Download APS Science Curriculum Unit Planner

APS Science 2011
APS Science Curriculum Unit Planner
Grade Level/Subject
High School Earth Science
Stage 1: Desired Results
Enduring Understanding
The flow of energy from Earth’s interior is one of the many factors responsible for shaping the Earth’s
surface and can be measured quantitatively.
Correlations
Unifying Understanding
VA SOL
ES.7 The student will investigate and understand geologic processes including
plate tectonics. Key concepts include
a) geologic processes and their resulting features; and
b) tectonic processes.
ES.10 The student will investigate and understand that oceans are complex,
interactive physical, chemical, and biological systems and are subject to longand short-term variations. Key concepts include
d) features of the sea floor as reflections of tectonic processes;
NSES (grade level)
UCP 1-4, ES 1b, ES 3c, ST 1, SPSP 5, HNS 3
AAAS Atlas
Essential Questions
 What causes plate tectonics?
 What are the effets of interactions of the plates at their boundaries?
 What evidence supports plate tectonic theory?
 How can geologic activity be measured?
 What are the distinguishing features of the five Virginia geological provinces?
Knowledge and Skills
Students should know:
 Convection currents in the mantle cause movement of the Earth’s plates
 How to explain direction of plate movement with respect to one another
 Why particular descriptive features are associated with specific plate boundaries
 The structure and layers of the Earth
 The location of the five physiographic provinces in Virginia and be able to explain their
characteristics, and their geological past.
Students should be able to:
 Use maps to demonstrate plate boundaries and support evidence of plate tectonics
 Demonstrate ability to interpret seismograms in order to calculate magnitude of earthquakes
 Create a model of the sea floor demonstrating features of divergence and subduction
Stage 2: Assessment Evidence
Prior Knowledge and Skills
 Able to compare and contrast using graphic organizers
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Understand various uses and kinds of computer technology
Scientific method
Concept of density and heat transfer
Earth’s systems
Know the Virginia Provinces
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Identify the names of the different plate boundaries
Read a map and a diagram
Features of the sea floor
Definition of convection currents
Evidence of plate tectonics
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Formative Assessment
 Labs
 Worksheets
 Quizzes
Summative Assessment
 Notebook
 Tests
 Projects
Stage 3: Learning Plan
References to Adopted Materials
 Holt Ch 10 – Plate tectonics
 Holt Ch 11 – Deformation of Earth’s crust
 Holt Ch 12, Sect 1,2 – Earthquakes
 Holt Ch 13 – Volcanoes
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Prentice Hall, Pg. 216-333 (Unit 3, Forces Within)
o Pg. 216-245 (Earthquakes)
o Pg. 246-278 (Plate tectonics)
o Pg. 278-305 (Volcanoes)
o Pg. 306-333 (Mountain Building)
 Prentice Hall, Pg. 396-405 (Ocean Floor)
Suggested Investigations
 Model plate tectonic movement using heated water and wax
 Google Earth Lab investigating mountain ranges
 Sea floor sediments, p242 (Holt, Teacher’s Edition)
 Sea floor spreading model, p266 (Holt)
 Jigsaw puzzle with continents, p247 (Holt, Teacher’s Edition)
 USGS earthquake locating lab
 Eggshell tectonic lab, Chapter Resource file
 Modeling rifting, p255(Holt, Teacher’s Edition)
 Map skills activity, mapping earthquakes, p268(Holt)
 Modeling stress strain relationships, p274(Holt)
 Continental Collisions, p290(Holt)
 Model S and P waves using Slinkies or springs
 Advanced Volcano model, repeated eruptions (baking soda, vinegar, plate sim.)
 Volcanoes on other planets, p328(Holt, Teacher’s Edition)
 Internet Activity on Virginia Geological Provinces
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Edible Plate Tectonics (Graham crackers & frosting)
Reading a seismogram
Determining an epicenter using seismograms
Determine the magnitude of the earthquake using seismogram
Research the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, the Sumatra Earthquake 2004, and the Sendai,
Japan Earthquake of 2011
Compare/Contrast earthquakes in California versus another part of the world
Create a scale model of the Earth detailing the inside features
Create a clay model of the seafloor and label the different features
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Debate the reasons that support plate tectonics before/after the 1960s
Create a map showing support that the continents used to be connected showing the 7 continents,
the fossils, mountain ranges, etc.
 Create a paper model detailing the different type of boundaries and their features
 Discuss why Virginia has earthquakes
Outdoor Education Applications
 Have students bring in pictures of road cutaways for class
Resources
Web Sites
 Internet Paleomap Project
 www.usgs.gov
 Earthquake WebQuest finding epicenter (http://www.sciencecourseware.org/eec/Earthquake/ )
 http://www.agiweb.org/earthcomm/geosphere/index.html?State=VA
 www.vast.org
 http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/plates1.html
 http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/tectonics.html
 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/tectonics/
 http://www.moorlandschool.co.uk/earth/tectonic.htm
 http://www.earthquakenews.com/
 http://www.galaxynet.com/~corvid/ear/earu_eq.htm
 http://www.galaxynet.com/~corvid/ear/earu_pt.htm
 http://www.learner.org/interactives/volcanoes/entry.html
 http://www.odsn.de/odsn/services/paleomap/paleomap.html
 http://nemo.sciencecourseware.org/VirtualEarthquake/VQuakeExecute.html
 http://www.wm.edu/geology/virginia
Videos
 Hawai’i video
 Glass blowing video
 Boiling water in space video
 Tsunami: NOVA Video
 Bill Nye: Earthquakes
 Bill Nye: Earth’s Crust
 Ring of Fire
 Bill Nye: Volcanoes
 Ring of Fire
 Great Quakes
 National Geographic Video: Natural Disasters
Online clips
 Glass, like granitic magma,Discovery Streaming
 Geological Processes,Discovery Streaming
 http://www.disastervideo.net/earthquake-video.php
Field Trips
 Fall Zone in Richmond, VA
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Other
 Virginia Geology and Teacher’s Manuals: CD Roms
 Virginia Geology Maps
*Italics denote additional suggestions for Intensified. Intensified may include suggestions
from Regular.
Textbook Correlations to Essential Questions and Enduring Understandings
What causes plate tectonics?
Energy generated by Earth’s core and radioactivity
Holt: Ch 10.2
within the mantle heat mantle material altering density Prentice Hall Ch 9.3, .4
which causes the material to flow in currents.
Mantle convection moves tectonic plates in patterns of Holt: Ch 10.2
ridge push and slab pull.
Prentice Hall Ch 9.3, .4
Mantle convection and hot spots have varied over
Holt: Ch 10.3
geologic history in supercontinent cycles.
Prentice Hall Ch 9.3, .4
What are the effects of interactions of the plates at their boundaries?
Mantle convection and resulting plate movements
Holt: Ch 10.1, .2, .3
shape the crust in patterns recognized as divergent,
Prentice Hall Ch 9.2, .3
convergent and transform boundaries (on the surface
and under the ocean)
Plate tectonics serve as the major driver of the rock
cycle. It drivesthe evolution of the Earth’s surface
features and materials by fractionating material by
chemical, mineralogic, and physical properties
Tectonic forces shape the crust with movement felt as Holt: Ch 11, 12, 13
earthquakes that result in the formation of faults,
Prentice Hall Ch 8, 9, 10, 11
mountains and volcanoes whose characteristics are
determined by the rock material of the interacting
lithospheric plates.
What evidence supports plate tectonic theory?
Fossil, rock and climate evidence supported
Holt: Ch 10.1
Wegener’s hypothesis of continental drift.
Prentice Hall Ch 9.1
Paleomagnetism provides evidence of the age of the
Holt: Ch 10.1
seafloor and the mechanism of seafloor spreading.
Prentice Hall Ch 9.2
How can geologic activity be measured?
Seismometers measure movement.
Holt: Ch 12.2
Prentice Hall Ch 8
Magnetometers measure variations in magnetic field.
Holt: Ch 10.1
Prentice Hall Ch 9.2
Gravimeters measure differences in gravitational field Holt: Chapter 11 Chapter
which result in variations in gravitational force based
Enrichment, TE
on the density of rock material.
Deformation in volcano shape can be used to
Holt: Ch 13.1, .2
determined likelihood of eruption along with measures Prentice Hall Ch 10
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of gas emissions and patterns of seismic activity due to
rising magma.
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Tectonics and Volcanoes
The earth formed 4.6 billions years ago along with the entire solar system from the solar
nebula.
The earth grew hot from the energy of impact, gravitational contraction and radioactivity.
Radioactivity continues today as the source of heat that drives tectonic processes.
The earth grew hot enough to become a molten ball of rock material. The denser
materials sank to the core and the least dense material rose to the surface. The earth is
layered by density. The layers from the most to the least dense are: inner core, outer
core, mantle, ocean crust, continental crust.
The earth is layered by temperature from the most hot to the least: inner core, outer core,
mantle and crust.
The thinnest layer of the earth is ocean crust. The thickest layer of the earth is the
mantle.
Ocean crust has a density of 3 g/cm3 and is mostly basalt.
Continental crust has a density of 2.7 g/cm3 and is made of silicate rocks and granite.
Alfred Wegener proposed the theory of continental drift in which he proposed that the
continents are floating and drifting across the surface of the earth. He cited 4 pieces of
data: 1) shape that fits 2) fossil distribution 3) rock correlation and 4) climatic patterns.
Sonar is technology that uses sound waves to map the ocean floor.
Magnetometers measure small magnetic changes in the ocean floor.
The earth’s outer layer is broken into a series of large slabs of rock material called
tectonic plates. These plates comprise the lithosphere, the outer most rigid layer of the
earth. The lithosphere includes all of the crust, the moho and the uppermost part of the
mantle.
Beneath the lithosphere is the asthenosphere. This layer of the mantle is partially molten
and slowly flows, creating convection currents that move tectonic plates.
Convection currents are currents of heated material that the result from the continuing
energy release of radioactive decay. As the material of the mantle heats up it expands
and becomes less dense and floats up to push on the rigid lithospheric plates. At the
surface this material cools, becomes denser and sinks back into the asthenosphere.
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Rising convection currents fracture the crust and force plates apart at ridges in the process
known as ridge push. These locations are known as divergent boundaries, places where
the plates are moving apart.
New crust is created at ridges and rises where magma flows out of cracks in the crust at
divergent boundaries on the ocean floor called spreading centers.
Divergent boundaries are also found on land where a long narrow rift valley forms with
volcanic ridges on either side.
As currents cool and sink they pull lithosphere plates together at convergent subduction
boundaries in the process known as slab pull. Here the denser ocean plate in the
convergent boundary is pulled downward into a trench in the process known as
subduction.
The subducting plate comes into contact with the hot material of the mantle. This plate is
carrying sediment that melts and becomes less dense and rises to the surface to interact
with the overlying rock to form volcanoes.
If the over riding plate is an ocean plate the volcanoes form an island arc. If the over
riding plate is a continental plate the volcanoes form in conjunction with a young
mountain chain.
If the two colliding plates are carrying continental crust, neither will subduct and a
mountain chain is created as the horizontal sheets of rock are pushed upward.
At transform boundaries, plates slide horizontally past each other. There is no source of
magma and thus no volcanoes.
There are three types of boundaries: 1) divergent – moving apart; 2) convergent –
moving together; 3) transform – horizontal movement.
Volcanoes are found in three locations on earth: 1) divergent boundaries; 2) convergent
subduction boundaries; 3) hot spots – Hawaii.
Divergent boundary eruptions are usually basaltic magma that flows smoothly without
explosiveness.
Convergent subduction boundaries are the most explosive as the magma contains high
silica and gases from crustal melting of the subducting plate.
Hot spot volcanoes are found on the islands of Hawaii. The hot mantle plume remains
fixed as the plate slowly moves over it creating a chain of volcanic islands.
Three factors influence magma formation: 1) temperature; 2) pressure; 3)
presence/absence of water.
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85% if volcanoes are found in the ring of fire surrounding the Pacific Ocean. Another
15% are found in the Asia Mediterranean Belt.
A vent is the opening in the crust through which the lava flows. A crater is the
depression surrounding the vent. A caldera is a large crater.
Virginia Geology:
 Virginia has a billion-year-long tectonic and geological history
 Virginia have five physiographic provinces which each has a unique physical
characteristic resulting from its geological past
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The Coastal Plain is a flat area composed of young, unconsolidated sediments
underlain by older crystalline basement rocks. These layers of sediment were
produced by erosion of the Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont and then
deposited on the Coastal Plain when sea levels were higher in the past.
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The Fall Line falls seperates the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont
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The Piedmont is an area of rolling hills underlain by mostly ancient igneous and
metamorphic rocks. The igneous rocks are the roots of volcanoes formed during
an ancient episode of subduction that occurred before the formation of the
Appalachian Mountains.
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The Blue Ridge is a high ridge separating the Piedmont from the Valley and
Ridge Province. The billion-year-old igneous and metamorphic rocks of the
Blue Ridge are the oldest in the state.
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The Valley and Ridge province is an area with long parallel ridges and valleys
underlain by ancient folded and faulted sedimentary rocks. The folding and
faulting of the sedimentary rocks occurred during a collision between Africa and
North America. The collision, which occurred in the late Paleozoic era,
produced the Appalachian Mountains. This is where the karst topography
occurs in Virginia such as Luray Caverns.
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The Appalachian Plateau has rugged, irregular topography and is underlain by
ancient, flat-lying sedimentary rocks. The area is actually a series of plateaus
separated by faults and erosional down-cut valleys. Most of Virginia’s coal
resources are found in the plateau province. This is where a majority of the coal
in the state of Virginia is located.
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