CONTENT REPRESENTATION
Name of the class: Global Tectonics
Name of lesson (could be over multiple days): Rainfall and Tectonics
Description of the students in the class (achievement level, language, prior course work, typical level of engagement, etc): Community college
students, non-science majors, enrolled in a lower division GE earth science course; most have no prior science coursework at the college level; all
are English language proficient;
A
Elevation and
precipitation amounts
are related.
B
Normal and strike-slip
faults produce different
landscapes.
What you intend the
students to learn about
this idea or be able to do
with it:
Students should connect
orographic rainfall,
increased precipitation
levels with tectonics
and be able to relate
normal faulting to uplift
and increased
precipitation.
Why it is important for
students to know this
(for example, in the
schema of the broad
course’s standards/
objectives or in terms of
bigger
educational/civic/social
goals):
It’s important for
students to identify
where rainfall tends to
be at its maximum in
order to understand how
water can best be
managed in California.
Anticipated student
misconceptions and
difficulties
understanding this:
Students may not know
that rainfall is
distributed differentially
depending on elevation.
They may think rainfall
occurs equally across
central California.
Without a visual sense
of how elevation
changes it can be a
Students should be able
to visualize normal and
strike-slip faults to
compare and contrast
crustal elevation
differences associated
with each type of fault
using a tectonic model
of western North
America.
One of the goals for the
course is to help
students to understand
the tectonic setting of
where they live – the
Sierra Nevada
mountains and the
central California
region. Normal and
strike-slip faulting
shapes the topography
of the region.
Students may not
understand the
differences in fault
types and how style of
faulting relates to
deformation of the
Earth’s crust.
Big idea:
C
Plate tectonics plays a
role in how rainfall
amount varies across
central California.
Students should be able
to see how tectonics
controls precipitation
amounts related to
normal and strike-slip
faulting in central
California.
D
GIS software is useful for
integrating and
visualizing multiple data
sets.
Students should see that
GIS can be used to
visualize geographic,
meteorologic, and
geologic data to assess
spatial distribution of
rainfall, faulting and
mountain building.
E
GIS software can be
used to analyze
spatial patterns.
Plate Tectonic theory
explains how the Earth’s
surface behaves and
students should be able
to connect water
resources to tectonics
since water quantity and
quality are significant
issues coupled with
human population
growth in California
(and worldwide).
Students may think that
plate tectonics controls,
rather than influences,
weather.
Students should know
that geospatial
technology can help
geoscientists to better
understand spatial
relationships between
variables.
Students should
know that geospatial
technology is a
useful tool for
connecting and
relating concepts that
may otherwise seem
unrelated.
Students may not be able
to understand how a
topographic profile
works. They may have
difficulty with converting
elevation values from
meters to feet. Students
may also have difficulty
installing
ArcGISExplorer
Students may not be
familiar with
visualizing in 3D to
compare normal
faults with strike-slip
faults. They might
have difficulty
understanding how
shorter normal faults
can produce uplift
Students should see
that GIS can be used
to build models that
relate rainfall and
tectonics.
difficult concept to
attain. Geospatial
software can help.
Teaching procedures
(and reasons why):
1. Students will be
introduced to online
GIS technology using
ArcGIS.com to make a
map (1 half of a class
session, ~45 minutes).
This will give students
some familiarity with
the technology before
the next class’
2. Students will install
ArcGISExplorer
(desktop version), then
open the lesson file (MS
Word) and work
through the lesson (~90
minutes ).
1. Images of a crosssection of the western
U.S. with normal and
strike-slip faulting will
be provided to help
students visualize a
general tectonic model
of the region.
2. Students will
compare and contrast
the two types of
faulting to identify the
different styles of
crustal deformation.
1. Students will be asked
to overlay 2 shapefiles
(1of known normal
faults and 1 of known
strike-slip faults in
central California) onto
the basemap of the study
area in order to add
tectonic data to their
model.
2. They will be asked to
visualize the relationship
between elevation,
faulting, and
precipitation using the
3D tool to assess the
relationships between the
different variables.
Formative assessment:
Specific ways of
ascertaining students’
understanding or
confusion around this
idea (include likely
range of responses):
Before the lesson
students will be
verbally queried about
the causes and effects of
rainfall distribution in
California to get a
general assessment of
their understanding. I
expect students will say
most rain falls in
northern California, not
in southern California. I
don’t expect students
will understand why
rainfall generally
increases with
elevation, nor do I
expect students to
I haven’t had time to
introduce information
on specific types of
faulting, so I don’t
expect students to know
anything about normal
versus strike-slip
faulting. The concepts
will be briefly
introduced during the
lesson. Students have
been introduced to the
concepts of tension,
compression, and
transform motion along
plate boundaries,
however, so they
should have a general
The course has focused
on plate tectonic theory
and there have been no
concepts introduced
related to meteorology,
weather, or climate, so I
don’t expect there to be
any depth of
understanding of rainfall
patterns.
software. They may also
have trouble following
the step-by-step
instructions during the
lesson.
1. Students will be asked
to install ArcGISExplorer
Desktop software in
order to understand that
free geospatial software
exists that can be used as
a tool to build geospatial
models of the earth and
its systems.
2. Students will then
open the program and
work through the lesson
provided as an MS Word
file in order to gain
geospatial skills.
3. I will have students
work on their own
laptop, but ask all of the
students at their table for
help first, before asking
me for help, to help
maximize my supportive
efforts minimize the
frustration levels.
Maps, imagery, and
diagrams have been used
during the semester to
teach some content, so
students should be
familiar at a basic level
of mapping concepts (i.e.
north is up, scale bars are
used to show scale, etc.).
Once they have used
ArcGIS.com I expect that
they will be more
familiar with what a GIS
is at a very basic level,
which will help them
with the STORE lesson
in ArcGISExplorer. I
expect there will be some
along the eastern
Sierra if they’re not
connected together in
one long, linear fault.
1. Students will use
the software tools
installed onto the
computers to build
2D and 3D geospatial
models.
2. They will perform
an overlay analysis
combining elevation,
topography,
precipitation, terrain,
and tectonic, data.
3. They will then
build a visual and
conceptual model
relating the variables
in order to
comprehend how
tectonics shapes the
Earth and helps
determine rainfall
and precipitation
patterns.
I have asked the class
during the semester
what they know
about geospatial/GIS
technology and none
of the students in the
class have had any
formal GIS
experience. I don’t
expect them to know
what spatial or
overlay analyses are.
I expect many have
used Google Earth or
seen it used (I have
used it in class 2 or 3
times during the
semester). But I don’t
connect precipitation
distribution with normal
faulting and tectonics.
understanding of the
types of motions
expected along plate
boundaries.
technology kinks along
the way.
expect them to know
what a query is or
that spatial queries
can even be
performed.