Teaching Science in Elementary and Middle School

Chapter 6: Understanding and Teaching Earth and Space Science 6 Chapter 6

Teaching Science Chapter 6: Earth and Space Science Chapter Six Objectives Consider major themes that shape our historical and current understandings of the Earth and space sciences Conduct and reflect on experiments on the following Earth and space topics: measurement, the cosmos, astronomy, the restless Earth, rocks and minerals, Earth cycles, weather and climate, atmosphere, water and oceans

Teaching Science Chapter 6: Earth and Space Science I. Measuring and Estimating in Earth and Space Science Measurement is challenging in Earth and space science because of the very large scales and distances involved Activities are provided to helps students understand these scales: Experiment 1 – Estimating the number of books in your school library Experiment 2 - Orienteering Experiment 3 – Geologic Time on a Football Field

Teaching Science Chapter 6: Earth and Space Science II. The Cosmos Humans have always been fascinated with the sun, moon, stars and Earth’s place in the wider universe This set of three activities helps students to understand the scale of the solar system and the power of the sun: Experiment 4 – Solar System Model Experiment 5 – Expanding Universe Model Experiment 6 – Hot Enough to Fry an Egg

Teaching Science Chapter 6: Earth and Space Science III. Astronomy There are several key astronomical cycles that we clearly observe from Earth Understanding these phenomena requires the study of the relative motions of the sun, Earth and moon and can be explained using the following three activities: Experiment 7 – Modeling Phases of the Moon Experiment 8 – The Changing Seasons Experiment 9 – Changing Lengths of Shadows

Teaching Science Chapter 6: Earth and Space Science IV. Restless Earth When seen from space the surface of the Earth seems calm and still. In fact, there are many forces that keep the surface of the Earth in motion, usually slowly, but occasionally violently. This series of activities explores these forces: Experiment 10 – Convection Currents Experiment 11 – Mountain Building with Towels Experiment 12 – Earthquake Resistant Structures

Teaching Science Chapter 6: Earth and Space Science V. Rocks and Minerals The same tectonic forces that move the surface features of our restless Earth are also responsible for the formation of the rocks, minerals and soil The study of rocks and minerals provides a chance to study various strategies for classification which can be practiced in the following set of activities: Experiment 13 – Crystals in your Kitchen Experiment 14 – Identifying Minerals Experiment 15 – Determining Soil Type

Teaching Science Chapter 6: Earth and Space Science VI. Earth Cycles Cycles are one of the unifying themes that cut across all of the science disciplines. The National Science Education Standards emphasize the importance of highlighting these unifying themes as a key component of science education. Earth science provides many clear examples of cycles that can be modeled and observed such as in the following set of activities: Experiment 16 – Building aquifer model Experiment 17 – Edible rock cycle Experiment 18 – Cloud in a Bottle

Teaching Science Chapter 6: Earth and Space Science VII. Weather and Climate People sometimes use the terms weather and climate synonymously but they are actually quite distinct -- weather is the condition we see when we look outside, but climate involves long-term patterns and trend in the weather for a certain place over time It is easy to observe and measure aspects of the weather in a short time, but studying climate is a longer term project This series of activities gives students the opportunity to measure two aspects of the weather and then to create an ecosystem that will allow them to consider the question of climate Experiment 19 – Tracking Rainfall Experiment 20 – Making an anemometer Experiment 21 – Rainforest Terrarium

Teaching Science Chapter 6: Earth and Space Science VIII. Atmosphere We rarely think about the Earth’s atmosphere because it is largely invisible, yet the atmosphere is responsible for keeping all living things alive This series helps students to answer for themselves questions about the atmosphere that almost every child has asked an adult at some point in life: Experiment 22 – Why are Clouds white? Experiment 23 – Why is the Sky Blue? Experiment 24 – Smog in a Can

Teaching Science Chapter 6: Earth and Space Science IX. Water and Oceans In our day to day lives the Earth seems to be mostly dry land, but of course, when seen from space, we clearly see that our planet is over two-thirds water The oceans are also a critical part of the Earth’s ecosystem and are being damaged by human activities at an alarming rate This set of activities focuses on three important aspects of the oceans: Experiment 25 – How Salty is Too Salty? Experiment 26 - Mapping the Ocean Floor Experiment 27 – Oil Spill Clean Up