Science
Grade: 9th
SCI.V.1.1
Strand V:
Using Scientific Knowledge in Earth Science
Standard 1:
Geosphere - All students will describe and explain how the
earth’s features change over time
Benchmark 1:
Explain the surface features of the Great Lakes region using Ice
Age theory.
Constructing and Reflecting:
SCI.I.1.4 – Gather and synthesize information from books and other sources of information.
SCI.I.1.5 – Discuss topics in groups by making clear presentations, restating or summarizing what others have
said, asking for clarification or elaboration, taking alternative perspectives, and defending a position.
SCI.II.1.1 – Justify plans or explanations on a theoretical or empirical basis.
SCI.II.1.3 – Show how common themes of science, mathematics and technology apply in real world contexts.
SCI.II.1.4 – Discuss the historical development of key scientific concepts and principles.
Vocabulary
Context
•
Moraines
Local examples in Michigan of glacial formations:
•
Kettles
•
Drumlins
•
Relief map
•
Ice Age
•
Till
•
Glacial erratics
•
Striations
•
Elevation map
•
Topographic map
•
Geological map
•
Moraines
•
Kettles
•
Drumlins
•
Great Lakes
Resources
Knowledge and Skills
Students will:
• Explain moraines and till which are deposits of
unsorted sediments
•
Explain glacial scratches (striations) left on
bedrock
•
Explain kettle lakes: depressions in glacial
deposits left by melting ice blocks, later filled
with water
•
Explain parallel arrangement of moraines and
Great Lakes’ shorelines
•
Explain erratics: large boulders, mostly of
igneous or metamorphic origin, which are
deposited in areas of mostly sedimentary
bedrock
•
Hypothesize what climatic changes may have
occurred to produce ice ages
Coloma Resources:
Glencoe Science Notebook
CH 2 Mapping Our World
CH 8.3 Glaciers
CH 14.1 What Is Climate
CH 14.2 Climate Classification
CH 14.3 Climatic Changes
CH 7.1 Weathering
CH 7.2 Erosion & Depositon
CH 8.1 Massmovement
CH 8.2 Wind
Glencoe Lab 2.1 – Modeling Topograpic Maps
Glencoe Lab 8.2 – Analysis of Glacial Till
Other Resources:
• Michigan Teacher Network Resources
• The Michigan DEQ geology page dealing with
Michigan’s glacial history
• Glacier Home Page: basic information on the origin,
location, and characteristics of glaciers.
Other Resources: (continued from column at right)
• Winters, H. Uncovering Michigan. A 35-slide glacial
slide show. 1999. Available from Michigan Earth
Science Teachers Association ($28)
• The Great Ice Age: from the USGS detailing the ice
advances during the Pleistocene Epoch.
• Scope Unit – Earth Changers
• All About Glaciers.
Videoconferences Available
For more information, see www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl or
call Janine Lim 471-7725x101 or email
jlim@remc11.k12.mi.us
V.1.HS.1
Ice Age from the Cranbrook Institute of Science
(shares local examples in MI)
• Links to Glacier sites, including images and the
world glacier inventory – McCully Web
• Dorr & Eschman, Geology of Michigan. Ann Arbor
Press, 1970.
• Jason: A Great Lakes Curriculum. NSTA, 1990.
• Weinle, Art, “Michigan Moraines.” A classroomready worksheet with map. Available from
artweinle@home.com
Instruction
Benchmark Question: What surface
evidence found in the Great Lakes region
supports Ice Age theory?
Focus Question: How does the location of
moraines in the Great Lakes region support
Ice Age theory?
The teacher will show evidence that morainal
deposits are found all over the Great Lakes
region, sometimes in the form of hills. By
reviewing processes of erosion/deposition,
students will infer that glaciers and mass
wasting are the only common processes that
leave unsorted deposits.
Mass wasting is eliminated, because these
unsorted deposits are found on the tops of
hills.
Students will trace moraines on a
topographical map and observe that moraines
have a similar shape to Great Lake
shorelines. (Shorelines and glacial deposits
are created by very different processes) On
the same map, students will identify the
position and direction of major ice lobes
Assessment
Using as many examples as possible, each student
will prepare and deliver a speech to convince an
interested friend, who hasn’t had Earth Science, that
continental glaciers once covered Michigan.
Corresponds to standard I.1.5, I.1.4, & I.2.1
Students may include a well-labeled illustration.
Five examples of evidence supporting Ice Age theory:
• The deposit of unsorted sediments (till) all over
Michigan could only have been left behind by
glaciers, since mass wasting cannot operate near
hilltops.
• Parallel scratches on bedrock were created when
glaciers dragged rock against rock.
• Kettle lakes are depressions formed in glacial
deposits created by melting ice blocks.
• Moraine ridges are generally parallel to Great
Lakes shorelines, suggesting that ice advanced
out of lake basins.
• Large boulders of igneous or metamorphic origin
left in sedimentary regions (erratics) are too large
and widespread to have been moved any other
way.
(Give students rubric before activity.)
Research Report on one the Great Lakes
Criteria
Apprentice Basic
Meets
Exceeds
Explanation
of
relationship
s between
surface
feature and
glaciation
Explains
the relationship for one
to three
examples
of
evidence.
Explains
the
relation
ship for
five
example
s of
evidence
.
Explains and
illustrates the
relationship for
five examples
of evidence.
Explains
the
relationship for
four
examples
of
evidence.
Teacher Notes:
Describe and explain how the earth's features change over time.
As students gain understanding, they start to explore the dynamics of the geosphere. They come to
realize that the earth's features are constantly changing, some of these changes are immediate and
some take eons. Wind and water erode away mountains and hills. Ice and heat break apart rocks.
Rivers cut new valleys and dams form new lakes. Volcanoes and earthquakes form new mountains
and hills. Wind and water combine to build sand dunes and then turn around and erode them away.
The forces that work to change the surface of the earth in this continuing dynamic are tremendous and
sometime even catastrophic. A volcano can explosively form a mountain or island in a matter of hours,
while rivers can take decades to carve out valleys.
The evidence for these changes is abundant. By studying rock layers, and fossils, (i.e., mineralized
replacements or casts of ancient life forms), students learn the history of the geosphere. They discover
that these fossils are found in many places, and that rock layers can become inverted. Marine plants
and animals are found on mountaintops and in limestone deposits in the Great Lakes area. Creatures
from rain forests have left fossilized remains in current deserts, and plains animals are found in frozen
in artic ice. From road cuts they will see how the earth is folded to a point where layers of rock are
reversed. In the Great Lakes Basin they observe a history that goes from salt-water seas, to inland
swamps, to high plateaus, to the largest collection of fresh water on the planet.
Students will continue to gain understanding of the geosphere as they discover that similar processes
form rocks and minerals. They will learn of the tremendous amount of heat and pressure involved in
their formation. They will also observe how changes in temperature from melting to freezing and vise
versa changes big features into little ones. Rocks are fractured through this process. Water in small
cracks and crevices of rocks can freeze, expanding as it freezes and breaking the rock into small
pieces. Students will notice how microorganisms help turn rocks into soil, and how they turn organic
materials back into minerals, thus returning needed materials to the earth.
With the help of media presentations about volcanoes and earthquakes, students will observe the
movement of the Earth's crust. This will lead to an understanding of the dynamics of the earth's
interior- its core, a dynamic that can build mountains. From this knowledge of the fluidity, tremendous
heat and pressure that are involved in the dynamics of the earth's core, comes an understanding of
what leads scientists to theorize the movement of plates in the earth, the study of plate tectonics.