Earth Materials Dwellings A Third Grade STEM Project Erosion and weathering change the Earth’s surface. Weathering breaks down rock into smaller pieces, and erosion removes parts of the land. Erosion can be caused by water or wind. Grand Canyon- caused by erosion from the Colorado River Sediment is what we call the parts of the land that are carried away. (sand, soil, rock) Pedestal Rock- caused by wind erosion Earth Materials What are they? Any material that comes from the Earth and is not living now. Many earth materials start out in a mine. Mines provide many Earth materials used to make products. Examples of Minerals: Minerals are an example of an Earth material. Zinc- used in paint and sun block These earth materials solve human problems such as sun burn and improve our quality of life! Calcite- used to make glass, paper, chalk Every object in our life comes from Earth materials! Plasticmade from oil T-shirtCotton is an Earth material. Glasscomes from sand Papercomes from wood STEM Challenge: Your group will build an Earth Dwelling (home made from Earth materials). We will test it to see if it can stand up to wind and water weathering. Examples of Earth Dwellings from Ancient People Materials: You will have a $20 budget to spend on the purchase of materials. $3/bag-Sand $8/block-Clay $5/bag-Soil Notice that glue and tape are NOT on the list! $5/bag-Straw Free-Water Free-Sticks $3-Bucket (for mixing only) Testing: We will test your dwelling to make sure it can stand up to wind and water weathering in the following ways: -Wind Weathering: The Fan Test! -Water Weathering: The Strainer Test! Schedule: Today: -Introduce lesson -Draw and label blueprint -Write budget -Upload budget and blueprint to wall Next week: -Build dwellings -Test Dwellings -Write improvement plan