STEM Summer Exploration
Week
Analyze
/Topics Articles
www.scilinks.org
(code: HSM0909)
Or
Week
One:
Maps as
Models of
the Earth
Treasure Hunt
Article:
go.hrw.com
(code: HZ5CS02)
Minerals
of the
Earths
Crust
Challenge your Thoughts
Explore Terminology
Use a computer drawing program or colored
pencils to draw a map of how to get from your
room to another destination in the house. Do
this activity with a sibling or friend and exchange
maps to see who will find this mystery
destination first.
Concept Mapping: Use the following
terms to create and organize into a
concept map : maps, legend, map
projection, map parts, scale, cylinder,
title, cone, plane, date, and compass
rose.
Or
Making Inference: One of the
important parts of a map is its date.
Why is the date important?
Or
Analyzing Ideas: Why is it important
for maps to have scales?
Map, reference point, true
north, magnetic inclination,
latitude, equator,
longitude, prime meriden,
cylindrical projection, conic
projection, azimuthal
projection, remote sensing,
topographic map,
elevation, contour lines,
contour interval, relief,
index contour,
Concept Mapping: Use the following
terms to create and organize into a
concept map : minerals, calcite,
silicate minerals, gysum, carbonates,
nonsilicate minerals, quartz, and
sulfates.
Or
Making Inference: Imagine that you
are trying to determine the identity
of a mineral. You decide to do a
streak rest. You rub the mineral
across the streak plate, but the
mineral does not leave a streak. Has
your test failed? Explain.
Mineral , elements,
compound, crystals, silicate
minerals, nonsilicate
minerals, luster, streak,
cleavage, fracture,
hardness, density,
reclamation
Or
Science in Action
www.go.hrw.com (code: HZ5MAPF)
www.scilinks.org
(code: HSM0782)
Week
Two:
Spice up the Activity
Make two columns and label one as “Materials
made from living things” and the other as
“Materials made from nonliving things” Discuss
or write your reasoning.
Or
Science in Action
go.hrw.com (code: HZ5MINF)
Animation
www.scilinks.org
(code: HSM0949)
Week
Three:
Rocks
and
Mineral
Mixtures
Week
Four:
The Rock
and Fossil
Record
Or
The following
articles:
Weird Science:
Moai-Mysterious Stone
Giants or
Scientific
Discovery: or
Petrologist
from
go.hrw.com
(code: HZ5RCKF)
www.scilinks.org
(code: HSM0668)
Or
The following
articles:
Scientific Debate
OR DNA and a
Mammoth
Discovery OR
People in
Science: Lizzie
May
go.hrw.com
(code: HZ5CS06)
Collect three different rocks. Describe each rock
by including its color, texture, shape, size, smell,
and any unique properties.
Or
Science in Action
go.hrw.com (code: HZ5CS04)
Make an imprint in modeling clay using any
object. Observe what type of patterns and
textures are made and what are not.
Or
go.hrw.com (code: HZ5FOSF)
Concept Mapping: Use the following
terms to create and organize into a
concept map : rocks, metamorphic,
sedimentary, igneous, foliated,
nonfoliated, organic, clastic,
chemical, intrusive, and extrusive.
Or
Making Inference: If you were
looking for fossils in the rocks around
your home and the rock type that
was closest to your home was
metamorphic, do you think that you
would find many fossils? Explain your
answer.
Or
Analyzing Processes: If a rock is
buried deep inside the Earth, which
geological processes cannot change
the rock? Explain your answers.
Concept Mapping: Use the following
terms to create and organize into a
concept map : age, half-life, absolute
dating, relative dating, superposition,
geologic column, and isotopes.
Or
Applying Concepts: Identify how
changes in environmental conditions
can affect the survival of a species.
Give two examples.
Or
Analyzing Processes: Why isn’t a 100
million-year-old fossilized tree made
of wood.
Rock, rock cycle, erosion,
deposition, weathering,
compactions and
cementation,
metamorphism, melting,
cooling, solidification,
sedimentary rock,
metamorphic rock, igneous
rock, , magma, sediment,
composition, texture,
intrusive igneous rock,
extrusive igneous rock,
strata, stratification,
foliated, nonfoliated
Uniformitarianism,
catastrophism,
paleontology, relative
dating, superposition,
geologic column,
unconformity, absolute
dating, isotopes,
radioactive decay,
radiometric dating, halflife, fossil, trace fossil, cast,
mold, index fossils,
geological time scale, eons,
eras, periods, epochs,
extinction,
Week
Five:
The
Earth’s
Ecosyste
ms
www.scilinks.org
(code: HSM0609)
Or
www.scilinks.org
(code: HSM0621)
Or
go.hrw.com
(code: HL5CS20)
www.scilinks.org
(code: HSM0112)
Week Six:
Earth’s
Systems
and
Cycles
Or
www.scilinks.org
(code: HSM1626)
Or
www.scilinks.org
(code: HZ5CS14)
Place a layer of gravel at the bottom of a
container, such as a large, wide-mouthed jar or a
2L soda bottle with the top cut off. Then, add a
layer of soil. Add a variety of small plants that
need similar growing conditions. Moisten the soil
and loosely cover the container with a lid or
plastic wrap. Make a booklet with six pages to
observe changes in your mini-ecosystem every
week over six weeks.
Or
go.hrw.com (code: HL5ECOF)
Concept Mapping: Use the following
terms to create and organize into a
concept map : plants and animals,
tropical rain forest, tundra, biomes,
permafrost, canopy, desert, and
abiotic factors.
Or
Making Inferences: Plankton use
photosynthesis to make their own
food. They need sunlight for
photosynthesis. Which of the four
major ocean zones can support
plankton growth? Explain your
answer.
Biome, savanna, deserts,
tundra, plankton, estuary,
littoral zone, open-water
zone, deep-water zone,
wetland, marsh, swamp
Fill a large glass container or aquarium with very
cold water. Tie one end of a piece of string
around the neck of a small bottle. Fill the small
bottle with very hot water, and add a few drops
of food coloring. Do not cap the bottle. Keep the
small bottle upright while you lower it into the
glass container until it rests on the bottom.
Watch the movement of hot water into the cold,
is there mixing?
Or
Concept Mapping: Use the following
terms to create and organize into a
concept map : geosphere, crust,
mantle, inner core, outer core, core,
lithosphere, asthenosphere,
mesosphere, compositional layer,
and physical layer.
Or
Analyzing Idea: How do differences
in density cause currents to flow both
in the surface waters of the ocean
and in the bottom waters of the
ocean?
Geosphere, atmosphere,
hydrosphere, biosphere,
crust, mantle, core,
erosion, radiation,
conduction, convection,
the greenhouse effect,
surface currents, deep
currents, aquifer, rock
cycle, water cycle,
transpiration, surface runoff, percolation,
evaporation, precipitation,
condensation, carbon
cycle, nitrogen cycle,
decomposition,
combustion
go.hrw.com (code: HT6FSYFF)
Fault Finders
Article
go.hrw.com
(code: HZ5CS07)
Week
Seven:
Plate
Tectonics
Take a paper plate and cover with a lining half a
centimeter thick of frosting. Take a pointed
object and draw a line half way through. Take
two 2-piece graham crackers and place each on
opposite sides of the line, while touching each
other. Move the two graham crackers so that
they separate, move them so that they slide past
each other, then quickly dip one two piece
graham cracker in water, then see what happens
when the graham crackers crash into each other.
After each movement, pay attention to the
shapes and patterns that form underneath. Make
sure to spread the frosting evenly before every
different movement.
Concept Mapping: Use the following
terms to create and organize into a
concept map : sea-floor, spreading,
convergent boundary, divergent
boundary, subduction zone,
transform boundary, and tectonic
plates.
Or
Applying Concepts: Why does oceanic
lithosphere sink at subduction zones,
but not at mid-ocean ridges?
Crust, mantle, core,
lithosphere,
asthenosphere,
mesosphere, tectonic
plate, continental drift,
sea-floor spreading, plate
tectonics, convergent
boundary, divergent
boundary, transform
boundary, comprehension,
tension, folding, fault,
uplift, subsidence
Concept Mapping: Use the following
terms to create and organize into a
concept map : volcanic bombs, aa,
pyroclastic material, pahoehoe,
lapilli, lava, and volcanoe.
Seismology, deformation,
elastic rebound, seismic
wave, P wave, S wave,
seismograph, seismogram,
epicenter, focus, gap
hypothesis, seismic gap,
volcanoes, magma
chamber, vent, crater,
caldera, lava plateau, rift
zone, hot spots, pyroclastic
material, pahoehoe, lapilli,
Or
go.hrw.com
(code: HZ5VOLF)
Week
Eight:
Earthqua
kes and
Volcanoes
go.hrw.com (code: HZ5TECF)
go.hrw.com (code: HZ5EQKF)
Or
Or
go.hrw.com
(code: HZ5CS08)
go.hrw.com (code: HZ5CS09)
Or
Applying Concepts: If you are in a car
during an earthquake or out in the
open, it would be best to stay in the
car. Can you think of any situation in
which you might want to leave a car
during an earthquake?