This was the most difficult lesson implementation thus far of my degree journey. It was extremely challenging for me to find students for my summer class. I ended up with a class of my two boys, my two nieces, and two of my boy’s friends, and two of their sisters. The four girls were wonderful, but the boys tried not to be goofy, but for the most part they were. They all know I am a teacher, but I think it was bizarre for them to see me in a teacher role.
I placed the students into four groups of two and each group were given two pieces of tow by four wood, clay, toothpicks, and Monopoly houses to create a fault line and a city. They placed the tow by fours on a flat surface and covered them with clay to appear as one piece. Then they added a road and house to create a city. I was surprised how much these middle school students were engaged in the creation of their fault line city. Once the groups were finished with their models, they need to make a prediction on how the land would look after the plated moved. Then they were instructed to place one board in each hand and slide their boards in the directions specified on their lab sheet for each fault, resetting the crust after each demonstration. One group of students observed that most of the damage occurs along the fault line. Eureka!
Hollie,
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic way to show modeling. It looks like they put so much detail in the cities they created. I agree that it was difficult to come up with a group of students. I didn't know any of my students which made it difficult because they really didn't know what to expect from me. Your lesson looks like one I would want to do with a group of students.
Ann
Hello,
ReplyDeleteDespite it being summer, it looks like the students had a lot of fun and were actively engaged. Do you think it might be possible to add a bridge to the models in the future? Amy
Hollie,
ReplyDeleteFinding students during the summer to participate in this lesson was,in my opinion, a challenge. For my group I enlisted two of my own children and two of children in the neighborhood.
Nice use of the modeling clay, boards, toothpicks and even the Monopoly houses to simulate a city during the action of the major types of faults.
Question: How much prior knowledge of faulting did the students possess and if so any reteaching needed before the modeling?
Mark