Lesson 1 Assessments (1) Solving a Mystery Directions 1. Using the Student Reference Sheet, try to solve the mystery being presented. 2. Someone forgot to turn off the lights in the school last night. The last person is the culprit. 3. Use the clues from the Student Reference Sheet and the prints left in the image to solve. 4. Determine the order of events and record them. 5. Declare who left the lights on and explain your reasoning. First _____________________ _____________________ _____________________ _____________________ _____________________ Last Who left the lights on? Explain your reasoning. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Rubric Grade Earned (1-4) _____ 4 3 2 1 Student will be able to demonstrate the ability to recognize the correct order and then explain their reasoning for the culprit. Student will be able to explain their reasoning for the culprit properly but did not identify the correct order for people leaving the school. Student was able to identify the correct order of people leaving the school but could not explain the reasoning for the culprit. Student was not able to identify the correct order for people leaving the school and did not provide an explanation for their culprit. Student Reference Sheet Who Left Last? Clues The principal drives a car. The coach walks to work. The security guard has a guard dog. The science teacher rides a bike. The band director rides a motorcycle. (2) Relative Dating and the Law of Superposition Activity Before scientists were able to determine the age of rocks by chemical tests, they had to rely on relative age dating. This technique places geologic events in the order of their appearance in the rock layers. In general, sediments and rocks are deposited horizontally so each rock layer is older than the layers above it. This is known as the Law of Superposition. If fossils are present in the rocks, they can be used to connect rock layers across large distances. Geologic processes such as folding, faulting, erosion, and the intrusion of magma can sometimes move rocks. By looking at all of the rock layers and the events that occurred, we can determine the order of events and determine the age of rock layers relative to the rocks around them. Procedure Part 1 1. One student in your group should place one hand in the center of the table. 2. Another student in the group should place one hand on top of the other student’s hand. 3. This should continue until everyone’s hands are stacked in the center of the table. Answer the following questions. a. Which student’s hand was the oldest? b. How do you know? c. Which student’s hand was the youngest? d. How do you know? Part 2 1. Look at the Student Reference Sheet: What Happened First? 2. Determine and write the order of events. 3. Answer the following questions. a. Which layers were moved by the fault? b. Did the magma intrude before or after the fault moved? c. What was the first event to happen? d. Which is the youngest layer? Grade Earned (1-4) 4 3 2 1 ______ Student was able to analyze the events in both procedures for superposition and explain their reasoning. Student was able to analyze the events of both procedures for superposition but could not provide reasoning. Student was able to analyze the first procedure but not could apply the same law to the second scientific procedure. Student was not able to analyze the events in both procedures for superposition and could not provide reasoning. Student Reference Sheet: What Happened First? D is an igneous intrusion - where magma left a magma chamber and heads upward. E is a fault where there is a fracture in the rock and movement, or an earthquake, occurred. (3) Claim-Evidence-Reasoning Please answer the question in paragraph form utilizing the relevant vocabulary. The image below is a cross-section of an area of the crust. Write a scientific explanation that compares the relative ages of all fossils. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Grade Earned (1-4) 4 3 2 1 _____ Student was able to explain the correct order of the events in the cross section and incorporated the proper vocabulary. Student was able to explain the correct order of the events but did not incorporate relevant vocabulary into their answer. Student was able to demonstrate an order to their answer but did not incorporate reasoning or vocabulary. Student was not able to provide an explanation for the relative ages and did not involve any vocabulary. Lesson 2 Assessments (1) Trilobite Mystery Activity 1. Obtain a line map of Earth from your teacher. 2. Use a globe or classroom world map to find the locations of trilobite fossils listed below. 3. Mark each location on your line map with a T. a. Answer the following questions: How widespread are the trilobite fossils? ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Trilobites lived in shallow coastal waters or lakes. Do you think the trilobites could have traveled from one location to another? ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ What could explain the presence of their fossils in such diverse parts of the world? ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Trilobite Fossil Locations: Northern Australia Western United States Arctic Eastern Siberia Southeast China Morocco Oklahoma Trilobite Mystery (Map) (2) Global Puzzle Attach landmasses at their proper location based on their shape and the evidence provided on them. Landmasses to cut out 1) Look at your constructed map, do you see any patterns in the continents? 2) Has the landmasses of Earth always been the same way? Explain your answer with evidence. (3) Theory of Continental Drift Answer the questions with a complete sentence. 1. Even before modern observations provided evidence supporting the theory of plate tectonics, people developed theories that the continents were once joined together. Using only maps, they observed that: ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 2. Fossils of organisms that once lived in warmer climates millions of years ago have been found in arctic environments today. This evidence supports the fact that: ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 3. The Mesosaurus was a freshwater reptile that existed about 250 million years ago. Why are the fossils of Mesosaurus found today in some rock layers in both South America and Africa? ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Lesson 3 Assessments (1) Seafloor Spreading With which of the following statements about the land under Earth’s oceans do you agree? A. The ocean floor has changed in the past, but it is not changing today. B. The ocean floor changes when continents move closer together or farther apart. C. The ocean floor changes every day as tectonic plates move. D. The ocean floor changes when it is covered up by sediment. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ (2) Seafloor Spreading Activity The ocean floor or oceanic crust is made of igneous rocks that form when magma wells up from Earth’s hot interior through mid-ocean ridges. The lava flows out of the ridge in both directions and as it cools forms igneous rocks that add to the seafloor. Procedure Magma Upwelling 1. Obtain two shoeboxes. Use masking tape and a marker to label one smaller end on each box “Mid-ocean ridge.” (A in diagram) Label the top of each box “Ocean floor” and the other smaller end of each box “Trench” (B in diagram). 2. Use masking tape to secure each box to a desktop so that the ends labeled “Mid-ocean ridge” have a space between them of about 5 cm. 5 cm 3. Two students in the group obtain a set of magma strips. Each student holds on to the stick labeled “1” and lowers the rest of the magma strip into the mid-ocean ridge between the boxes. Numbered sticks face each other. 4. Model how magma from Earth’s hot interior wells up at mid-ocean ridges by working together to gently pull up on the magma strips so that craft stick #2 appears on each side of the ridge at the same time. 5. Draw a diagram of the model. Title the diagram “Magma Upwelling” and label the mid-ocean ridge, ocean floor, and magma. Formation of New Oceanic Crust 6. Slide the magma strips so that the craft sticks are flat on the “Ocean floor”. Continue sliding so that craft stick #3 appears at the same time on each side of the “Mid-ocean ridge.” Model how magma flows evenly to both sides of the ridge to form new ocean crust by pulling the sticks so that the same number appears on both sides of the ridge. 7. Notice the “red basalt” and “white basalt” that appear at the ridge. The “red basalt” represents magma that pushed up, cooled, and then solidified during a period when Earth’s magnetic field was in normal polarity. The “white basalt” represents magma that pushed up, cooled, and solidified when Earth’s magnetic field was in reverse polarity (if the rocks had a compass needle within the layers it would be pointing south instead of north). This change in polarity is evidence plates have changed position overtime and supports the theory of plate tectonics. 8. Draw a diagram of the model. Title the diagram “Formation of New Oceanic Crust”, and label the stripes of basalt, the direction of motion, and indicate the polarity. Subduction in Trenches 9. As magma flows out of the ridge, the newly formed crust pushes older crust away from the ridge. Continue pulling the magma strips until the magma sticks slide across the ocean floor and drop off into the trenches. As the ocean crust moves under the continental crust it creates a trench. Ocean crust is recycled as it subducts and moves toward Earth’s hot interior where the crust re-melts into magma once again. 10. Draw a diagram of the model. Title the diagram “Subduction in Trenches” and label the younger crust, older crust, and trench. Show the direction of movement. Answer the following questions. 1. Magma is pushed up through the ridges in the seafloor to form new oceanic crust. The energy from Earth’s interior is transferred as the magma rises to cause the materials to move. As each new layer emerges, the prior layer is pushed away from the ridge. If the space between the boxes is the ridge, and the craft sticks represent the magma, then which sticks represent the oldest portion, and which sticks represent the youngest portion of oceanic crust? Explain your answer using the numbers on the magma sticks. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ 2. The addition of new oceanic crust is one mechanism that applies force to tectonic plates. The model did not accurately show the direction of force during the creation of new crust. How could you change the model to show that magma is pushed out at the ridge (rather than pulled)? ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ 3. Compare the pattern of the “red” basalt and the “white” basalt on either side of the ridge. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ 4. What forms as the new rock material continues to move away from the ridge? ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ 5. What will happen to the oceanic crust that is pushed down at the trench? ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ 6. Is crust formed or recycled at the trenches? ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ 7. This geological process is the recycling of the ocean basins. As new crust is formed at the ridge, a process called subduction occurs at the trenches. Why must subduction occur at the trenches? ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ (3) Claim-Evidence-Reasoning Ocean floor is created through the emergence of magma at divergent boundaries, as portrayed in Diagram 1. At the same time, Diagram 2 displays the ages of different areas of the seafloor. Write a scientific explanation that describes the difference in the pattern and rate of ocean floor creation between the ocean floor depicted in red and the ocean floor depicted in blue. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Grade Earned (1-4) _____ 4 3 2 1 Student was able to explain the difference in pattern and rate of the ocean floor in the diagram and incorporated the proper vocabulary. Student was able to explain the difference of pattern and rate but did not incorporate relevant vocabulary into their answer. Student was able to explain the pattern and rate of only one area but include the difference of the regions. Student was not able to provide an explanation for the patterns and rates of the ocean floor and did not include any relevant vocabulary.
