Embedded Files
STEM Camp lesson
Hello everyone and welcome to STEM camp and the Land Before Time. This class is going to be structured by weeks.
Week 1: Earth Science, Geology, and Plate tectonics
Week 2: Dinosaurs
Week 3: Dinosaurs
Week 4: Dinosaur Extinction and what came after
In order to start talking about the earth's history we should start by knowing how old the earth is.
Activity: How old is the earth?
Each TA is holding a sign with an age on it. Walk around the room and find the TA holding a sign that you think represents the most accurate age of the earth, then stand with them. Now socialize! The TA will introduce themselves to you and tell you a little bit about themselves. Then each of you will introduce yourself. Say your name and some facts about yourself. For example what grade you are in, what school you attend, a hobby or sport you like to play.
TA's
-Thousands of years old
-100 million years old
-One billion years old
-A few billion years old
Since the beginning of humans we have speculated how the earth was formed. Before we had science we used myths to explain phenomena. Some of the oldest human myths are those that explain the formation of the earth.
Egyptian:
The Egyptians had many gods and used them to explain how the earth, sky, and sun came to be. The Egyptian god of earth is Geb. He is an old man with a beard and a goose on his head. Geb provided crops and food. It was his laughter that caused earthquakes. Geb fell in love with Nut the goddess of the sky. Geb and Nut got married without Re's permission. Re, the sun god was so angry that he asked their father Shu, the wind and air god to separate Geb and Nut. So now the sky is separated from the earth by air.
Aztec:
Coatlicue, whose name means "Serpent Skirt," was the Earth goddess of life and death in the Aztec mythology. Coatlicue had a horrible appearance. She was depicted as a woman wearing a skirt of snakes and a necklace of hearts torn from victims.
She also had sharp claws in her hands and feet. Coatlicue was a goddess thirsty of human sacrifices. Her husband was Mixcoatl, the cloud serpent and god of the chase.
Greek:
The ancient Greeks have Gaea, or mother earth. Gaea fell in love with Uranus, the sky god. Together they gave birth to the titans and humans. The titans gave birth to the Olympic gods, Zeus and the others.
Incas:
The Incas believed that Pachamama created the earth. Her husband was the sun god.
Mayans:
The Maya believed the Earth was flat with four corners. Each corner represented a cardinal direction. Each direction had a color: east-red; north-white; west-black; south-yellow. Green was the center.
At each corner, there was a jaguar of a different color that supported the sky. The jaguars were called bacabs.
Mayans believed the universe was divided into thirteen layers, each with its own god.
Norse:
Midgard is the realm where humans live, the Earth. It was created when the god Odin and his brothers Vili and Ve slayed the giant Ymir. In Norse mythology, the world was seen as a gigantic tree, called the World Tree or Yggdrasil, around which existed nine realms, each at a different level. The roots supported the tree and its branches shaded the world. The roots of the tree reached down into the underworld. On the surface, Midgard is surrounded by a giant serpent. Bifrost is a huge bridge connecting Midgard to Asgard, the home of the gods.
Hindu:
The trinity of creation. Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer makes a universal cycle of the world’s beginning and end.
Jewish, Christian, and Islam:
God created everything in 6 days and rested on the 7th day.
Iroquois Native Americans:
Water animals inhabited the Earth before there was land. When a Sky Woman fell from her home above they caught her and dove into the seas to bring up mud. This mud they spread onto the back of Big Turtle. There it began to grow until it became North America.
Activity: Create a Creation Story
You are going to get into small groups and create a creation story.
Here are some aspects of most creation stories
-Birth
-Mother-father
-An active and passive character
-Creation comes from either above or below
-A relationship with humans and animals
Your creation story needs to explain how the earth was formed. Then you will draw a picture depicting your creation story. Once you are done we will take a break. After the break we will share our stories with the class.
Lesson one: How was the earth formed?
The universe began as a ball of gas. Gravity crushed the gas into a flat disc. As the gas pulled in on itself and condensed stars and suns were created. The heat waves of our sun pushed gases away. Heavier atoms and molecules clumped together creating rock. Those rocks collected and stayed close to the suns gravitational pull. These rocks become the planets in our solar system. One of these rocks was early earth.
Another planet called Theia crashed into early earth called Gaia. The two planets together made earth. This explains why earth has a much larger core than any other planet its size. The debris from Theia ended up forming the moon.
Video:
Demonstration: Heat Rises
-Demo of hot water and cold water in beakers
-This is what happens with the earths mantle and why we have volcanoes.
-The liquid mantle heats up and rises to the crust sometimes pushing its way through as a volcano.
-The convection currents are what push the continental plates.
Plate Tectonics or Continental Drift
Activity:
Volcano in a Cup
-Beaker
-Sand
-Wax
-Hot Plate
Geology
Geology
Activity: Make our own Borax Crystals
Fill a beaker with water and bring it to a boil. Then begin to pour in borax. Continue to stir and add borax until the solution can no longer handle any more borax (this means that the borax powder begins to collect at the bottom of the beaker. Then add your food coloring. Then add your pipe cleaner ball on a string. Let it sit until tomorrow.
Igneous Rocks
Igneous Rocks
Igneous rocks are formed from the solidification of molten rock material. There are two basic types.
Intrusive igneous rocks crystallize below Earth's surface, and the slow cooling that occurs there allows large crystals to form. Examples of intrusive igneous rocks are diorite, gabbro, granite, pegmatite, and peridotite.
Extrusive igneous rocks erupt onto the surface, where they cool quickly to form small crystals. Some cool so quickly that they form an amorphous glass. These rocks include andesite, basalt, dacite, obsidian, pumice, rhyolite, scoria, and tuff.
Pictures and brief descriptions of some common igneous rock types are shown on this page.
Basalt is a fine-grained, dark-colored extrusive igneous rock composed mainly of plagioclase and pyroxene. The specimen shown is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
Diorite is a coarse-grained, intrusive igneous rock that contains a mixture of feldspar, pyroxene, hornblende, and sometimes quartz. The specimen shown above is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
Pegmatite is a light-colored, extremely coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock. It forms near the margins of a magma chamber during the final phases of magma chamber crystallization. It often contains rare minerals that are not found in other parts of the magma chamber. The specimen shown above is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
Obsidian is a dark-colored volcanic glass that forms from the very rapid cooling of molten rock material. It cools so rapidly that crystals do not form. The specimen shown above is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
Pumice is a light-colored vesicular igneous rock. It forms through very rapid solidification of a melt. The vesicular texture is a result of gas trapped in the melt at the time of solidification. The specimen shown above is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
Peridotite is a coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock that is composed almost entirely of olivine. It may contain small amounts of amphibole, feldspar, quartz, or pyroxene. The specimen shown above is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
Fire Opal is sometimes found filling cavities in rhyolite. Long after the rhyolite has cooled, silica-rich ground water moves through the rock, sometimes depositing gems like opal, red beryl, topaz, jasper, or agate in the cavities of the rock. This is one of many excellent geological photographs generously shared through a Creative Commons License by Didier Descouens.
Welded Tuff is a rock that is composed of materials that were ejected from a volcano, fell to Earth, and then lithified into a rock. It is usually composed mainly of volcanic ash and sometimes contains larger size particles such as cinders. The specimen shown above is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
Metamorphic Rocks
Metamorphic Rocks
Metamorphic rocks have been modified by heat, pressure, and chemical processes, usually while buried deep below Earth's surface. Exposure to these extreme conditions has altered the mineralogy, texture, and chemical composition of the rocks.
There are two basic types of metamorphic rocks. Foliated metamorphic rocks such as gneiss, phyllite, schist, and slate have a layered or banded appearance that is produced by exposure to heat and directed pressure.
Non-foliated metamorphic rocks such as hornfels, marble, quartzite, and novaculite do not have a layered or banded appearance. Pictures and brief descriptions of some common types of metamorphic rocks are shown on this page.
Hornfels is a fine-grained nonfoliated metamorphic rock with no specific composition. It is produced by contact metamorphism. Hornfels is a rock that was "baked" while near a heat source such as a magma chamber, sill, or dike. The specimen shown above is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
Novaculite is a dense, hard, fine-grained, siliceous rock that breaks with a conchoidal fracture. It forms from sediments deposited in marine environments where organisms such as diatoms (single-celled algae that secrete a hard shell composed of silicon dioxide) are abundant in the water. The specimen shown above is about three inches across.
Lapis Lazuli, the famous blue gem material, is actually a metamorphic rock. Most people are surprised to learn that, so we added it to this photo collection as a surprise. Blue rocks are rare, and we bet that it captured your eye. The round objects in the photo are lapis lazuli beads about 9/16 inch (14 millimeters) in diameter. Image copyright iStockPhoto / RobertKacpura.
Schist is a metamorphic rock with well-developed foliation. It often contains significant amounts of mica which allow the rock to split into thin pieces. It is a rock of intermediate metamorphic grade between phyllite and gneiss. The specimen shown above is a "chlorite schist" because it contains a significant amount of chlorite. It is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
Soapstone is a metamorphic rock that consists primarily of talc with varying amounts of other minerals such as micas, chlorite, amphiboles, pyroxenes, and carbonates. It is a soft, dense, heat-resistant rock that has a high specific heat capacity. These properties make it useful for a wide variety of architectural, practical, and artistic uses.
Sedimentary Rocks
Sedimentary Rocks
Sedimentary rocks are formed by the accumulation of sediments. There are three basic types of sedimentary rocks.
Clastic sedimentary rocks such as breccia, conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, and shale are formed from mechanical weathering debris.
Chemical sedimentary rocks, such as rock salt, iron ore, chert, flint, some dolomites, and some limestones, form when dissolved materials precipitate from solution.
Organic sedimentary rocks such as coal, some dolomites, and some limestones, form from the accumulation of plant or animal debris.
Photos and brief descriptions of some common sedimentary rock types are shown on this page.
Coal is an organic sedimentary rock that forms mainly from plant debris. The plant debris usually accumulates in a swamp environment. Coal is combustible and is often mined for use as a fuel. The specimen shown above is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
Chert is a microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline sedimentary rock material composed of silicon dioxide (SiO2). It occurs as nodules and concretionary masses, and less frequently as a layered deposit. It breaks with a conchoidal fracture, often producing very sharp edges. Early people took advantage of how chert breaks and used it to fashion cutting tools and weapons. The specimen shown above is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
Conglomerate is a clastic sedimentary rock that contains large (greater than two millimeters in diameter) rounded particles. The space between the pebbles is generally filled with smaller particles and/or a chemical cement that binds the rock together. The specimen shown above is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
Flint is a hard, tough, chemical or biochemical sedimentary rock that breaks with a conchoidal fracture. It is a form of microcrystalline quartz that is typically called “chert” by geologists. It often forms as nodules in sedimentary rocks such as chalk and marine limestones.
Limestone is a rock that is composed primarily of calcium carbonate. It can form organically from the accumulation of shell, coral, algal, and fecal debris. It can also form chemically from the precipitation of calcium carbonate from lake or ocean water. Limestone is used in many ways. Some of the most common are: production of cement, crushed stone, and acid neutralization. The specimen shown above is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
Rock Salt is a chemical sedimentary rock that forms from the evaporation of ocean or saline lake waters. It is also known by the mineral name "halite." It is rarely found at Earth's surface, except in areas of very arid climate. It is often mined for use in the chemical industry or for use as a winter highway treatment. Some halite is processed for use as a seasoning for food. The specimen shown above is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
Oil Shale is a rock that contains significant amounts of organic material in the form of kerogen. Up to 1/3 of the rock can be solid organic material. Liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons can be extracted from the oil shale, but the rock must be heated and/or treated with solvents. This is usually much less efficient than drilling rocks that will yield oil or gas directly into a well. The processes used for hydrocarbon extraction also produce emissions and waste products that cause significant environmental concerns.
Shale is a clastic sedimentary rock that is made up of clay-size (less than 1/256 millimeter in diameter) weathering debris. It typically breaks into thin flat pieces. The specimen shown above is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock made up mainly of sand-size (1/16 to 2 millimeter diameter) weathering debris. Environments where large amounts of sand can accumulate include beaches, deserts, flood plains, and deltas. The specimen shown above is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
Siltstone is a clastic sedimentary rock that forms from silt-size (between 1/256 and 1/16 millimeter diameter) weathering debris. Specimens in the photo are about two inches (five centimeters) across.
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