Land and Water
Lesson 7
Where Does the Soil Go? Looking at Erosion and Deposition
Students will use the stream table to collect data on the speed of the runoff and the movement of soil.
3. Lesson set up and Management
INQB: Scientists plan and conduct different kinds of investigations, depending on the questions they are trying to answer.
INQC: An experiment involves a comparison. For an experiment to be valid and fair, all of the things that can possibly change the outcome of the experiment should be kept the same, if possible.
INQD: Investigations involve systematic collection and recording of relevant observations and data.
INQF: A scientific model is a simplified representation of an object, event, system, or process created to understand some aspect of the natural world.
ES2C: Erosion is the movement of Earth materials by processes such as wind, water, ice, and gravity.
- Students will track the speed of the water during their stream table investigation.
- Students will observe where the soil "wears away" and "drops off."
- Students will record their observations and summarize their findings based on their observations.
3. Lesson set up and Management
Materials:
- Make sure students slope the earth materials in the model.
- Save the flags to use as an option with other lessons. Also, the toothpick flags can be saved from year to year.
- The teacher may need to model for each group how to sprinkle, using just a few pinches of marine sand.
Evidence of the marine sand may not be this obvious.
Student Management:
- Make sure a student that did not pour the water during the other investigations has a chance to do it this time.
- Student jobs during this investigation include: student to pour water, student to catch water, student to drop sand, student to put in the flags "fast" and "slow." Let the non-flag students put in the flags "wears away soil" and "drops off soil."
Student putting the flags on the stream table.
- Move the stream table to the storage area as soon as possible to preserve the stream channel.
- Have the students set up their land like they did in Lesson 4. You may have to remind them that in order to compare results with the rest of the class, each group must start with the same set-up. Remind them of a "fair test."
- Combine Lesson 7 with Lesson 8 student pages "Student Instructions for Making an Aerial Drawing" Steps 1-6. If combining, have the students skip Step 8. In the Teacher's Edition, skip Final Activities 3-4.
- It may be helpful to take a digital photo of the different groups' investigation results. It is best if the photo can be taken prior to moving the stream table.
This digital photo shows details that students may not capture in Lesson 8.
Writing Support:
- After reading the selection "Glaciers: Rivers of Ice," have the students write a short story personifying the mountain.
Reading Support:
- Read-aloud reading opportunity: A True Book: Valleys and Canyons by Larry D. Brimner. Use pages 20-of this book prior to reading the selection, "Glaciers: Rivers of Ice."
- Have students read the selection "Glaciers: Rivers of Ice." Have the students do a quick-sketch of the bolded words in the selection.