Geology Rocks - Lesson Plan

Keweenaw Geoheritage

Background

Not familiar with the Houghton and Keweenaw Peninsula?
Start here:

• Keweenaw National Historical Park Website
• Keweenaw Geoheritage

Geoheritage is where geology connects to natural and cultural heritage. What does this mean?

This means that geological history can have an impact on the heritage of a certain area. This idea is seen in some locations more than others.

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Copper Country Geoheritage

For example, Keweenaw County in the upper peninsula of Michigan contains many different types of rocks and minerals, and over time people's relationship with those resources have changed.
The Keweenaw Peninsula was known for copper mining from the 1840s to the late 1960s, giving the area the nickname "The Copper Country." Mining companies excavated large veins of copper. The copper in the Keweenaw Peninsula is the result of a series of volcanoes erupting and the lava flows cooling thousands of years ago.
While mining was booming in the Keweenaw, the true impact of mining on the surrounding environment wasn’t realized until later.
Some mines in the area harvested copper that was contained in basalt rock. Stamp mills pounded the rock into sand. Once the copper was removed, the rest of the sand was dumped into Lake Superior.
This dark colored sand contains trace amounts of poisonous heavy metals that impact the plant, water, and animal life.

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The Rock Cycle

The rock cycle explains how rocks change between the three different rock types: sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. Factors such as heat, and pressure have a different impact on rocks than weathering does. The rock cycle outlines what needs to happen for a rock to change to a different type.

 

The three main rock types, igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary can change if the right force is applied. Heat and pressure, weathering and erosion, and compaction and cementation can transform rock types from one to the other.

NPS

 

 

Lesson Plan

Lesson Goals

Essential Questions

• What is the rock cycle? 
• How do rocks form? 
• What are the three main categories of rocks? 
• Why is geology important? 

Enduring Understanding

• Over time rocks go through a cycle
• There are different types of rocks
• Geology impacts our lives in many ways

Objectives

• Explain how rocks change through the rock cycle
• Learn about the three main rock types
• Explain ways that geology impacts humans 

Lesson Planning

Instructional Time

•  30 minutes to 1 hour

*Activities can be done at instructor's pace
*Individual activities can be completed in one sitting or across multiple days

Recommended Materials

• Computers
• Paper
• Glue sticks
• Scissors
• Colored pencils/markers/crayons
• Gym/outdoor space

*Note: Materials depend on chosen activities

Learning Standards, Intelligences and Assessment

Learning Standards

*Note: Standards depend on chosen activities

Michigan K-12 Speaking and Listening Standards

SL4.1 - Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly. 

Michigan K-12 Language Standards

L 4.1 - Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. 
L 4.2 - Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation and spelling when writing. 

Michigan K-12 Earth Science Standards

4-ESS1-1 - Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.
4-ESS2-1 - Make observations and/or mesaurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation. 
4-ESS2-2 - Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth's features. 

Intelligences

People learn in a variety of different ways and understanding these ways can help meet the needs of learners and contribute to a successful learning environment. Howard Gardner, an American psychologist developed the idea behind people having a variety of intelligences impacting how they learn. This is referred to as Gardner's Multiple Intelligences. The activities in this lesson will focus on various different intelligences as noted in each activity. 

Assessments

Students will be able to describe the three main types of rocks and the basic steps of the rock cycle. Students will also be able to explain how geology can influence human activity. 

 

Activities

Introduction — Video
Activity Objective: Gain an understanding of what geo heritage is, why it's important, and understand the rock cycle. This activity uses visual spatial and linguistic intelligences

1. Play introductory video to the entire class
2. Hold a discussion with students after the video. Ask questions such as:
   1. What are the three types of rocks?
   2. How can you tell a sedimentary rock apart from other rocks?

 

Duration:

3 minutes, 2 seconds

Intro Video for Keweenaw Geoheritage

 

Rock Cycle Freeze and Melt Tag

Activity Objective: Learn about the rock cycle interactively through movement. Uses interpersonal and bodily kinesthetic intelligences.

1. Depending on the size of the group select a few students to be "cooling" and one student to be "heating." Hand out printed identifiers to the tagging students. Everyone else is "magma/lava"
2. The game start with lava moving around freely. The "cooling" students try to tag the "lava" students and turn them into rock. When a "lava" student is tagged by a "cooling" student they freeze.
3. The "heating" student runs around and tags the frozen students who are rocks and turns them back into lava.
4. Allow the game to proceed, if time allows switch the "cooling" and "heating" taggers.
5. After the game is over, have students turn and talk with a partner about the following, or similar questions:
   1. Why did people have to freeze when they were tagged by "cooling" students? Think about the rock cycle. (When magma/lava cools it turns into a rock.)
   2. What happens when a rock heats up really hot? (Melts and becomes magma)

 

Fill in the Blank Rock Cycle:

Activity Objective: Learn the rock cycle and the way different types of rocks are formed. Uses the visual spatial and interpersonal intelligences.

1. Organize students into pairs
2. Pass out a blank copy of the rock cycle sheet (page 2 & 3 of the rock cycle activity pdf), scissors and glue sticks
3. Have students cut out the words
4. Working together, have students fill in the blanks and glue the correct answers in.

Blank Rock Cycle Activity Sheet
Rock Cycle Key Words Activity Sheet

 

Alternative Activity Ideas:

Geologic Comic Activity:
Activity Objectives: Learn about how rocks and rock formations formed by using art to illustrate the events that happened billions of years ago. Uses the visual spatial intelligence.

1. Pass out comic templates to students.
2. Instruct students to draw and color in each box a picture or words that correspond to the following:
   1. Volcanoes
   2. Lava Flow
   3. Glaciers
   4. Melting of Glaciers
   5. Growth of Plants
   6. Present Day
3. After the students fill out their comic sheets, engage in discussion. Ask students to talk about the following or similar questions:
   1. How long do you think it took for all the stpes in the comic to happen? (billions of years)

Geologic Comic Template Activity Sheet

 

Depth of Time Activity:

Activity Objectives: Students gain understanding of geologic time through scale representations. Uses visual spatial intelligence.
The Earth is about 4.6 billion years old. This is a very long time and hard to visualize. Rocks started to form about 4.5 billion years ago.

1. Have the class stand up and stretch out their arms horizontally. Their wingspan represents the whole length of time since Earth was created. 4.6 billion years.
2. The distance from fingertip to elbow is 1 billion years.
3. One million years ago to now is represented by just the white part at the very tip of the fingernail.
4. A tiny speck of dust on the tip of the fingernail is the last 1,000 years.
5. Human have been around for around 4 million years, which is not even half of the length of a fingernail.
6. Rocks have been around for the length of your wingspan!