Four Authentic Tasks

Heather Sanderson

Eastern Connecticut State University

Four Authentic Plate Tectonic Tasks

Authentic Task #1: Plate Tectonics Modeling

My objective is to have the students create a 3 dimensional plate tectonic landform which shows the process by which the landform was created. By creating a 3-dimensional cross section model of a landform, the student is demonstrating that they understand the geological processes responsible for the creation of the plate tectonic feature they are assigned. Another objective of this project is to have the students politely critique the projects of their classmates and while doing so they are learning about all of the plate tectonic features, not just the one they created. This project also allows for the student to use the critiques they received to improve their models which is a big part of the next generation standards. My anticipated outcome is for the students for them to understand the processes that create all of the different plate tectonic features. One unanticipated outcome may be that some students will feel intimidated by some of the elaborate projects since the building of the model is done entirely at home. Fortunately they are allowed to improve their projects after seeing all of the completed models.

Name ________________________________ Date ____________________ Class _________

Plate Tectonics Modeling

In this activity you will be creating a 3 dimensional model of a plate tectonics feature. Once your model is complete you will present the model to the class.

Your model must be one of the following tectonic features:

* Normal Fault

* Strike Slip Fault

* Reverse Fault

* Shield Volcano

* Cinder Volcano

* Composite Volcano/Stratovolcano

* Anticline/Syncline

* Mid-Ocean Ridge

* Deep Ocean Trench

* Mountain Range

Your model must convey the following:

* Demonstrate how the tectonic feature is formed and any process involved

* Must be a cross-sectional view

* Must demonstrate how the activity in the asthenosphere affects the tectonic feature

* Must identify the type of stress involved in the formation of feature. (compression, tension, or shearing)

* Must identify where on earth your feature would form (plate boundary/inside plate)

* Must provide a specific example on earth of your tectonic feature

Once your model is created it will be put on display for a gallery walk where your classmates can make recommendations for improvements to your model. You will have one day to make improvements then you will be presenting your model to the class.

Plate tectonics modeling research

Explain how your feature is formed

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Draw a cross sectional view of your feature. (Include what is happening in the asthenosphere to make your feature happen)

What type of stress is involved in forming your feature? (Compression, tension, or shearing) ______________________________

Where on earth would your feature form? (Plate boundary/inside plate) ________________________________

Specific example of where on earth we could see your tectonic feature. ______________________________________

Plate Tectonics Modeling Rubric

Item Possible Score Score

3-D Model 30 ________

Cross Sectional View 5 ________

Process involved in formation described 10 ________

Stress/arrows included 5 ________

Labels on important parts 5 ________

Effort 5 ________

No Errors 5 ________

Total Score ______________/65

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Authentic Task #2: Pangea Puzzle

The objective of this project is to use the fossil and geologic evidence to reconstruct what Pangea looked like 250 million years ago. Another objective of this project is for the students to accurately identify what evidence is and whether or not the evidence presented supports the theory of continental drift. One of the standards of the new NGSS curriculum requires students to construct scientific explanations based on evidence which I feel this project does in a fun and relatable way. An anticipated outcome of this project is that the students understand that through the matching of fossil and geologic evidence we can understand what earth looked like 250 million years ago. One unanticipated outcome may be that putting together of the puzzle pieces can be slightly difficult for some and they may become frustrated. They will need to focus and be flexible trying a few different configurations to get it correct.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Authentic Task #3: Building an Earthquake Resistant Structure

The objective of this project is for my students to demonstrate their ability to follow specific criteria and constraints to build an earthquake proof structure using the building support techniques they learned about in their research on earthquake resistant structures. This real world problem solving engineering project follows the new NGSS standards for middle school engineering design. The anticipated outcome is a three story earthquake resistant structure that comes in under budget. The unanticipated outcome is that some students may run out of money in their budget and will be unable to finish their 3 story building. Another unanticipated outcome may be the failure of their design to stand up therefore it will not be able to be tested on the earthquake simulator table.

Earthquake House Engineering Task

Background: An earthquake is a reminder to us that the Earth’s crust moves. When crust along a fault moves an earthquake can occur. The shaking of earth from an earthquake can cause severe structural damage to buildings. Most earthquake related deaths are caused by damage to buildings or other structures such as bridges.

Task: The city of San Francisco has given you $10,000 and a plot of land to build your 3 story earthquake resistant building. Each story must be a minimum of 16 cm high, contain a floor for each story and a roof, and have a length and width between 19cm x 19cm and 22cm x 22cm. You must have at least 3 stories. You must pay yourself and each worker $200 a day. The building must also include 3 components we learned from the earthquake resistant building research.

Tips:

· Be prepared for tomorrow. Do not waste time each day figuring out what you need to buy. You should know in advance.

· Watch your budget carefully. The costs add up quick.

· Use materials in unique ways

· Arguing will not help. In fact it can hurt your grade.

· Soft materials can be cut

To hand in:

· Earthquake house building research packet

· Earthquake engineering journal

· Detailed architectural drawing of your building

o To scale

o Labeled

o Neat (use a ruler)

· Checks

Name __________________________________ Date ____________________________ Period _________

Shake, Rattle, and Roll Engineering Journal

Step 1: Identify the problem

What is the problem you are solving through the engineering process?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 2: Identify the criteria and constraints involved.

Criteria (need 3)

Constraints (need 3)

Step 3: Brainstorm possible solutions

Draw and label 2 detailed designs which you think would prevent your house from being damaged during an earthquake

Step 4: Select a design by combining the best ideas from your group.

Draw your house below and label all materials used.

Step 5: Build a prototype

Step 6: Test the prototype by gently shaking on your lab table and evaluate results.

List the strengths of your design: (need 3 for strength and weakness!)

__________________________________________________________

List the weaknesses of your design:

__________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

Discuss what changes have to be made to your design to solve the problem.

Step 7: Refine the design (must have 3)

Identify the changes you made to design Reason for the changes made

_________________________________________ ____________________________________

Step 8: Share the Solution

Draw a detailed design of final house design. Be sure to include metric measurements, scale used, and label all materials used. Drawing must be done on graph paper and be to scale. Staple scaled drawing to packet.

Also list the 3 techniques you used from researching earthquake resistant housing and where you used them.

Technique used

Where did you use it?

Scaled Drawing ___________/5

Drawing of building is accurately to scale; pencil and ruler are used; all materials are labeled

Drawing of building is somewhat to scale; pencil and ruler are used; most materials are labeled.

Drawing of building is not to scale, but is draw with a ruler; some materials are labeled.

3-2

Drawing of building is not drawn to scale, ruler and/or pencil are not used; few materials are labeled.

0-1

Budget ___________/4

Group stays within budget. 4

Group is up to $100 over budget. 3

Group $100- $500 over budget. 2

Group is more than $500-$1000 over budget. 1

Group is more than $1000 over budget. 0

Model ___________/6

3 stories, Height 15cm per story, length and width in range

1 requirement under code.

2-3 requirements under code.

4-5 requirements under code.

6+ requirements under code

Earthquake resistant house ___________/6

Survives Minor Earthquake

Survives Moderate Earthquake

Survives Major Earthquake but piece fell off or building cracked.

Survives Major Earthquake. No damage at all.

Research Packet _____________/5

Engineering Journal _____________/21

Checks _____________/1

Project Grade _______________/ 48

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Authentic Task #4: Travel through Earth’s History

The objective of this project is for the students to get an in depth knowledge of the scale and details involved in earth’s geological history. In order to achieve this objective each event is placed to scale in accordance with the date it occurred throughout the halls of the school. Scale is one of the 7 crosscutting concepts of the new science framework. Each event posted in the hall contains a QR code that links the student with a video or an article about the event they are responsible for recording. Once all the events are documented in their record book they need to revisit the events and determine which ten events are the most significant in Earth’s history and create their own timeline of those 10 events. An anticipated outcome is for the students to get a feel for the tremendous time scale involved in Earth’s history by walking through the events posted. I also expect for them to thoroughly synthesize the information they recorded to determine which events are very significant and which are minor events. An unanticipated outcome is the students feeling overwhelmed by the amount of information they need to look through to understand the history of the earth.

Name __________________________________________

Travel through Time

Record Book

You will record observations, answer questions, and summarize information from the time periods marked. Each pin point in time is an EVENT…there are almost 50. ALWAYS include: Date, title of event, and answer your task completely!!

#1 In The Beginning _______________________ (DATE)

Nebula is __________________________________________________________________

What do you observe here? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#2 _____________ bya

_______________________________________ (Event title)

1. Why are planetesimals important to science?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. What are planetesimals?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. What does the theory state?

#3Planetesimals Grow up to form Protoplanets

Planetesimals are large enough to attract material through gravity.

Terrestrial planets form

______________________________, __________________________________, _____________________________, _________________________________ form in the hot inner solar system.

Gas Giants Form

______________________________, ______________________________, ___________________________, ____________________________ form in the cooler, outer solar system.

Pluto Forms

Pluto, our ninth planet, is considered by some to be more related to the objects in the Kuiper Belt, a band of rocky icy bodies that lie beyond Neptune’s orbit.

Solar System Cleaned Up

“Leftover” in the solar nebula are blown into the outer solar system when nuclear fusion gets going in our Sun.

Formation of Rocks in Space….________________________________

Formation of Dirty Snowballs in Space…____________________________________

#4 ________________bya

________________________________________

What is the evidence collected by scientists?

______________________________________________________________________________________

Earth was hit by ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Magma Ocean on the Moon!

The coming together of the particles forming our Moon created heat-enough heat to melt the outer layer of the moon.

#5 ___________________bya

________________________________________________

Early Earth was HOT! Eventually the _______________________________________________cooled, forming a crust. This crust was probably a bit like our ocean crust today. Ocean crust today is mostly composed of? _________________________________ (google this)

#6 ____________________bya

Oldest Moon Rocks

The moon’s magma oceans cooled, allowing a crust to form. Apollo Astronauts collected Moon rocks from some of this ancient crust. Moon rocks are mostly composed of? ____________________________________________________ (google this)

#7 ___________________bya

Volcanoes spewed gases-including water vapor-into the atmosphere. When things cooled down enough ________________________________________________________________________________. Formation of Earth’s Early Atmosphere and Oceans.

#8 3.7 bya

Mercury Chills Out

This small planet becomes geologically ________________________________.

#9 ______________________________ bya

________________________________________________

Early Mars may have had an ocean in its northern hemisphere. Features interpreted to be ancient river valleys are carved into the surface of Mars, suggesting the presence of water.

Evidence from this article is: ________________________________________________________________________________________

#10 4.0 bya

____________________________________________________

Continental crust (land) had formed by this time. Samples from Australia have been dated to be as od as 4.4 billion years!

#11 ___________bya

______________________________________________________

Asteroids continue to strike Earth and the other planets, but not as frequently.

#12 _____________________bya

_______________________________________________________

Scientists are debating the fossil evidence and chemical signatures suggested as indicators of life at this time.

#13 3.5 bya

________________________________________________________

While the Moon has been geologically inactive for many millions of years, the youngest volcanic flows are about 1 billion years old.

#14 _____________________bya

__________________________________________________________

In other words, things were calming down on Earth and

____________________________________________________________________________________

4.6-4bya-no geological record on _________________________-sometimes called the Hadean Eon

Earth formed about _________________________(most meteorites and oldest moon rocks are of this age, though there are no surviving rocks from Earth of this age)

Early Earth was very hot from _________________________________________________________________ from meteor bombardment, and from 5 times as much radioactive decay as there is today

No remnants of early Earth surface because of _________________________________________________________________, subduction, and meteor bombardment as Earth continued to grow by collisions

Early crust was probably ultramafic (komatite) because early Earth was so hot that the ultramafic mantle could melt completely or to a high degree, thereby yielding an ultramafic melt which rose to the __________________________________________________ ; today the Earth is much cooler and the ultramafic mantle can only melt to a small degree (1-10%) yielding mafic and felsic magma

In other words, things were calming down on Earth and _______________________________________________________________________________

#15 ______________________bya

Atmosphere

Pleases follow slides 1-4

Photosynthetic organisms were pumping oxygen into the atmosphere.

Take bulleted notes from slides below (at least 1 fact from each slide)

· _______________________________________________________________________________

· ______________________________________________________________________________________

#16 3.0bya

First Undisputed Fossils (Single-Celled Organisms)

The first organisms were ___________________________________________________________________________________________ that do not have membrane-bound nucleus. The first fossils we find are __________________________________-pillar-like structures made of thin layers of sediment and photosynthetic cyanobacteria.

Foreshadowing…… Photosynthetic organisms add oxygen to our atmosphere

Earth’s Moon Becomes Geologically Inactive

Okay, except for occasional volcanism….

#17 ___________________bya

Floods on Mars!

Water trapped beneath the Martian surface ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#18_______________________bya

First Eukaryotes

Single-celled organisms, Eukaryotes are more complex than ___________________ and have a ______________________ and ______________________________________________ (mitochondria). DNA is held within nucleus. Unlike prokaryotes, eukaryotes recombine DNA when they reproduce-there are many more opportunities for genetic diversity.

#19 ___________________bya

First Ice Age

What did geologists observe that indicated an Ice Age had occurred?

· ______________________________________________________________________________________

#20 2.2 bya

Significant available ______________________________________ in atmosphere

1. Significant available O2 in the atmosphere

Oxygen had been building up via photosynthesizing organisms, but chemical processes used most of it.

2. Formation of ozone shield

As oxygen became more abundant in the atmosphere:

#21 _____________________________bya

First slime molds EEEEEWWWW-Cool!!

Looks like ___________________________________________________________________________________

#22 __________________________________bya

Oldest Texas Rocks

900 million years ago

Tallest Volcano in our Solar System Begins to Form Olympus Mons

Olympus Mons, 22 kilometers (14 miles) high, began forming. Some lava flows are so fresh that they might be younger than 1 million years. If Olympus Mons were on Earth, it would almost fill the entire state of Arizona.

Olympus Mons is on ______________________________ (google this)

#23 _____________________ mya

First Shells!!!

What do they look like?

________________________________________________________________________________________________

#24 550 mya

Ediacaran fauna (list 3 things you learned)

· _________________________________________________________________________________________

#25 _______________ mya

The supercontinent _____________________________ forms

#26 ____________________mya

Earliest Chordates

Organisms with: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#27 510 mya (Watch you tube video rare fossils of ancient trilobites)

Trilobites (list 2 important facts)

· ___________________________________________________________________________________________

#28 400 mya

Action on Venus

Read through to the summary section.

What is the dominant process for shaping the landscape of Venus? _______________________________

How do the volcanoes on Venus compare to those on Earth? _________________________________________________

#29A 370 mya

First _______________________________

· _________________________________________________________________________________________

#30 370 mya

First________________________________________

· _________________________________________________________________________________________

#31 310 mya Jurassic

Is a Real Life Jurassic park possible? Explain.

Where would the genetic code come from? __________________________________________

Why? ____________________________________________________________________________________________

#31 B First _______________________________

· _________________________________________________________________________________________

And

First _______________________________

· _________________________________________________________________________________________

First reptiles and first dinosaurs

· _________________________________________________________________________

#32 220 mya

Triassic Period

· _________________________________________________________________________________________

#33 200mya

What was Earth like 200 million years ago?

· _______________________________________________________________

#34 200mya

What happens to Saturn? _________________________________________________________

#35 155 mya

First (Undisputed) Birds (Archaeopteryx)

· ________________________________________

#36 ~100 mya

What is going on with the moon?

· _________________________________________________________________________________________

#36B ___________ mya

First __________________________________(_____________________________________)

· _________________________________________________________________________________________

#37 Big Event 65 mya

_______________________________________________________________________

How was the impact discovered? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What was the evidence? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What happened during the impact?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

And the winners are THE MAMMALS!!!!!

#38 55mya

________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#39 ________________ mya

_________________________________________________

Asia does what??

__________________________________________________________________________

#40 ~45 mya

___________________________________________________________________________

#41 30mya

_________________________________________________________________

· _________________________________________________________________________________________

#42 The Grand Canyon!!!

· ___________________________________________________________________________________________

#43B 5-10mya

Uplift of the Colorado Plateau Initiated

The Grand Canyon is young geologically! As the plateau __________________, rivers cut down deeper and deeper forming the ________________________.

View and describe the landscape found here:

· _________________________________________________________________________________________

#44C 5-10 mya

Giant Armadillos!!!!

· _________________________________________________________________________________________

#45D 500,000 years ago

First human use of fire!!!

What was the evidence that proved this? _____________________________________________________________________________________________

Where was this evidence found? _____________________________________________________________________________________________

#46 150,000-200,000 years ago

__________________________________________________________________

How does life on earth evolve from here?

· _________________________________________________________________________________________

#47 The Cenozoic Era

· ____________________________________________________________________________________

#48 __________________________ B.C.

The world’s oldest ___________________________________________________

· ___________________________________________________________________________________

· ____________________________________________________________________________________

#49 30-40 years ago

__________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

Earth’s History Timeline

You will construct a timeline of earth’s history. You must read through your travel through time record book and decide which 10 events are the most significant in Earth’s history and place them on a timeline.

Your timeline must include the following

· Title of the event

· Date of the event

· Picture of the event (may be drawn or printed out)

· Short description of the event

Make sure your timeline is in chronological order

Earth’s History Timeline Rubric

Exceptional

4 points

Satisfactory

3-2 points

Needs work

1-0 points

Chronological Order

All events are in chronological order

1-2 events are out of chronological order

3-2

More than 2 events are out of chronological order

1-0

Title, date, picture

All titles, dates, and pictures are included

1-2 titles, dates, or events are missing

3-2

More than 2 titles, dates, or pictures are missing

1-0

Description

All descriptions are accurate and informative

Some descriptions are inaccurate or lacking in detail

3-2

Many descriptions are inaccurate or lacking in detail

1-0

Effort

Great effort was displayed in completion of detailed, accurate timeline

Satisfactory effort was displayed in completion of detailed, accurate timeline

3-2

More effort was needed in completion of detailed, accurate timeline

1-0

Accurate completion of timeline packet 48 points (1 point for each event) _______

Geologic Timeline Project Grade ___________ / 64 Points

Resources

NSTA (National Science Teachers Association. (2014). Continental Drift Activity. Retrieved from https://ngss.nsta.org/Resource.aspx?ResourceID=140

Google Sites

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