Earth Science Investigations
Posted by Mary Faulkner
The past month in fifth grade science has involved several hands on activities to further the understanding of many different natural occurrences that change the landscape. Two that the students enjoyed thoroughly, were a soil investigation and river investigation.
The soil investigation involved first collecting soil samples and separating any inorganic and organic materials from the soil itself. Long discussions where had about what these two words even meant, but through the investigation the definition of these terms became clear. Second, students poured the soil onto the picnic tables outside into small mounds to represent mountains. Then they used pipettes to slowing add water to the mound. Many interesting things were observed then shouts of, “Look! It’s a flash flood” and “My mountain is collapsing just like a landslide!”
Next, after observing the features of the Horse Tavern Brook and what might be the causes of the brook eroding, students were challenged to make models of their own rivers. The only requirement was to design a river with the river they observed in mind and to be mindful of the banks and riverbed. After the rivers where complete, students were then able to pour water down the river to see how the design would stand up to the force of the water at three increasing inclines. The entire process was documented on video to give students the ability to make thorough observations of this process.
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