| Students
learn how sedimentary and metamorphic rocks are formed in
this hands-on exercise
What
you need:
Play-Doh™ or clay in three colors: make ping pong-sized
balls from two colors, and grape-sized balls from the other
color; plastic knife
What to do:
Take one ping pong-sized ball and flatten:
Take
another color ping pong-sized ball and flatten:
Place
4-6 grape-sized balls between the sheets of the other two.
Now
flatten the sheets with your knuckles pressed into a fist.
Cut a slice off the flattened clay with the plastic knife
and carefully examine the layering in the model.
Ask
the students, "If this model were actually a rock found
somewhere on the surface of the Earth, what type do you
think it would be and why?" (sedimentary, made from
materials that were weathered, eroded and deposited)
Students
can also take the flattened rock sample and twist in their
hands. Take another slice of the "rock" and ask
what has happened now to the rock? What forces acted on
it to change it?
Explanation:
When students took the flattened rock sample and twisted it
in their hands, they created a model of a metamorphic rock.
Pressure changed it from a sedimentary rock into a metamorphic
rock. Extend the learning by asking the students what could
happen next to the rock. Could it be broken down by erosion
or pulled back into the Earth's core and melted? Or ask them
to use their creativity to interview the rock, Pat Rock, about
the changes it has undergone.
TEKS
SCIENCE 3.1a, 3.2, 3.3a,c, 3.4a, 3.5, 3.6b, 3.7a, 3.11a, 4.1,
4.2, 4.3a,c, 4.4a, 4.5b, 4.6a, 4.7a, 4.10, 4.11b, 5.1, 5.2,
5.3a,c, 5.4a, 5.5, 5.6a, 5.7a, 5.11, 5.12a
Programs at The Science Place related to this topic:
Classroom Program: Earth Cycles (Grades 3-5), Geology Rocks!
(Grades 5-8)
Materials from the Teacher Resource Center:
Videos: Volcano and Nature's Rage, Scholastic Science Kits
on Rocks & Soil and How Landforms Change
Reservations
and Information
Reservations
Department
(214) 428-5555 Press 8 at any time during the recorded message
to connect to Reservations.
Fax (214) 428-4310
reserve@scienceplace.org
www.scienceplace.org/education
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