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Context Statement Last summer I was a lucky participant in the "Exploring Our Living Mountain Laboratory" offered by the Mountain Institute. This was a week long workshop for teachers which explored all things mountain related: geography, cultural heritage, and conservation. The teaching staff was phenomenal and included experts from all over the world. After a crash course on physical geography (which I needed), we looked at ecological issues facing the mountains of the world, focusing especially on biodiversity. I enjoyed the anthropological studies of mountain people, cultural diversity, folklore, music, crafts, participatory planning methods as well as a fascinating exploration into the notion of mountains as sacred. Along the way I was able to brush up on my field research skills, take several memorable fieldtrips, and brainstorm each day with fellow teachers coming up with lesson plans to incorporate our learning into our classrooms. Personal highlights for me included playing the Swiss alpine horn from atop the tallest mountain in West Virginia, meeting the dynamic speakers and making desk accessories out of tree bark. At the time, I had switched careers midlife and just completed my college work and was looking forward to my first year as a teacher. Perhaps the most valuable gain for me was meeting and getting to know inspired veteran teachers from all over the country. It was very stimulating for me to be in the fold with the kind of teachers I aspire to be: curious, intelligent lifelong learners and masters of their craft. The next task at hand was to take what I had learned and apply it in the classroom. I was fortunate to be teaching summer school at a local Montessori school. The director gave me the green light to teach the material for the next two weeks. The students numbered around 12 with a wide age mix from 3-8, most were about 5 years old. I was delighted to learn the youngsters had a firm grounding in science and the natural world; they really took to the material. Overview and Rationale
Timeline and Schedule July 21-25 Rocks and Geology 8:30 - 1:00 Main Instruction time: 9-10 and
11-12 Concept Web and Standards Concept Web: Geology and Mountains
STANDARD 3: How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth's surface. STANDARD 6: How culture and experience influence people's perception of places and regions. STANDARD 8: The characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems on Earth's surface. STANDARD 11: The patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth's surface. STANDARD 12: The process, patterns, and functions of human settlement. STANDARD 13: How forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of Earth's surface. STANDARD 15: How physical systems affect human systems. STANDARD 16: The changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources.
Objectives: After a hands-on lesson in metamorphic and igneous rocks are formed, the student will be able to explain the physical processes that shape the patterns of Earth's surface. National Geography Standard 7. Content:
Type of Lesson: Group discussion, teacher assisted hands-on creation.
Procedure: Now the fun part: Team up children in teams of at least three, with at least each of the three colors represented once. Place one layer on a clean table surface or cutting board. A low table at their level works best. Place the chocolate chips, which should be fused into one layer, on the table, cover it with its own bag and begin pressing with hands, a rolling pen. When layer A is pretty flattish, place a layer of some white chips on top of the chocolate. Place a bag or plastic on top of both layers and begin pressing together. Keep conversation focused on the process of the effects of pressure upon rocks. continue with the third (peanut butter) layer. When you have at least three colors, cut a cross section and have a look. Compare this with pictures from the geology books. give the mass one simple fold over itself, press and elicit speculation about what it will look like now in cross section. Discuss various types of geologic pressure forces and heat sources. Let them come up with ways to fold or smush the mass, taking a peek each time. Discuss that has happened to those clean straightforward layers. the idea to get across is it is no longer three separate layers, but it has changed (metamorphosized) into a new rock form. B. Later that same day...... Review the forces that cause metamorphic rocks. By now, they have a grasp on pressure. The focus on this activity is on heat. With clay, they will make a 3-D representation of the layers of the earth. Depending on the age of the students, you can add more layers; I kept it at core, mantle, and crust. Discuss the core. Give each child a marble sized piece of red clay. Have them make a ball out of it; it is the core. Set the ball off to the side. Give each child a ping-pong sized size of clay and instruct them to flatten it out into a round pancake; it will be the mantle. Now wrap the yellow pancake around the red ball and reestablish the general ball shape. Set this aside and give each child larger than ping pong ball size of blue clay, representing the crust. Same procedure: flatten and then wrap the 2 layer ball with the blue. If you have some green on hand it gives a nice effect to have a little green worked into the blue to represent the continents. Once the ball is complete, have an adult cut a wedge shaped piece out of each students ball. Speculate on what it will look like, pull away and look! Let each child open theirs up and look. It goes home nicely in a ziplock bag. Assessment/Evaluation: This was a summer day camp program, so no formal assessment was required. Adapted for the classroom, I would rely on teacher questioning assessment of each child and follow up with a coloring activity such as circle the two images which represent forces of metamorphosis (heat and pressure: an oven or flame and something being smashed by an anvil). Student could also color in a cross section of the earth to correspond to their clay model. Reflections and Revisions to Lesson Plan This lesson went well. Only revisions are if another adult can be around to help with the chip metamorphosis, that would be recommended. Finished clusters of mixed up layers of chips can be made into small chunks (if you feel certain that they remained relatively clean) and baked into cookies. An easy and happy way to extend the lesson one more day, force them to reflect and it opens avenues for more discussion of the force of heat in changing the physical makeup of things (rocks and cookies). The clay/layers of earth lesson was a winner too. Just repeat the directions and make sure they aren't just smashing them all together. Good luck. They really loved pretending like the center was red hot each time they reopened their Earths.
Author: Betsy Whitesell, New Vista Montessori Objectives: After a hands-on lesson in plate tectonics, the student will be able to explain the physical processes that shape the patterns of Earth's surface. National Geography Standard 7. Content: The geologic formations on the Earth's crust are continuously affected by plate movement. Mountains are formed when two plates collide. Newest formed mountains are the tallest. Oldest mountains are the shortest. Type of Lesson: Group discussion, teacher assisted hands-on creation. Materials and Resources: Age appropriate geology books with pictures, National Geographic video showing basic plate movement and time elapsed view of the plates from Pangea to present, some paperback books for modeling, several cutting boards, Three Musketeers candy bars (small rectangular fun size), knife for adult. Procedure: A. During the morning story time, read your favorite geology book and look for pictures of the ocean plates and movement. Show short video clip about plate movement and the formation of the present day continents. Discussion of plate collision. Use two paperback books as representations of plates approaching each other. Have them meet at the spines. Works nicely to show sublimation and mountain formation.
Assessment/Evaluation: This was a summer day camp program, so no formal assessment was required. Adapted for the classroom, I would rely on teacher questioning assessment of each child and follow up with a coloring activity such as circle the images which show plate movement and collision. Reflections and Revisions to Lesson Plan With very young kids, I recommend using 3 Musketeers bars rather than Milky Way or Snickers, just because they can achieve the desired results with great success. I also recommend the "fun size." Also, with the very little children, it helps a lot if the 2 leading edges (2 ends which will collide) are shaved: remove the thin chocolate outer coating. The mountains really heave up nicely that way. Older kids could manage with out the slicing. Assure them before the lesson that they WILL be allowed to eat one candy bar--after the lesson. LESSON PLAN Day 10: Snow Leopard
Author: Betsy Whitesell, New Vista Montessori Objectives: After a review of the mountains of the world and the Himalayas (previous days' lessons), and an overview of the snow leopard/conservation problem facing one community in Nepal, students will be able to brainstorm ideas about how to solve the dilemma and construct their own safe sheep pens.
Content: Ecological balance between predator and prey can be fouled up by human occupation and carelessness. When the balance is off, the repercussions ripple from the animal kingdom down to humans' livelihood. Through respect and careful planning and cooperation on our part, the natural balance can be restored. Type of Lesson: Group discussion, teacher assisted hands-on creation. Materials and Resources: Books showing the peoples of the Himalayas, especially ones with good pictures of the people and culture and way of life. Coloring page of snow leopard from Enchanted Learning. Popsicle sticks, at least 40 per child, glue, cardboard or foam core to serve as platform, lots of plastic animals. Make sure you have 2 sheep and one leopard for each child, also have mountain sheep/goats and other horned animals. Plastic grid base used in making hook rug crafts, string, and scissors. The poster of the happy/unhappy Himalayan village with snow leopards from the Snow Leopard Conservancy, which can be downloaded by clicking here. A higher resolution poster download will be available from the Snow Leopard Conservancy soon. And, a giant paper maché mountain. Procedure: During the morning story time, read your favorite Himalayan picture book and look for good pictures of the people and culture and way of life. Show sheep/goat forming as a way of life. Discuss natural predation of sheep and goats. Look at pictures of Snow Leopards and discuss their special place in spiritual life of the Nepalese. If at all possible, acquire as a main prop, the unhappy/happy village poster from the Qomolangma Conservation Program in Tibet. I had it framed and the children studied it very closely to compare and contrast the two villages. I told them the story of the poorly designed sheep pens up on the side of the mountain, the herd devastation, the overpopulation of the natural prey, the towns' participatory planning session and realistic problem solution. Have a brainstorming session for students to come up with possible solutions for the village. Ideas may include hunting the leopard, setting traps, better cages, etc. Guide the discussion, reminding students of cultural beliefs regarding the snow leopard which eliminate hunting it as an option. Steer them toward the idea of building a cage away from the mountain with a good roof on it, just as the villagers did.
Assessment/Evaluation: This was a summer day camp program, so no formal assessment was required. Adapted for the classroom, I would rely on teacher questioning assessment of each child and follow up with a coloring activity, such as circle the images which show possible solutions to the villagers' problem. Then have them color in the best of all solution, a new pen away from the mountain with a sturdy chain link roof. Reflections and Revisions to Lesson Plan This was a great lesson! It would have been hard with out the poster (see download site in the "materials" section). As you can see from the photographs, I used very small versions (5"x7") of the poster as a backdrop to their own sheep pen project. It gave them a focus to their activity and helped them explain the project to their parents when they got picked up. I mentioned that I painted some big plastic cats with white paint to make them snow leopards. This might not be a good idea with very young children, if there's a chance they might chew on the leopard. Other Lessons In Units Other highlights: on a whim I decided we needed to make a huge paper maché mountain during our mountain study week. It was a great idea. It gave us a daily focus throughout the week. It also reinforced everything we had been learning about the topographical/vegetation zones. Only a very few and hardy trees were painted by them (with a sponge stencil) above the treeline. At the end of the week on Snow Leopard Day, the mountain was a perfect prop for our sheep pens since it was built onto a large base. On mountains of the world and mountains of North America Days, I used National Geographic maps downloaded from web and glued onto cardboard. The students used Modeling clay to put the main mountain ranges on the maps. This worked well. On the intro/kickoff to rocks day, I sent them on a rock hunt in a cordoned off section of the gravel parking lot. I had supplemented the space with a few polished river rocks. some basaltic lava rocks, and some other showy rocks that a local landscaping company donated to the project. After sorting and admiring, the kids glued them onto oval shaped strong chinet plates which doubled as a frame. They decorated the rims and I fashioned a hanger on the back. A big hit. Bibliography Andres, Lori and Jose Maria Miralles (Illustrator). 1999. Volcanoes. High Q Science Activity Books. Curran, Eileen and James Watling. 1989. Mountains and Volcanoes. Troll Association Publishers. Dwyer, Jackei and Jacqueline Dwyer 2003. Mountains. PowerKids Readers. Nature Books. Hillard, Darla. Vanishing Tracks: Four Years Among the Snow Leopards of Nepal. Second edition available from the Snow Leopard Conservancy. Johnson, Marianne. 2001. Snow Leopards and Their Babies. Rosen Publishing Group. Kosek, Kelly. 2003. What's Inside the Earth?. What's Inside Publishing. Llewellyn, Claire. 2002. Volcanoes. Library Binding. March, Michael Carrol. 1997. Volcanoes and Earthquakes. Nagda, Ann Whitehead. 2000. World Above the Clouds: A Story of a Himalayan Ecosystem. Illustrated by Paul Kratter, published by Soundprints (division of Trudy Corporation, Norwalk, CT). O'Mara, Anna. 1996. Mountains. Capstone Press. Peacock, Graham. Geology. Sattler, Helen Roney and Giulio Maestro. 1995. Our Patchwork Planet. Harper Collins. Zoehfeld, Kathleen Weidner and James G. Hale (Illustrator). 1995. How Mountains are Made. |
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"Learning about Mountains" is a service of The Mountain Institute. We would like to thank the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, the National Geographic Society Education Foundation and the many people who contributed to this effort. This project is affiliated with the Mountain Forum and is part of the celebration of the International Year of Mountains. Questions? Contact the Webmaster / © 2007 TMI |
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