. You'll observe how tectonic plates shift, collide, and separate—all driven by heat rising from deep within the Earth. Through virtual experiments, you'll explore how convection currents in the mantle create the driving force behind plate movement.

Your objective: Use modeling software to uncover the hidden mechanics of plate tectonics. Once you’ve built a solid understanding, you can begin to ask—what happens if the core stops providing heat? How would Earth change if this process slowed or stopped?

Suggested Lab: Earth in Motion: A Plate tectonics Modeling Investigation

Act 2: Predicting the Future

Now that you've uncovered how Earth’s internal heat moves the plates, it's time to investigate how this heat regulates the carbon cycle—and what happens to climate if the process stops.

Your mission is to create a simple climate model to explore how carbon moves through Earth's systems. Using a diagram of the carbon cycle, your team will identify how carbon transfers between the atmosphere, biosphere, oceans, and lithosphere—and examine what role plate tectonics plays in this process.

As you work through the model, consider how a lack of plate movement might affect the way carbon moves between these systems. If volcanic activity were to stop, how might that change atmospheric carbon levels? What effects, if any, might this have on climate over time? Your findings will help determine whether Earth's internal heat plays a role in long-term climate stability.

Suggested Lab: Carbon Cycle & Plate Tectonics Lab: Earth’s Cooling and Climate Connection

Act 3: Is the Core Cooling Too Fast?

Your final mission is to test the theory. Using Bowen’s Reaction Series, you will analyze igneous rock formations to detect any shifts in mineral crystallization. If the core were cooling rapidly, we would expect significant changes in volcanic rock compositions over time.

Through hands-on analysis, you will compare rock formations from different geological periods to determine if internal heat has significantly decreased. If cooling is happening too quickly, Earth's plate tectonic system could be in jeopardy. If the core remains stable, life as we know it will continue as usual—for now.