Geology is the study of our planet’s earth materials and natural resources. Because they are so ubiquitous and abundant, they are often taken for granted. The Soils, Rocks, and Landforms Module provides students with firsthand experiences with soils and rocks and modeling experiences using tools such as topographic maps and stream tables to engage with the anchor phenomenon of the surface of Earth’s landscape—the shape and the composition of landforms. The driving questions for the module are What are Earth’s land surface made of? and Why are landforms not the same everywhere?
This module has four investigations that focus on the phenomena that weathering by water, ice, wind, living organisms, and gravity breaks rocks into smaller pieces, erosion (water, ice, and wind) transports earth materials to new locations, and deposition is the result of that transport process that builds new land. Students conduct controlled experiments by incrementally changing specific environmental conditions to determine the impact of changing the variables of slope and amount of water in stream tables. Students interpret data from diagrams and visual representations to build explanations from evidence and make predictions of future events. They develop model mountains and represent the landforms from different perspectives to look for change. Students gain experiences that will contribute to the understanding of crosscutting concepts of patterns; cause and effect; scale, proportion, and quantity; systems and system models; structure and function; and stability and change.
The anchor phenomenon for this module is the surface of Earth’s landscape—the shape and the composition of landforms. The driving questions for the module are what are Earth’s land surfaces made of? and why are landforms not the same everywhere?
In the first investigation, students investigate soil as a surface earth–material phenomenon and ask the question How do soils form?
In Investigation 2, students investigate the phenomena of erosion and deposition of weathered earth material by flowing water, and the phenomenon of fossils found in layers of sedimentary rock. The guiding questions for this investigation are how do erosion and deposition impact landforms? and what do the locations of fossils in rock layers tell us about past life on Earth?
In Investigation 3, a volcanic mountain is the major phenomenon that students investigate as they work with models to represent and describe this surface feature on Earth and understand how volcanic mountains were formed and how they change over time. The guiding questions for the investigation are how do maps help us observe Earth’s surface features? and what might reduce the impact of catastrophic Earth surface events?
Finally, in Investigation 4, students explore the phenomenon of earth materials as natural resources. The driving questions for the module are what are Earth’s land surfaces made of? and why are landforms not the same everywhere? The guiding question for this investigations is what makes rock a natural resource and how is this resource used by people?
The documents below have been created to help consider the FOSS materials in the context of the Next Generation Science Standards. We recommend you review, at the very least, the following documents:
Unit Guide - A summary of materials, sequencing and content for the module.
Storyline - An overview of the sequencing and reasons for the various activities
Assessment - A collection of assessment tools including what to look for as students work on the activities.