Mountain Building
Submitted by:Tom Walker, White City Intermediate, White City, OR
Endorsed by: These lesson plans are the result of the work of the teachers who have
attended the Columbia Education Center's Summer Workshop. CEC is a consortium of teacher
from 14 western states dedicated to improving the quality of education in the rural,
western, United States, and particularly the quality of math and science Education. CEC
uses Big Sky Telegraph as the hub of their telecommunications network that allows the
participating teachers to stay in contact with their trainers and peers that they have met
at the Workshops.
Date: May 1994
Grade Level: Grades 4 and up
OVERVIEW: This activity was a part of a series of lessons in a continuing
study of Change. It was designed to give the students hands-on experience
manipulating and controlling some of the variables in one type of Change, soil erosion.
OBJECTIVES:
1) The learners will identify variables that influence rates of change.
2) The learners will, through group consensus and using the assigned
materials, design and build what they believe to be the strongest mountain possible.
RESOURCES/MATERIALS: dish pans, potting soil, rocks, sand, water, watering can,
building plan sheets.
ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
The teacher will begin by dividing the class into seven groups.
(For the sake of saving time the terrarium study groups may be used.) The
teacher will explain to the class as a whole that their task will be to build a mountain
in their dish pan that can withstand the effects of having a watering can emptied out on
it. Two groups must use sand as their building medium, two groups must use potting
soil as their building medium, two groups must use rocks as their building medium and the
last group will be allowed to use any combination of materials that they see fit.
All the groups may use
creative extras to complete their mountains but the main structure must be made from their
assigned materials.
The groups should be allowed 10-15 minutes to come up with a
building plan before they begin.
When all groups are finished they will gather with their
mountains and under go the erosion test. The teacher will fill a watering can
and pour it over each mountain in turn. During the erosion testing each group should
share their building strategies and theories with the rest of the class.
The activity will end with a discussion and group planning
session to design the ultimate, ever-lasting mountain.
Questions to think about:
"Why did some of the mountains erode more than others?"
"What are the variables involved in the structure of a mountain?"
"How can these variables affect the rate of mountain erosion?"
"Can people change the erosion rate of a real mountain?" "How?"
"How did our mountains change during the erosion?"
"What ways did they stay the same?"
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