|
|
Earthworks
Earth System Science for Secondary Teachers
Field Research Project - Comparing the parent rock material of the San Francisco Terranes with local soil types
Grade Level and content area: This research is designed for my 10 th -12 th grade Earth Science class in the content areas of rocks and minerals and soils.
Time: Six weeks of the curricular year will be allocated for this project.
- Week one will be an introduction to rocks and minerals with one long block plus x period (145 minutes) indoor lab set aside for rock and mineral identification.
- Week two will be a continuation of rock and mineral with 145 minutes dedicated to a field trip in the GGNRA at the Baker Beach and Fort Point sites for sampling.
- Week three will be an introduction to soils with a field trip to a local park for soil sampling and a soils lab.
- Week four will focus upon both rocks and soils with a field trip to Twin Peaks and City College for sampling and observation.
- Week five will focus upon rocks and soils with a field trip to Telegraph Hill for sampling and observation.
- Week six will conclude the unit with student presentations.
Link to science standards: The unit will meet California, San Francisco county and National Science Education standards.
Background Needs: Students will have studied plate tectonics. During the unit, students will have an exposure to basic mineral and rock identification and soil profiles. Students will need skills in team lab work.
Learning Objectives:
- to be able to identify some rocks and minerals
- to relate rocks to the Pacific plate and North American plate subduction zone
- to identify and describe the geological terranes that make up the topology of San Francisco
- to learn fundamentals of soil composition and profiles
- to have an exposure to field research and acquire soil sampling and analysis skills
- to produce a lab research report
Procedures:
- Assign reading as appropriate in a rock and mineral and a soils unit
- Lecture and class discussion that ties in rocks, minerals to plate tectonics
- Slide presentations with descriptions of rocks and minerals
- Availability of rock and mineral samples, charts and pictures in the classroom
- Hand-out and assignment for identification of minerals in everyday materials
- Lab work (without field work) for rock and mineral identification
- Lab work (with field work) for rock, mineral and soil collection and observation
- Field trip to City College of San Francisco earth science display
Assessment:
- Lab report will be required for rock and mineral identification
- Lab report will be required for soil profiling
- Written homework assignments on the topics of minerals in everyday materials, etc.
- Lab quiz on mineral and rock identification
- Short descriptive paper on the geological terranes in San Francisco
- Group research report with poster/powerpoint classroom presentation
- Unit test
Resources:
- Mineral and rock collection in our science department
- Lab equipment and field equipment from our science department
- New equipment to purchase includes rock hammers, soil profile auger
- Geology department of City College of San Francisco - Katryn Wiese, professor
- Will Elder, NPS interpretative ranger - GGNRA
- Information from USGS in Menlo Park, CA
- Online web resources and access
Barriers:
The prime obstacle I envision is coordinating transportation in school vans for field trips and soliciting colleagues for driving for the field trips.
|
