American Museum of Natural History: 10th
Grade
GRADE LEVEL: 10TH
GRADE
LEARNING STANDARD:
Students will understand and apply scientific concepts,
principles, and theories pertaining to the physical setting and living
environment and recognize the historical development of ideas in science.
TIME REQUIREMENTS:
This lesson will approximately take twenty minutes
preparation time and about forty
minutes class time.
TOPICS COVERED BY THIS LESSON:
Uniformitarianism, igneous rocks, sedimentary rocks,
metamorphic rocks, unique characteristics of rocks, rock cycle
PREVISIT LESSON:
Purpose:
To familiarize students with the different types of
rocks.
Objectives:
To explain the principle of uniformitarianism and relate it
to the formation of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks.
To define igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks.
To identify unique characteristics, mineral formations,
stratification layers, and textures found on these rocks that makes them
unique.
To introduce the rock cycles and discuss different orders of
rock forming events within the cycle.
Materials:
pencil
unlined paper
poster board
markers and crayons
ruler
VISIT:
Students will need a pencil and paper for the visit to the
museum.
Students will be given a tour of The Gottesman Hall of
Planet Earth.
During the course of the tour students are required to draw
and label three igneous rocks, three metamorphic rocks, and three sedimentary
rocks. Finally, students should date
the rocks in accordance to the date they were formed.
POST VISIT:
The next day students are required to construct a geological
timeline of the rock samples they drew and labeled.
At the completion of this activity students should be able
to make comparisons with the timeline and
the rock cycle.
QUESTIONS:
Before James Hutton, how had geologists explained the origin
of landforms?
Describe common igneous rocks.
Describe the origin, and give examples of the three groups
of sedimentary rocks.
Define metamorphic rock and list four examples.
Identify two shortcuts in the rock cycle.
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