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Rock and Their Properties: Days 2-4


Lesson Overview | Unit Description | Lesson Description for Day | State Standards
Goals | Methods | Wrap-Up | Assessment | Materials

Lesson Overview

Title: Rock and Their Properties: Days 2-4
Author: CAST
Subject: Science
Grade Level(s): 3–5
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Unit Description

In this unit, entitled Rocks and Their Properties, students will engage in cooperative research projects in order to learn about the properties of the three basic rock types and the processes that form them. In order to ensure that students can express what they learned as accurately as possible, a variety of options will be available for communicating their new knowledge.

This investigation of the properties of rocks should take 6–7 class periods. The UDL approach used in this unit provides the following:
  • presentational options to make information accessible to all students
  • varied strategies and techniques to reach all students
  • motivational options to ensure that all students can be engaged
  • flexible classroom management techniques that increase opportunities for all students
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Lesson Description for Day

These lessons will begin with students filling-out a KWL chart (What I Know, What I Want to Learn, What I Learned) as a way to take stock of what they learned in Day 1 about rocks, and to provide a focus for their project research. Students will become familiar with the resources for conducting their research, explore project options, learn roles & responsibilities for group members, and plan and develop their products.

Over the course of the next few days, they will continue to study the resources and develop their findings into polished presentations.

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State Standards

Massachusetts State Standards for Science and Technology/Engineering, Strand 1: Earth and Space Science

  1. Massachusetts Science Standard 1.3: (Rocks and Their Properties) Identify three categories of rocks (metamorphic, igneous, and sedimentary) based on how they are formed, and explain the natural and physical processes that create these rocks.
  2. Massachusetts Science 1.6: (Earth's History) Describe and give examples of ways in which the Earth's surface is built up and torn down by natural processes, including deposition of sediments, rock formation, erosion, and weathering.
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Goals

Unit Goals:
  1. Students will describe the natural and physical processes that create metamorphic, igneous, and sedimentary rocks.
  2. Students will successfully complete a cooperative research project that refines their basic understanding of rock formation processes.
  3. Students will apply their understanding of the processes that create sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks to making predictions about how the rock cycle could be impacted by changes in the forces that contribute to rock formation.

Lesson Goals:
  1. Students will learn the routines, roles, and responsibilities they need to establish in order to successfully complete their research projects.
  2. Students will become familiar with available resources and assess what further resources they will need to acquire.
  3. Students will learn effective strategies for project planning.
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Methods

Anticipatory Set:

KWL Chart
(What I Know, What I Want to Learn, What I Learned)
Fill in the first two columns of a KWL chart with the whole class in order to summarize what everyone currently Knows about the three types of rocks, and What they still want to learn. At the end of the lesson today, what the class Learned will be discussed and entered on the chart.


Introduce and Model New Knowledge:

1. Establish Routines and Responsibilities:
Explain that students will work in small groups to learn more in-depth information about how three basic types of rocks are formed. Each group will describe (in writing, orally, and/or visually), at least three 'big ideas' related to their investigation. Explain that a 'big idea' is a general statement that can be made about what they have studied. Big ideas should describe facts as well as contain explanations of why something happens. In addition, for each big idea students generate, they are responsible for providing at least three details that support it.

Before beginning, explain to students that even though they will work in small groups, within their groups, there will be opportunities to work individually or with partners on key elements of the project, in order to ensure that everyone has choices for how to best accomplish their goals. Also let students know that they will be evaluated on the accuracy of the information they present, the quality of their presentations, and on how well they work together as a group.

Organize the class into heterogeneous, small groups of no more than 5 students, and make the following assignments:
  • Group 1: Big ideas and supporting details related to how igneous rocks are formed.
  • Group 2: Big ideas and supporting details related to how sedimentary rocks are formed.
  • Group 3: Big ideas and supporting details related to how metamorphic rocks are formed.
  • Group 4: Types of rocks that fit in each of the three basic categories.
Each group should designate jobs for each individual. All individuals gather information, work on sections of the draft, and help with design tasks. Then, each student should have one of the following additional roles:
  • Fact checker: checks accuracy of all information for final product
  • Scribe: writes outline as group generates it, provides polished copy of final product (based on everyone's input and work)
  • Designer: does final art work, video, or PowerPoint editing, or fine-tunes any presentation features
  • Presenter(s): students should designate sections of the product for different students to present
  • Timeliner: Ensures that the group develops all phases of the work according to the timelines. Checks in with everyone to see if they're on track to meet deadlines for each stage of work: outline of their product, draft, revised/edited copy, and final product according to the teacher's timelines.

* (If possible, provide the above roles as a handout)

2. Preview Resources
Have the books from this lesson's materials list, rock samples, and lists of websites on hand. Provide an overview of the resources—hold up key books and discuss their features, preview one or two of the websites. (Books and websites should represent different reading levels). Point out that students' science textbooks are another resource. Finally, explain that students will need to seek additional resources for their study as needed.

3. Discuss Project Options
Each group can choose from among the following options as ways to present their Big Ideas and Supporting Details. All projects will be presented to the class. Students should also be encouraged to develop their own product ideas, as long as they meet project criteria.

  • Use salt map material to construct, paint, summarize, and label a model of a rock formation process.
  • Develop power point slides with illustrations, labels, and explanations.
  • Develop a multi-media presentation that includes elements such as music, photographs or other illustrations, and a narrator or dramatic overview describing the steps of rock formation.
  • Develop a simulated news cast that describes a volcano in process and also overviews the rocks that will be formed as a result. Include sufficient detail so viewers will have a full understanding of the process of igneous rock formation.
  • Illustrate and label posters of rock types or formation processes.
  • Compile a found rock collection of types of rocks that are examples of each of the rock formation processes. Mount them on presentation board, and provide accompanying labels and descriptions of how they were formed.
  • Develop a photographic and text essay showing elements of nature and how they are involved in the formation of their assigned type of rock (ie. photos of rivers, oceans, volcanoes, etc.)
  • Develop a book with illustrations, text, and labels of either types of rocks fitting each classification, or of the assigned rock formation process.
  • Develop a mock travel brochure that provides a description of an area of the world where the assigned type of rock is found. In the brochure, provide an overview of the history of how the rock was formed.

Provide Guided Practice:

Project Planning
Have small groups get together and begin planning their projects. Once they're in their small groups, share the attached Project Planning Organizer in order to facilitate students' planning and work flow. Help students work backwards from the final due date in order break their projects into smaller parts.

  • outline:
  • facts, concepts, & information collected:
  • drafts completed (both text and art):
  • revising/proofreading:
  • polished product

Rotate among the groups in order to determine whether they are developing a solid plan for their projects. Ask questions as needed in order to facilitate their planning.


Provide Independent Practice:

Students should spend the remainder of the class time today, the next two class periods, and out-of-class time studying their resources, collecting and organizing the information they learn, and generating their products.

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Wrap-Up

Have the class wrap-up by completing the L section of the KWL chart. Ask students to reflect on what they learned today about the properties of rocks and how they're formed, while previewing resources and developing project plans.

As work on the projects continues over the next few class periods, have students continue to add to the KWL chart.

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Assessment

Formative/Ongoing Assessment:

As students work on their projects, maintain ongoing observations of their learning behaviors, questions they ask, and their expressions of new knowledge. Take notes and make decisions about which students need additional support based on these ongoing observations.


Summative/End Of Lesson Assessment:

Evaluating the Reports:
Use the attached rubric to evaluate students' reports. Attach a copy of the rubric to each report, with each sub score highlighted, so students have a detailed analysis of their projects.

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Materials

Other Resources
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Print

UDL Connections
UDL Connection
UDL Feature:

Strategic Network – Provide flexible opportunities for demonstrating skill. (e.g., written, oral, or visual presentation, explanations, word process).

Listen

UDL Reflection:

By offering options for expressing new knowledge about the rock formation process, I'll be able to capture information about the learning of a greater variety of students. Not all students perform best in one medium, so the options I provide will allow more students to maximize their performance.

Listen

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UDL Connections
UDL Connection
UDL Feature:

Recognition Network – Provide supports for limited background knowledge, and establish a context for learning.

Listen

UDL Reflection:

The KWL chart offers a context for learning by helping students structure their current knowledge and set a purpose for learning based on their interests. At the same time, it helps students activate their prior knowledge, and gives me information about which students still need additional background information.

Listen

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UDL Connections
UDL Connection
UDL Feature:

Strategic Network – Provide flexible opportunities for demonstrating skill.

Listen

UDL Reflection:

By providing flexible roles for student engagement in their projects, I'm accommodating a wider range of learner needs and preferences. Some students will prefer a more artistic role, others that of a scribe, and yet some will want to act on their knowledge in a simulation-based role (such as that of a newscaster).

Listen

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UDL Connections
UDL Connection
UDL Feature:

Recognition Network – Provide supports for limited background knowledge, and establish a context for learning.

Listen

UDL Reflection:

The KWL Chart situates student learning in a context that is personally relevant for them. It is a way to help them take stock of their current knowledge and to take ownership for what they still need to learn in the context of the lesson. The KWL chart also highlights critical features of students' own knowledge. I think the chart provides a way to empower students to reflect on their knowledge and to take responsibility for what they still need to learn.

Listen

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UDL Connections
UDL Connection
UDL Feature:

Strategic Network – Provide flexible opportunities for demonstrating skill. (e.g., written, oral, or visual presentation, explanations, word process).

Listen

UDL Reflection:

Another way to provide flexible opportunities for demonstrating a skill is through the roles that students take on in cooperative learning settings. The student who takes on the role of the 'designer' for instance, will convey his or her knowledge in ways that are different from the 'presenter'. Providing students with the decision-making power to determine their roles also fosters ownership in the learning process.

Listen

Note: If you do not get sound when you click on the audio Listen button within a UDL connection, simply close and reopen the UDL Connection, and click on the audio Listen button again.

UDL Connections
UDL Connection
UDL Feature:

Recognition Network – Provide multiple examples, show the range of examples, provide examples and counter-examples.

Listen

UDL Reflection:

Having a variety of resources on hand enables students to learn about rocks and their properties with the use of many examples and nonexmples to compare them to.

Listen

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UDL Connections
UDL Connection
UDL Feature:

Affective Network – Provide adjustable levels of challenge: (e.g., range of materials at different reading difficulties).

Listen

UDL Reflection:

It will be important for me to be sure to include books and resources with a variety of reading levels and levels of detail in order to accommodate the range of learners in my class. However, I am intentional to select resources that provide similar information.

Listen

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UDL Connections
UDL Connection
UDL Feature:

Recognition Network – Represent information in multiple media and formats (e.g., text version of book, online or digital resources).

Listen

UDL Reflection:

Students will access the information they need for their research projects through a variety of media—text-based, web-delivered, charts, posters, mentor interviews, etc.

Listen

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UDL Connections
UDL Connection
UDL Feature:

Strategic Network – Provide flexible opportunities for demonstrating skill, (e.g. written, oral, or visual presentation, explanations, word process).

Affective Network – Offer choices of content and tools (e.g., choice of books to study literature).

Listen

UDL Reflection:

By letting students choose how they will demonstrate their knowledge, they are more likely to become engaged and sustain their engagement throughout the project.

Listen

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UDL Connections
UDL Connection
UDL Feature:

Affective Network – Offer choices of learning context (option to work in study carrel v. open classroom, student use headphones).

Listen

UDL Reflection:

Once the initial project planning is done in small groups, and once individual roles are established, then students will have options for working on their section of the project independently, with a partner, or with a small group. Students might opt to work after school together, in the library, or during study hall. In class, they might prefer to structure their work at the computer, record into a tape recorder, storyboard their concepts, or invent new ways to structure their work.

Listen

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UDL Connections
UDL Connection
UDL Feature:

Strategic Network – Provide ongoing, relevant feedback.

Listen

UDL Reflection:

I'll continue to assess students informally, in order to clear up any misunderstandings before they have to unlearn them, and in order to determine who needs additional support, who needs more time, and who might need additional challenges.

Listen

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UDL Connections
UDL Connection
UDL Feature:

Strategic Network – Provide flexible models of skilled performance.

Listen

UDL Reflection:

Sharing a model of a project planner already filled out is a way to help students envision how they can structure their own work.

Listen

Note: If you do not get sound when you click on the audio Listen button within a UDL connection, simply close and reopen the UDL Connection, and click on the audio Listen button again.