Earth Structures and Processes

Exploring Earth’s Crust with Models and Data

Overview	…a volcano blasts its top off…a mountain range grows out of the plains…building 3-D models…students analyze and experience the data…
Content and Process Goals	…create models to explain the processes changing the crust…support explanations and models with evidence.
Activities	6 week Unit-7 Lessons-Over 25 Activities
Technology	Student accessible GIS data using MyWorld My World website My World screen shots
People	Principal Investigator: Dr. Daniel Edelson SESP Northwestern University
Downloads	The materials linked below are field test versions that are available for evaluation purposes. For information about acquiring the current versions for classroom use, contact the GEODE Initiative at geode@mail.sesp.northwestern.edu Teacher’s Edition Student Edition Handouts My World Data* Transparencies

*To install My World data, expand the .zip file, and copy the files to the "data" directory in the same directory as the My World GIS application. When you restart My World, there will be an "Earth Structures and Processes" data library with the required data projects in it.

Contents of this page and linked pages are copyright (c) Northwestern University 2006. All rights reserved.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. ESI-0137807, REC-9720377, and REC-9720383. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. 

Overview

The crust of the Earth is constantly changing. The side of a mountain slides into a valley, a volcano blasts its top off, and a mountain range grows out of the plains. These changes happen so slowly that they often go undetected. Yet, there is opportunity every day to observe and measure these changes somewhere. Each earthquake is evidence that the Earth’s crust is changing and moving.

In this unit, students will look at earthquake and volcano data to explain the process that is changing the Earth’s crust. To analyze this real data, students first spend some time getting acquainted with some places where there is evidence that the crust is changing: volcanoes, rifts, mountains, and trenches. Students begin by looking at the topography (shape) of these places by building 3-D models.

In the second part of this unit, students analyze earthquake and volcano data. Both sets of data are represented as points on a data map. To help students analyze and experience the data, students explore how the data is collected, reported, and experienced. Students first look at earthquake patterns to find the plate boundaries of the Earth. They then look at how the volcano data patterns relate to the plate boundaries.

Once students have looked for patterns in each of these data sets, students characterize these patterns to explain the processes changing the crust. Patterns in the earthquake and volcano data indicate ways the plates of the crust are moving. These movements lead to different kinds of changes to the crust: earthquakes happen in different places, volcanoes are shaped in different ways, and the topography of the land is different. These characterizations then lead students to draw models of the processes changing the crust.

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Content and Process Goals

• Experience the community of science by using similar tools and engaging in similar experiences. In this case, they develop explanations from evidence in data.

• Use the tools of the science community, a Geographic Information System (GIS).

• Understand that the Earth’s crust is changing all the time through a slow process.

• Understand that earthquake activity, volcano activity, and topography are all evidence of those changes.

• Explain the process that is changing the Earth’s crust.

• Explain that the hot core of the Earth is driving the process by creating convection currents in the mantle.

• Decide if there is “enough” data to generalize patterns in data plotted on a data map.

• Search for patterns in data plotted on a data map.

• Characterize those patterns to develop an explanation of the process changing the Earth’s

crust.

• Use anecdotal data to support patterns found in data plotted on a map.

• Understand the experiences behind the data through descriptions of earthquake and volcanic events.

• Create models to explain how the Earth is structured: cool crust, hot mantle, and very hot core.

• Create models to explain the processes changing the crust.

• Support explanations and models with evidence.

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