In this inquiry-based lesson, students will investigate how rainfall changes the land and causes runoff. The students will simulate a stream table to show how rainfall erodes the land.
This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
The goal of this activity is for students to simulate the constructive forces of a volcanic eruption, observe how lava flows build up layers of a landform, study the stratigraphy of the new landform, and connect the simulation to events in the natural world.
This lesson was created as part of the 2016 NASA STEM Standards of Practice Project, a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.
Observe fast and slow events that change the face of Earth’s surface with this slideshow. Students will use evidence from videos and images to describe how changes on Earth’s surface can happen quickly or slowly. Students will have the opportunity to compare Earth’s surface before and after the occurrence of a natural event and describe how it has changed.
Weathering and erosion are continuous processes that gradually change the natural environment over time. Weathering is the process of wearing down materials into the sediment. Erosion occurs when this sediment is moved.
The classroom resource provides a video that will describe how weathering and erosion shape Earth's surface over a long period of time. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
The teacher will present an informational text from the website, ReadWorks. Students will interact with this non-fiction text by annotating the text digitally. The students will answer the questions associated with the article as an assessment. This learning activity can introduce students to the concept of constructive and destructive forces on Earth's surface, serve as reinforcement after students have already learned this concept, or be used as an assessment at the conclusion of a lesson.
The teacher will present an informational text from the website, ReadWorks. Students will interact with this non-fiction text by annotating the text digitally. This learning activity can introduce students to the concept of chemical weathering or serve as reinforcement after students have already learned this concept. This classroom resource can be paired with the classroom resource "Physical Weathering at Work," so students can compare and contrast these two destructive forces.
The teacher will present an informational text from the website, ReadWorks. Students will interact with this non-fiction text by annotating the text digitally. This learning activity can introduce students to the concept of physical weathering or serve as reinforcement after students have already learned this concept. This classroom resource can be paired with the classroom resource "Chemical Weathering of Rocks," so students can compare and contrast these two destructive forces.
The classroom resource provides a slideshow that will describe a variety of landforms and the processes that formed them. In addition, there is a sing-along video that students can perform karaoke-style that will help them remember the different landforms and the geologic processes that shaped them. After utilizing these two resources, the students can complete the short test to assess their understanding.