This assignment contains a series of lessons, which have the aim of maximizing
the benefits of a visit to the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth. Ideally, this
should be divided in a few trips, but it is highly unlikely
that a science teacher with five classes will be able to take the same class to
more than one trip.
Grade Level: 8th grade
Learning Standard:
S3a Demonstrates understanding of structure of the Earth System.
S3b Demonstrates understanding of Earth's history.
S3c Demonstrates understanding of Earth in the Solar System.
S3d Demonstrates understanding of natural resource management.
S4a Demonstrates understanding of big ideas and unifying concepts.
S4b Demonstrates understanding of the designed world.
S6d Acquires information from different sources.
S7e Communicates in a form suited to the purpose and the audience.
*These are the 1999 New York City performance standards.
*This lesson includes some of the ELA standards, which were not provided.
They are available upon request.
Time Requirements:
Preparation time: 6 hours
Class time: 315 minutes
Topics covered by this lesson:
Structure of the earth
Evolution of life in the planet
Rocks
Plate tectonics
Volcanoes
Sulfide chimneys
Greenhouse gases
Pre Visit:
Purpose
To review how to make a presentation.
To review the format of a research
paper.
To give a topic to each of the
seven groups.
To explain what they need to
do once they are at the Gottesman Hall.
Objectives
Student will understand what information they need to collect at the Gottesman
Hall.
Student will understand what is expected of their oral presentation, and the
research paper that they need to turn in after the visit.
Materials required.
Rubrics for both the oral presentations and the research paper, so that the
students know how their work will be assessed.
Overhead projector slides (if available)
Copies of the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth Student
Field Journals 17, a different topic for each group.
Student Learning Prerequisites
To maximize the use of the Gottesman hall I would take the students at the
end of the year, once they have already been exposed to the topics covered
in this series of lessons.
Visit
During the visit, I would take the students through the different sections
of the hall.
Once they are familiar with the topics of the different sections I would allow
them to look around by themselves. In this way they will be able, to look
at things that would interest them and to fill out their journals.
Post Visit
They will be given 25 minutes
to divide responsibilities within their group and prepare for their presentation.
During their time they will be encourage to use the classroom library and
the Internet to enrich their presentation.
In the following 7 45 minute periods each group will be given 7 minutes to
set up their presentation. Each presentation should be 25 minutes. The remainder
of the class period will be used to answer any questions and to add any material
that have been missing from the presentation. The research paper will be collected
a week after the last presentation. Each group has to include a section where
they self evaluate there experience working as a
group. To ensure that they all collaborate equally they have to reach a consensus
giving each other grades. This consensus has to be signed and dated by all
of the members of the group.
Possible questions that may be brought up:
1) How did scientists find out about the layers of the Earth?
2) Why is it important to know about the formation of rocks?
3) What kind of evidence is available to support the theory of plate
tectonics?
4) How do volcanoes form?
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