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Lesson and Curriculum
 Lesson
at a Glance:
Curriculum: Scholastic Science Place: Hands - On Science Series Scholastic,
Inc.
Grade: K-6
Topic: Systems and Interactions
Duke worked with Debbie’s fifth graders on landforms. He started
the lesson by leading the class in a brainstorming exercise identifying
different types of landforms and how they might form. Then, with the students
in pairs, Duke asked them to think about what kind of forces could produce
a particular type of landform — mountains. After sharing their thoughts
with the class, the students were able to start on the day’s activity.
The activity Duke prepared used Playdoh® and wax paper to simulate
the collision between two tectonic plates. The students, again
in pairs, made model continents by pressing different colors of dough
into thin
sheets, and then stacking the sheets into two multi-layered Playdoh® continents.
After placing them on waxed paper, the students set the two slabs
on a collision course. Upon impact, the slabs behaved like the pieces
of continental
crust they were fashioned after, bending and folding into a sort
of Playdoh® mountain.
Duke was impressed with the students’ enthusiasm. “I
heard some really good discussions going on in different groups
and I think
one of the strengths of the activities was that a lot of groups
tried different things — one group had thick layers, and another
had thin ones, so they all saw slightly different results.” For
Duke, the goal of the lesson was to convey to the students that
the Earth is a dynamic,
constantly changing system, and he felt the activity was a success.
Duke
closed the activity with a discussion about how accurate the
model was. “Any
subject where you use a model to explain something,” Duke
said before the lesson, “there’s a huge risk that the kids
are going to develop a misconception based on some part of the
model that’s
not totally accurate. ”
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