Plate Tectonics Lesson Plan developed by Jacqueline K. Bowman  Dec. 12, 2000

Background and Assumptions:  Students have completed unit on the evolution of the earth including plate tectonics.  This unit is aimed at high school earth science.

Objective:  Students will be able to determine whether plate tectonics or other forces were responsible for the formation of selected images of the terrestrial planets.  They will be able to give credible evidence for their choice.

Materials:

NASA educational product, Planetary Geology
NASA CD-ROM, Welcome to the Planets

Procedure:

1. Begin by asking students review questions about their knowledge of plate tectonics.  Potential questions include:  “What is the cause of the Ring of Fire?”, “Why do faults occur?”, etc.
2. Ask students if they think plate tectonics occur on other planets or moons.  Write down the list of planets and moons provided by the students.
3. Ask students what they would look for as evidence of plate tectonics.  Have them compose a list in their work groups.
4. Show students the Welcome to the Planets slide shows for Mercury and Venus.
5. Have students in their work groups examine pictures of Miranda, Mars, and Io (available online http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov and in Planetary Geology).  Their goal is to determine whether or not these planets and moons show signs of plate tectonics.
6. The groups are to compose 1-2 page reports stating and supporting their decision.

Closure:
Have students compare their results with scientific ones.

Assessment:
Reports are to be assessed on completeness and ability to support their conclusion.
 

 Solar System Lesson Plan developed by Jacqueline K. Bowman Dec. 12, 2000

Background and Assumptions:  This lesson plan is developed for a high school earth science class.  This would act as a culminating lesson plan for a solar system unit.  Students are at least minimally competent in Hyperstudio?.  This lesson should be presented about halfway through the unit to allow sufficient time for research and development of their project.

Objective:  Students will be able, in groups, to develop a multimedia presentation, using Hyperstudio?, illustrating their assigned solar system grouping.

Materials:
Hyperstudio?
NASA CD-ROM Welcome to the Planets
Internet access

Procedure:
1. During the course of their study of the solar system, students have become aware of the different ways in which we classify the parts of the solar system.  As a part of this unit, their groups will be assigned different components, including the sun, terrestrial planets, Jovian planets, asteroid belt, Kuiper belt objects, Oort Cloud comets, and Apollo asteroids.
2. Show students the Welcome to the Planets CD-ROM.  This will act as an example of a well-developed multimedia presentation.  Have them pay particular attention to how the navigation tools are constructed and the level of detail in the text.  This presentation is to act as their model for their own presentation.
3. Students are to develop at least five informational cards for a hyperstudio stack.  These cards must include detailed information about their topic, graphic images, and must not be solely linear in their navigation.
4. Allow students at least three days for research and three days for hyperstack development.

Closure:  Students will show their presentations to the rest of the class on the due date for their projects.  Stacks will be posted to the web.

Assessment:  A rubric will be developed that will assess level of sophistication of the text, richness of image use, and sophistication level of navigation.  Students will also be assessed by their classmates on aesthetic appeal of their program.
 

Unit: Science

Grade level 4 or 5

Theme: One of the main objectives is to help the student recognize that they themselves are part of the Earth system. This unit is designed to reinforce basic skills. Through hands-on activities, experiments, and discussions, students practice how to identify, classify, organize and recall information. The students will also become familiar with new vocabulary.

The children have already learned about the planet’s primary components its land, air, and water, and understand the role of the sun in providing us with energy.
 
 

Length of Activity: Two days with 60-minute session each

General Materials needed: Art material, Computer, VCR, plain paper, books to read, pencils, lab coats, and vocabulary list (pre-printed for students use) , chart

Software Material:CD-ROM from NASA "Visit to an Ocean Planet",

Web sites addresses:http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/

Visuals:Posters, Photographs, and other visual aids.

Movie:NASA Select: program on Earth From Space (on tape)
 
 

Introduction: I will create a scenario and our classroom will be turned into a science lab and each student will become an Earth scientist.

• Review prior learning on this subject matter
• Watch a short movie on Earth From Space
• Ask questions and get the students feedback
• We will design a science center
• Hang posters and other visual aids up in this area (map of the world)
• The students will have an opportunity to use lab coats if they want.
• Homework: Do two of the following:
• Read a short story about Earth From Space at the following web site http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/you pick the topic article or s ection you are interested in and give an oral report about what you have learned.
• Design art work to hang in the new science lab area
• Design a crossword puzzle or word finding sheet using our new vocabulary words.

• Identify in photographs Earth’s Components from space: water (oceans, bays rivers), land (continents), and air (atmosphere).
• Find the atmosphere in photograph showing the limb (curved edge) of the earth.
• Identify the Sun as the source of energy and life on Earth.
• Recognize that different-colored components absorb and reflect sunlight differently.

Activities:Demonstrating the view from Space.

Films, videos, and photos: Show aerial and space views of Earth to help students understand that the air, land, and water seen in the photo are the same as those seen from the ground; they just are seen from a different perspective. Ask students who ha ve flown in airplanes or climbed to the top of a tall mountain to describe what they saw. Point to the U.S. in the photo of Earth from Space

If students are not familiar with U.S. map, explain that large areas of land are visible from space and that it would take many hours to drive by car from one area to another. I will use common local trips to help students relate to distances.
 
 

1. Go over what was taught yesterday
2. Ask questions and reinforce skills learned yesterday.
3. Have students share their homework assignment with the class
4. Go over objectives of today.

The Sun’s radiation is the source of energy of the Earth system. The heat and light allow plants and animals to thrive. The radiation also supplies the energy for many of the cycles among the atmosphere, oceans, and land. Air, land and water absorb or reflect energy differently, affecting earth patterns ocean currents, winds, and temperatures. Deserts and clouds reflect a great deal of energy, while ocean surfaces and forests reflect less. The warming of Earth’s atmosphere moderates the temp eratures around the globe making it inhabitable by living things.

Materials: White sand, black potting soil, and light gray gravel, three thermometers, three clear glass bowls.

Observation: Demonstrating Absorption of Solar Energy.

To demonstrate the effects of solar energy on our planet, students must learn that components of the Earth system absorb sunlight differently.

This will be demonstrated in the following experiment: Place sand, gravel, and soil in each of the three glass bowls and insert one of the thermometers just below the surface of each material. Leave the containers in sunlight for several hours. White s and represents the clouds and snow; black soil, the land (forest, green grass); and gray gravel the ocean or dead grass. The students will be asked to compare the temperatures to see how the differently colored materials absorb heat.

Extra Activity:

• Under which material would you put ice if you wanted it to melt faster? Try it
• What is your out come? Put on your chart

• Could city snow-removal crews put dark soil on piles of snow when they want the snow to melt faster? Yes or No
• Come up with more 4 more examples and put on your science chart.

• Assess learning on an on going basis. This will be down by asking questions and viewing each student’s work.
• Get feedback on the project and design better ways of teaching it.

Subject:

Project Name:

Date:

Hours of light Exposure	White Sand	Black potting soil	Light Gray Gravel	Thermometer Temperature
Your notes here:

 

Home work for new vocabulary: Absorb, Atmosphere, Cloud, Continent, Earth, Heat, land Ocean, Oxygen, Reflect, River, Soil, Sunlight, Surface, Terrarium.

• Put the words into a crossword puzzle or word find sheet.

Objective:  To have the learner understand and explain how mountain ranges, and more specifically  mountains are formed. This will be done mainly through the use of the internet  The learner will be introduced to the concept of mountain formation through the following site: http://www.oneonta.edu/%7Ehessf77/mountain.html

 Mountains can be formed in a couple of different ways. Different kinds of
mountains are formed different ways. There are four different kinds of
mountains: Volcanic, erosional, fault-block, and folded.

Goal:  To have students give a presentation to the class on how mountains, mountain ranges, are formed.  The students should be able to explain the various types of mountains e.g. Folded Mountains, and what these terms mean. Secondly the students will demonstrate the ability to utilize the internet for this project as well as using multiple programs to complete the task.

Materials:  The students will have access to the internet as well as Encarta: http://www.iac-on-encarta.com/ and various text books from the library, local and school.

Assessment: The students will submit a paper utilizing Netscape Composer and demonstrate the ability to copy and link inmages as well as web site addresses.  This will be in addition to their presentation.

Closure:  Students and teacher will discuss the usefullness of the lesson and discuss it's importance and level of difficulty.

Lesson Plan developed by Susan W. Sullivan
Expedition: Gulf of Mexico

Objectives:

• Plan a cruise through the gulf of Mexico based on the data generated by the use of the software "Visit to an ocean Planet"

• Expose students to oceanographic data analysis of bathymetry, sea surface height, radar and photography.
• Have student’s record and interpret said data.

Materials:

• ‘Visit to an Ocean Planet" CD-ROM software, available for loan from the ASEER Center at ECSU library
• Either a Mac 7.5 or better or a PC with windows 3.1 or better, 2X CD-ROM
• Large map of the gulf of Mexico
• Triscan converter to play movie from computer

Grade Level:

• 5^th grade

• 45 minutes, could be expanded to two classes if groups are permitted to expand on their presentations

• working knowledge of utilizing a mouse

Procedure:

• Play intro Movie (under SOS on CD) this gives students direct instruction on how to utilize program, record data , interpret data, and draw conclusions for analyzing data
• Divide class into groups, one group per computer.
• Have each group work through the program
• Have each group print summery
• Allow each group time to analyze and plan expedition based on the data
• Allow groups to prepare a brief presentation to the class on where they are going to go, what they will see, and what the conditions were that made them decide where to go.

• Allow each group to make a presentation on their decided expedition. Have them identify sites on map.

• Each student writes an essay on their expedition, including a chart of the data, analysis of the data, what they saw on their trip. This essay would be from the point of view of an oceanographer.

2 LESSON PLANS BY GARY GRINDLE

(A)
STUDENTS: 11 GRADE

SUBJECTS: EART SCIENCE

OBJECTIVE: TO BE ABLE TO PRINT OUT ANY WEATHER RELATED
INFORMATION FROM THE INTERNET.

MATERIALS: PC, NETSCAPE COMMUNICATOR OR MICROSOFT INTERNET

PROCEDURES: TO HAVE THE TEACHER DEMONSTRATE HOW TO USE THE
INTERNET TO DISTINGUISH THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A HURRICANE AND
A TYPHOON. AFTER THE TEACHER HAS DEMONSTRATED HOW TO USE THE
INTERNET TO FIND THE SUBJECT MATTER, THE STUDENTS WILL THEN BE
PRESENTED WITH AN EQUAL TASK TO BE PERFORMED.

(B)
STUDENTS: 11TH GRADE

SUBJECTS: EARTH SCIENCE

OBJECTIVE:TO BE ABLE TO SCAN 2 PICTURES FOR TEXT USE ON MICROSOFT
POWERPOINT.

MATERIALS: PC, HP SCANNER

PROCEDURES: THE TEACHER WILL DEMONSTRATE THE PROCEDURE ON
HOW TO USE THE HP SCANNER. ONCE THE TEACHER HAS DEMONSTRATED
THE USE OF THE SCANNER, THE STUDENTS WILL GET INTO GROUPS OF
TWO AND PRACTICE ON THE COMPUTERS. AFTER 10 MINUTES OF
PRACTICE TIME THE STUDENTS WILL PRACTICE SCANNING A PICTURE
ALONE.
 
 

Please read the University Disclaimer at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/aac/disclaimer.html The instructor's homepage (David Stoloff) is at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/stoloff.html Questions on these webpages, please email David Stoloff at stoloffd@ecsu.ctstateu.edu.