Science - Earth Science - 30 Weeks

(1)	MST1.C.C.MA1.1	Students use algebraic and geometric representations to describe and compare data.
(1)	MST1.C.C.MA2.1	Students use deductive reasoning to construct and evaluate conjectures and arguments, recognizing that patterns and relationships in mathematics assist them in arriving at these conjectures and arguments.
(1)	MST1.C.LE.LE.2.4	Students carry out a research plan for testing explanations, including selecting and developing techniques, acquiring and building apparatus, and recording observations as necessary. (Note: This could apply to many activities from simple investigations to long-term projects.)
(1)	MST4.C.ES.PS2.1	Students use the concepts of density and heat energy to explain observations of weather patterns, seasonal changes, and the movements of the Earth’s plates.
(1)	MST6.C.C.ST1.1	Students use an input-process-output-feedback diagram to model and compare the behavior of natural and engineered systems.

Unit 10 - Weathering, Erosion, and Deposition
1.1a Use rate and gradient in context

2.1a Determine the relationships among: velocity, slope, sediment size, channel shape, and volume of a stream

2.4a Test sediment properties and the rate of deposition

1.2a Analyze a depositional-erosional system of a stream

2.1r Climate variations, structure, and characteristics of bedrock influence the development of landscape features including mountains, plateaus, plains, valleys, ridges, escarpments, and stream drainage patterns.
2.1s Weathering is the physical and chemical breakdown of rocks at or near Earth's surface. Soils are the result of weathering and biological activity over long periods of time.
2.1t Natural agents of erosion, generally driven by gravity, remove, transport, and deposit weathered rock particles. Each agent of erosion produces distinctive changes in the material that it transports and creates characteristic surface features and landscapes. In certain erosional situations, loss of property, personal injury, and loss of life can be reduced by effective emergency preparedness.
2.1u The natural agents of erosion include:

Streams (running water): Gradient, discharge, and channel shape influence a stream's velocity and the erosion and deposition of sediments. Sediments transported by streams tend to become rounded as a result of abrasion. Stream features include V-shaped valleys, deltas, flood plains, and meanders. A watershed is the area drained by a stream and its tributaries.
Glaciers (moving ice): Glacial erosional processes include the formation of U-shaped valleys, parallel scratches, and grooves in bedrock. Glacial features include moraines, drumlins, kettle lakes, finger lakes, and outwash plains.
Wave Action: Erosion and deposition cause changes in shoreline features, including beaches, sandbars, and barrier islands. Wave action rounds sediments as a result of abrasion. Waves approaching a shoreline move sand parallel to the shore within the zone of breaking waves.
Wind: Erosion of sediments by wind is most common in arid climates and along shorelines. Wind-generated features include dunes and sand-blasted bedrock.
Mass Movement: Earth materials move downslope under the influence of gravity.

2.1v Patterns of deposition result from a loss of energy within the transporting system and are influenced by the size, shape, and density of the transported particles. Sediment deposits may be sorted or unsorted.
2.1w Sediments of inorganic and organic origin often accumulate in depositional environments. Sedimentary rocks form when sediments are compacted and/or cemented after burial or as the result of chemical precipitation from seawater.

Holt - Earth Science

    Chapter 14 - Weathering and Erosion
    Chapter 15 - River Systems
    Chapter 17 - Glaciers
    Chapter 18 - Erosion by Wind and Waves

Class Zone
Landscape development
Connecticut river profile lab
Drainage basin worksheet
Glacial legacies of New York State
Weathering rates lab
Stream discharge
Erosional-depositional systems
• "WHERE IN NEW YORK STATE IS…”
• Grand Canyon Virtual Field Trip on the Internet
• Chemical weathering of chalk
• Glacial rebound
• THE SHELL ISLAND DILEMMA

Activity 1
Using alka-seltzer tablets and a beaker of water, have students create an experiment to determine if surface area affects the weathering process. Students should include a graph and lab write up explaining their procedures.

Activity 2
Have students create a proper soil horizon in a transparent cylinder. Labeling of each horizon should be included.

Activity 3
Using a stream table, have students observe the affects of increased slope on the erosion of materials. Students can arrange any type of stream pattern they wish. However, determining velocity vs. table height is needed. Also, have students place block houses at different locations on the meandering stream to observe the affects of erosion and deposition. Graphs and illustration should be included.

Activity 4
Deposition rates can be explored with a transparent cylinder, some water, and different sized plastic marbles. Have students conduct an investigation to examine how the different sized particles descend at different rates. Three trials with average times should be required to complete the investigation. Students should then graph their results and answer other appropriate questions using their graphs.

Activity 5
Stereoscopes can be used to investigate and identify different landscapes. Answering questions from the NYS ESRT’s about different landscapes could follow.

Activity 6
Provide students with blocks that have been velcroed together to from a cube. Ask students to calculate the surface of the “large” block. Pull block apart into two equal sized blocks and measure the surface area of each block, add these surface areas together and compare to original. Continue this process until blocks can no longer be reduced in size.

Assessment #1
Activity #4 should be used to assess knowledge gained about deposition.

Assessment #2
Students are to draft and design a large city park with the concepts of weathering, erosion and deposition in mind. Parks should include items such as: statues, hills, lake, streams and rivers, a forest, and other landmarks of their choice. Their design should include a diagram and explanations for placing their features where they did. Also, they should include a diagram of what the park may look like in two thousand years.

Assessment #3
Students form into teams of up to four. They are given maps which provide the following information; vegetation types, slope percent, soil type/stability rating, and other general setting information. Teams must develop a land use plan for a community using the information given. Plan must address surface process concerns such as mass wasting hazard potential and other erosion-related problems.

(1)

MST4.C.ES.PS1.2

Students describe current theories about the origin of the universe and solar system.

Unit 7 - Earth History
1.2d Asteroids, comets, and meteors are components of our solar system.

Impact events have been correlated with mass extinction and global climatic change.
Impact craters can be identified in Earth's crust.

1.2e Earth's early atmosphere formed as a result of the outgassing of water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and lesser amounts of other gases from its interior.
1.2f Earth's oceans formed as a result of precipitation over millions of years. The presence of an early ocean is indicated by sedimentary rocks of marine origin, dating back about four billion years.
1.2g Earth has continuously been recycling water since the outgassing of water early in its history. This constant recirculation of water at and near Earth's surface is described by the hydrologic (water) cycle.

Water is returned from the atmosphere to Earth's surface by precipitation. Water returns to the atmosphere by evaporation or transpiration from plants. A portion of the precipitation becomes runoff over the land or infiltrates into the ground to become stored in the soil or groundwater below the water table. Soil capillarity influences these processes.
The amount of precipitation that seeps into the ground or runs off is influenced by climate, slope of the land, soil, rock type, vegetation, land use, and degree of saturation.
Porosity, permeability, and water retention affect runoff and infiltration.

1.2h The evolution of life caused dramatic changes in the composition of Earth's atmosphere. Free oxygen did not form in the atmosphere until oxygen-producing organisms evolved.
1.2i The pattern of evolution of life-forms on Earth is at least partially preserved in the rock record.

Fossil evidence indicates that a wide variety of life-forms has existed in the past and that most of these forms have become extinct.
Human existence has been very brief compared to the expanse of geologic time.

1.2j Geologic history can be reconstructed by observing sequences of rock types and fossils to correlate bedrock at various locations.

The characteristics of rocks indicate the processes by which they formed and the environments in which these processes took place.
Fossils preserved in rocks provide information about past environmental conditions.
Geologists have divided Earth history into time units based upon the fossil record.
Age relationships among bodies of rocks can be determined using principles of original horizontality, superposition, inclusions, cross-cutting relationships, contact metamorphism, and unconformities. The presence of volcanic ash layers, index fossils, and meteoritic debris can provide additional information.
The regular rate of nuclear decay (half-life time period) of radioactive isotopes allows geologists to determine the absolute age of materials found in some rocks.

Holt - Earth Science

Chapter 8 - The Rock Record
Chapter 9 - A View of Earth's Past

Class Zone
Modeling time
Rules of the road cut
What stories do rocks tell?
Intro to fossil correlation
Bedrock correlation
Absolute dating with skittles
• How fast were those dinosaurs? lab
• Virtual radiocarbon dating lab
• Reading NYS geo-history lab
Radioactive Dating Simulation (WEB)Radioactive Dating Simulation (WEB)

Assessment 1
Take students on a field trip to the Lower Niagara Gorge. The field trip students should consist of stations which would be able to assess: relative age of the rock layer at an available rock outcrop, fossil hunting to determine the past environment and organism present, and utilization of the ESRT to determine the age of those fossils.

Assessment 2
On the same lines as the assessment from Unit 1, tell students they have just landed on a strange planet and they are trying to determine the history of that planet using the concepts from this unit. Absolute age of the planet, relative age of mountain features, and fossil evidence should be evaluated.

(1)

MST6.C.C.MS3.1

Students describe the effects of changes in scale on the functioning of physical, biological, or designed systems.

3.1b Develop a scale model of units of geologic time

Holt - Earth Science

Chapter 8 - The Rock Record

See above

(1)

MST7.C.C.CO.1.4

Students explain and evaluate phenomena mathematically and scientifically by formulating a testable hypothesis, demonstrating the logical connections between the scientific concepts guiding the hypothesis and the design of an experiment, applying and inquiring into the mathematical ideas relating to investigation of phenomena, and using (and if needed, designing) technological tools and procedures to assist in the investigation and in the communication of results.

1.4a Investigate two similar fossils to determine if they represent a developmental change over time

Holt - Earth Science

Chapter 9 - A View of Earth's Past

See above

Earth Science Planning for Results (2010-11).pdf