My Lesson Plan

Blog post #5

This text provides a fairly good overview of the types of rock and how they interact in the rock cycle.  It comes from the free online text book and resource website www.ck12.org.  The website provides a large amount of supplemental resources such as work sheets and video links that back up the content being presented.  The complexity of the article allows it to be used in freshman, sophomore, and lower level junior and senior classes.  If I were teaching students with lower reading levels, this might need some frontloading from an activity during class to help introduce the concepts of erosion and deposition.  I would likely use this article as a take home reading assignment that could be read to back up understanding gained in class.

This text scored between a 4^th and 8^th grade reading level so the text should be fairly accessible to many students in high school.  Much of the text is easy to read with relatively short and simple words.  The sentences are also short making the text easier to break up and interpret smaller segments.  Many of the subject specific vocabulary is described quite well within the text with large conceptual terms defined in text and additional “problem” vocabulary defined towards the bottom of the page.

Question: Describe how the rock cycle can help us interpret the patterns we see in the rocks around us?

Lesson Plan for Part of The Rock Cycle

Name:            Nicholas Flinner

Title:               This lesson will be focusing on how sediments become rocks.

Date(s):          Tomorrow to three-four days from now.

Grade Level:  8-10

Time Frame:             3-4 days

Big Idea:        Use activities, discussions, and readings to increase comprehension of how rocks form, change shape, move on the landscape, and become different rocks.  The students have already learned how people use rocks (i.e. buildings, roads, counter tops, etc.) from the discussion we had at the end of the last unit so we will go deeper into how rocks form.  From here we’ll travel into the past and examine fossils and how the solar system was created.  This unit would likely go earlier in the year.

Objectives/Outcomes/Expectations:  Students should be able to explain types of rock, and how they change throughout the rock cycle.  They should also be able to show that rocks have a variety of possible changes based on erosion, temperature, and pressure. NGSS(s) ESS1.C, ESS2.A

Assessment [listing of strategies being used]. Later you will provide more specifics.

Materials Needed: plastic bottles, sand, silt, and clay, flocculation chemicals

Procedures (please provide detailed information as well as  indicate amount of time in bold for each procedure)	Academic Adaptation	Behavioral or Social Adaptation	Assistive Technology
- Sedimentation lab activity:  In this activity the students will make little models to demonstrate sedimentation rates.  Students will first make observations on the material (color, texture) and then predict what will happen when they are mixed together in water and allowed to sit for a few minutes. During the simulation, students will take down observations on what sediments settled first, second, and third. (30-45min) - Frontloading for reading: I’ll have the students do a quick write to learn up of what they observed and how the model might translate to a river depositing material in a delta.  (10min) - Take home an assignment with the Rock Cycle (relevant text) from the London geological society on how velocity changes cause sediment to settle out of water paired with an entry slip for the following day so the students can show what they observed in the presentation as well as any potential propagations of misconceptions from the previous day.  Students will also read Rocks and Processes of the Rock Cycle (Desonie). - Entry Slip:  Students will critically assess whether or not their hypotheses were upheld by the results and reflect on why their results might have differed from what they expected and come up with a question for the class. NEXT CLASS - Collect entrance slips with sponge activity on board.  Preferably a longer one related to the rock cycle or changing shapes so I can have time to read through slips.  Take attendance. - Activity on steps of rock making:  Divide students in to groups of 3-5 by comprehension levels gleaned from entrance slip, assign a fragment of reading for them to digest as a group.  Each group will have part of the lithification process ranging from sedimentation (remedial from yesterday) to cementation (newer concept from reading).  The groups will make drawings of their respective processes and present them to the class. They will then have to figure out where they line up against the other groups, synthesizing the process as whole. (30-60min) (Peer Collaboration) - Each group will develop a picture with a small explanation that will go on a semester long concept map on a bulletin board in the classroom.  Each student could then use those image to review when they needed extra help with a topic.

Possible Text Sets

Post #4 Text-Sets for my discipline

          

http://www.ck12.org/earth-science/Sedimentary-Rock-Classification/lesson/Sedimentary-Rock-Classification/

 

Sedimentary Rock Classification: © CK-12 Foundation 2014  http://www.ck12.org/earth-science/Sedimentary-Rock-Classification/lesson/Sedimentary-Rock-Classification/   (Text)

This is a general overview of how to identify sedimentary rock and the types of sedimentary rock.  There is a little background on how sedimentary rocks are formed in the bodies of water including clastic, chemical, and biochemical types of rock.  Being a fairly short article there wasn’t a huge amount of subject matter.

Overall the text scored fairly high on the graded reading levels.  The reading scored between ninth and eleventh grade with an average grade level of 10.8.  Looking into the qualitative aspects of the texts revealed that the text is somewhat complex in vocabulary.  The words used in this article are fairly specific to the content area and there is little background knowledge

The purpose of this text is to introduce vocabulary after an introduction to sedimentary rocks.  It would likely be a take home reading after an activity where the students create their own clastic sedimentary rocks and start a rock candy demonstration to show chemical deposition.

Question: What are the two major types of sedimentary rock?

http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/ks3/gsl/education/resources/rockcycle/page3604.html

The Rock Cycle, The Geological Society, © The Geological Society of London http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/ks3/gsl/education/resources/rockcycle/page3604.html  (Digital)

This is an effective info-graphic describing the deposition or river sediment in a marine or lake environment from season to season.  The simulation shows the particle sorting caused by differences in the carrying capacity of the stream.  One concept that would need to precede this graphic would be the ability of high velocity water to move and carry sediment and when the velocity decreases, the water cannot hold as much sediment and some is deposited.  This simulation might go well after a lab observing various particle size movements with big, little, and invisible particles suspended in water.

Question: What might cause the different sized particles to settle out at different distances away from the mouth of the river?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diagenesis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diagenesis     (Text)

This is a fairly specific description of how sediments turn into rock.  Ultimately this is of the things that I was most interested in when starting this blog, but I have a feeling that it is too complicated for the average high school student to understand.  The text discusses the various ways rocks become cemented or lithified prior to undergoing metamorphism.  It goes on to describe how this can be used and is important in paleontology because minerals can replace organic compounds in this stage, creating fossils.

Overall, this text is rated at a very high academic level.  It had an average grade level between 16^th and 18^th grade.  In general there were a lot of words per sentence and it had quite a few characters per word as well.  The text contained many upper level concepts and vocabulary words that cemented it position as a difficult text.  It definitely falls in a category where students would need a large amount of previous reading and frontloading for them to actually understand the material.

This would be a text I would use in an upper level class, or for an individual who is interested in continuing their inquiry in the content area.  I could also use it as an exploratory activity where the students could get a small (1-2 sentences) chunk of the text and digest it as a group.

Question: What is required for sediments to become turned into sedimentary rocks?

Origins of the Great Lakes, Randall Schaetzl              (Text)

This is about how the great lakes were formed.  It goes into a fairly broad explanation of how glaciers are responsible for the gouging out rock along weaker stratigraphic layers, creating depressions in which water would settle and pool.  The second part of the article explains that the ground up rock become till and glacial flour.

This article rates somewhat lower on the difficulty scale with an average grade level of 13.8, ranging between a 12 and a 15.  Qualitatively, the vocabulary used is not as difficult as previous articles but still requires some other activities and small readings to establish content area definitions.  The reading also has a few complex sentences which would be more difficult for challenged learners.

I would likely use this text when setting up a unit on erosion and sedimentary rocks.  Nearly all rocks in the area around lake Michigan are sedimentary rocks.  Through these graphics I could relate the subject to the lake and its creation, or how the rocks in this area were created.

Question:  Why might ice carve one rock more than another?

Bill Nye the Science Guy: Rocks and Weathering https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xv1DoqkARQ               (Video)

This is helpful when talking about different igneous rocks and how they cool at different temperatures.  Later in the episode he talks about erosion, deposition, and metamorphosis.  He covers the whole rock cycle using some fairly simple concepts and examples.

In general, the vocabulary is fairly simple.  He describes each of the vocabulary words as he comes across them.  In general the sentences are fairly short with simple vocab.

I would use this as an introductory video when I actually start teaching vocabulary after an experiment with sedimentation.  This would be potential homework with a few questions attached to the assignment

Question: Briefly describe the lifecycle of a rock.  What happens to them?

Fossil Fuel Formation: from Hello Science!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvH-h7TzSsE   (video)

This is a video on how coal is created.  They start with a small introduction on how energy moves around our environment.  The video continues to explain each of the four components needed to make coal.  At each point where a new term is introduced, the narrator discusses what the term means.

Overall, the text is fairly simple with much of the vocabulary explained as they come up.  The film also uses good depictions of how algae and plants sink and are buried in successive layers.

I would probably use this as an in-class film during a lab before climate change, and during sedimentary rock unit.

Question:  What components are required to make coal?

http://www.phschool.com/atschool/phsciexp/active_art/rock_cycle/index.html

The Rock Cycle. ©Pearson Prentice Hall http://www.phschool.com/atschool/phsciexp/active_art/rock_cycle/index.html   (interactive infographic)

This is a very cool interactive graphic that shows the different steps of the rock cycle through visualizing what happens between and during each stage of the life of a rock.  You can also read about what is happening at each stage of the process in a box above the graphic.  The readings use fairly simple vocabulary to describe what is happening in the transition or what the characteristics of the rock are.

In general, the text is fairly simple without a large amount of difficult vocabulary.  The writing style is rather short with a few complex sentences. The text does requires that students know at least a working knowledge of the words metamorphic, sedimentary, igneous, pressure, and heat.

I think this activity would be fun to use in conjunction with a in class lab looking at rocks and how they change from one form to another. I would need to frontload this activity with some discussion to see what knowledge the students already have about the types of rocks.  I would then try to provide them with their own definitions (as long as they are similar to what the actual definition is) before the activity.

Question: Describe two arrows in the rock cycle?

My visualization project

Visualization Review

Overall this was an interesting process. I started out with an initial plan of trying to make an infographic.  I started researching what ways have been used before to represent the rock cycle in an infographic but I found that many of the examples were what I wanted to make.  I didn’t really want to redo what has already been done really well so I decided I wanted to change which visualization I would make.  I decided I would do a walk through narration of the process using a screen cast and Microsoft Powerpoint.  With this method, I could better describe the circular pattern the rock cycle goes through.  In the presentation, I start with a circular diagram to which I refer later in the presentation.  I move through the different steps of the rock cycle starting with the igneous process starting at the beginning, moving to erosion and sedimentary rock, followed by the metamorphic processes, and finishing back at the igneous rock, thus completing the cycle.  By using the presentation, I could loop back to various points in the cycle.

When I do presentations, I usually try to use graphics on my slides and talk during the presentation.  I find that this way, I can show examples of what I am talking about in my verbal presentation.  This kind of presentation would work better for a semi-knowledgeable or knowledgeable audiences who have the mental structures to accept and interpret the information being provided.  It might work well as a condensed review after introducing the students to the topic.  Students could even use this technique to help themselves review.  The process that was very helpful was actually creating the presentation its self.

I found that by struggling with finding images to match what I was reading was helpful in reviewing what I didn’t remember.  I would find a certain part of the rock cycle, say the igneous phase where rocks are created by magma slowing fast or slow, I needed to find a picture that would illustrate such a process.  Similarly, the sedimentary rocks were difficult to find images for because it is a long process that occurs over sometimes millions of years.  I found I could relate the time and phases better if I used a diagram with various time periods in the sedimentation process.  This same process could be completed by students with hand drawn pictures which could be done on computers and stitched together to make one long pattern of how they see the rock cycle occurring.

Through creating this visualization, I found that I knew the rock cycle better than I thought I did.  I used the online textbook cK-12 to review the rock cycle and a few other websites for images.  This source was very helpful in providing additional information that I had forgotten since I had this lesson in my freshman year of college.  I did find some things were reinforced by the project but overall, it served as a great review.

Where am I and where do I want to go?

What I Know:

I have taken an introduction to physical geography and a fundamentals of geomorphology course.  These, and various history channel segments on how the earth was made are the primary sources of what I know about the rock cycle.  Plate tectonics drive land and ocean formation in across the planet.  Circulation of heat in the interior of the planet drives the movement of the Earth’s crust.  Earth’s plates are moving into, away, and right alongside each other.  These various movements cause plates to be driven down, re-entering the asthenosphere, plates to be driven up creating mountains, or they cause plates to shift violently as two plates move along a fault line causing an earth quake.  These processes create three different kinds of rock: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.  After rock is lifted to create land, the rock begins to be eroded.

Through various chemical and physical process like dissolution and mass wasting, rock is broken up into smaller bits and eroded via wind or water to a lower spot on the earth.  In many cases, this can be more land in the case of glacial till retained on the continents after the last ice age, or river effluent carrying sediments in the water column to be deposited on the ocean shelf or ocean floor.  As more sediment is added to the top, lower sediments start to compress and either become concreted together with minerals or, with enough heat and pressure, start to fuse together.  These processes of deposition create various sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.

What I Want to Know:

The topics I would like to explore in the rock cycle are:

1.      What are the structures underlying the crust and what causes them to move?

2.      What conditions are needed for metamorphosis to work?

3.      What kinds of activities would be helpful with new students to show the rock cycle?

4.      When does sediment become rock?

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About Me

Earth Science has always been of interest to me.  From the very beginning to now, I have been fasinated with how rocks, organisms, and water move across the earth's surface.  I am especially interested in how climate has changed in the past and how organisms have adapted and respond to current climate. 

I have recently graduated with my masters of science in Earth and Quaternary Studies from Indiana State in 2014 and a bachelors of arts in Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.  My undergraduate focus and my thesis were in the field of Dendrochronology.  I primarily study tree rings for indicators in radial growth of changes in climate, geology, or changes in the ecosystem.  Because they record annually resolved environmental data, trees can provide a fairly tangible approach to basic and complex scientific principles regarding weather, climate, and how species interact.

For this inquiry blog, I would like to learn more about the rock cycle and how plate tectonics drive our planet’s geology.  I have primarily studied the geography of many of the landforms across the planet and the glacial deposits found in Wisconsin, but I have neglected to explore the underlying geology which is the source of so much we see today. This will also provide me a chance to explore what I will be teaching in coming years.  

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