Course Outline
Six-week Unit
This course outline is designed to be the first unit of the year which introduces geology along with the scientific method and basic science skills, but within only six weeks. Broad concepts are studied first, then specific details about these topics are investigated. This course outline is for teachers who prefer to start with generalizations and theories and then move to specifics and pieces of evidence that support those theories.
The curriculum begins the year starting inward with the Earth and is designed to be part of a year with an astronomy unit set up as the final unit, ending outwards. The Curriculum is set up with extra focus on Chemistry as the Earth's Structure is covered.
This 6-week geology unit starts with Earth Structure and ends with Earthquakes. If started in August or September, it can be tied into the anniversary of the Loma Prieta Earthquake (6.9 magnitude) on October 17, 1989. Teachers will be able to use newspaper articles and other local events to connect students with this topic. Alternatively, this unit could be taught in the spring and tied into the anniversary of the April 18, 1906 earthquake. Since April is Earthquake Awareness Month in California, this provides an opportunity to tie into earthquake safety issues.
We recommend that you print this course outline then visit the linked web pages using the hard copy as a reference.
Week 1: What is the Earth made of? How do you know?
-
- Introduction to the Earth
- Inquiry Activity (???)
- Earth Structure
- Layering within the Earth
- Size of layers
- Reinforce metric system
- Size of layers
Week 2: How did the continents get their shape?
-
- Plate Tectonics: Some Evidence
- Continental Drift (How can scientists tell that the Earth's plates are moving?)
- Continental Puzzle Activity (choose 1)
- PI Activity 12B/Do the Continents Fit Together?
- Fossil Evidence Map/Puzzle (Jen Fong has copy: Judy)
- PII Activity 12E/A Matching Puzzle
- What is the scientific method: hypothesis - theory - evidence
Week 3: What does the bottom of the ocean look like?
-
- Plate Tectonics: Some Evidence
- Sea Floor Spreading
- PI Activity 12E/Sea Floor Spreading
- Model of Sea Floor Spreading (from NSTA Earth Science)
- PI Activity 12C/Investigating Trenches
- Model of Sea Floor Spreading (from NSTA Earth Science)
Week 4: Why do the plates of the Earth move?
-
- Plate Tectonics: Theory
- Computer lab
- Pangaea break-up animations
- Plate movement animations
- Driving Forces
- Convection Currents Lab
- Measuring Density
- Plate movement
- Edible Tectonics (from NSTA Earth Science) or Or PI Activity 11B/Folding Rocks
- Discovering Plate Boundaries
- Mapping Plate Boundaries
- Sponge Demo for Divergent/Convergent Boundaries
- PI Activity 12F/Plate Tectonics
- Discovering Plate Boundaries
Week 5: What is an earthquake?
-
- Earthquakes
- Earthquakes and faults
- PI Activity 11F/Mapping Earthquakes
- Compare/contrast with volcanic activity
- Recent California Earthquakes
- "Plot that quake"
- Compare/contrast with volcanic activity
- Seismic waves
- P and S waves
- Properties of waves
- Slinky demo
- Wave activity – class wave activity
- PII Activity 13C/Earthquake Wave Models
- PII Activity 13E/Probing the Earth's Interior
- Properties of waves
Week 6: How do you measure earthquakes?
-
-
- Earthquakes
- Measuring earthquakes
- Magnitude, Depth
- Richter scale
- Reading graphs
- Virtual Seismologist
- Richter scale
- Seismic Safety
- Earthquake video
- PII Activity 13B/Elastic Rebound
- Liquefaction demo
- PII Activity 13B/Elastic Rebound
-