Week 10

 What did you do in lab today?

In lab, we first looked at what a rock is and found that a rock is any solid mass of mineral or mineral-like matter that occurs naturally as part of our planet.  These will not be human-made materials.  We then explored rock cycles through an activity with Starbursts. We created two different sedimentary rocks, igneous rocks, and metamorphic rocks. We learned that a sedimentary rock is one that is cemented and compacted together, an igneous rock is melted and then cooled, and a metamorphic rock is heat (not enough to melt) and pressure. The top two rocks represent igneous rocks, the middle two represent metamorphic rocks, and the bottom two represent sedimentary rocks. We created our igneous and metamorphic rocks by using heat and created the sedimentary rocks by compacting them together and changing our pressure and color. 

What was the big question?

It it a rock?

What are the differences between sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks?

What did you learn in Thursday's discussion?

I learned about the layers of the earth. I learned that it has the outer thick shell, called the crust, below this is the mantle (the largest layer), and underneath this is Earth's core. The core is made up of an outer part and an inner part. I learned that the outer core is liquid and the inner core is solid. From here, we learned about plate tectonics and hot spots. I learned that the process of plate tectonics occur due to convection cells in the Earth's mantle which cause the plates in the crust to either slide, converge, or diverge. I learned that converging plates mean that the plates are moving towards each other and colliding. When this happens, material moves up and creates mountains, and down creating trenches. Diverging plates means the plates are moving away from each other. When this happens, stuff in the mantle immediately fills the dap and cools down, this can create ridges. I learned that hot spots are areas where the mantle is able to plume out. 

Textbook 

What did you learn?

I learned that the key processes in the rock cycle are heat & pressure and weathering & erosion. Erosion is the process where broken down rocks are carried to a new location. I learned that igneous rocks can become metamorphic rocks when they undergo heat and pressure and can become sedimentary rocks when they undergo weathering and erosion. I learned that a sedimentary rock can become a metamorphic rock by undergoing heat and pressure. I learned that a metamorphic rock can become a sedimentary rock when they undergo weathering and erosion. I also learned that a geode is a rock containing a cavity lines with crystals or other mineral matter. This can occur in different ways including when a bubble of carbon dioxide and water vapor forms in flowing lava. This results in an empty space when the rock cools. 

What was most helpful?

It was most helpful to review what weathering, erosion, and deposition are. Weathering is the breakdown of rocks on Earth's surface, they may be broken down due to water, wind, temperature, or pressure change (mechanical) or chemical reactions. Erosion is when these small bits of rocks are transported to a new location. After this, deposition occurs when the particles are added to or deposited at a new location. 

What do you need more information on?

I will need more information on plate tectonics sliding, converging, or diverging. I will need more practice determining how I know when each of these have occured. 

What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have?

How long does it take for a beach to form?

How does this happen?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 13

  What did you do in lab today? In lab, we looked at various graphs of different climate change. We found from the measurement of different variables that climate is overall warming in our area. These graphs showcased a longer growing season, wetter spring, more summer precipitation, wetter springs and summers, higher humidity, and drier autumns. We also looked at how climate change has affected the growth locations of different plant species.  What was the big question? How is climate change specifically happening in Iowa? What did you learn in Thursday's discussion? In lecture, I learned why some regions have a hot climate while others have cold. I learned that one of the factors that plays a role is latitude and that places closer to the North and South poles will have colder temperatures while places near the equator will have warmer temperatures. As well as this, the temperature of an ocean current will affect the temperature of the air that passes over it. Elevation also...
Read more

Week 11

Image
What did you do in lab today? In lab, we first looked at the law of superposition. I learned that this law says that rock layers closer to the surface are younger than rock layers at the bottom. This is the way geologists find the relative dates and ages of different rocks around the globe. We looked at several visuals that showed the law of superposition and determined the oldest to youngest order of the rocks. Through this, I learned that an intrusion or igneous dyke, which was showed in many of the visuals, has to be younger than all the things it's going through. This is because the rocks had to be there before the intrusion went through them. We also reviewed erosion and sand. We had the opportunity to view several different sands under a microscope and learned where each was form.  What was the big question? What is the Law of Superposition? What did you learn in Thursday's discussion? In lab, we examined water displacement/buoyancy. I learned that buoyancy is the ability...
Read more

Blog Post Week 1

  The big question addressed in lab, and a description of what you did. The big question that was addressed in lab this week was, why should elementary students learn about science? Another was, how should elementary students learn about science? After discussing these questions, we watched a video of students playing on a playground and noted what we noticed and wondered. Following this, we explored how we can support play that is exciting but not dangerous. To explore this question more, we did an experiment on how to make a race exciting by ensuring the racers will cross the finish line close to each other. To do this, we measured the distance of our race and the time it took us to walk this distance. After figuring this out, we were able to determine how much time one racer should start before the other to make the race close.  A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture. In Thursday's lecture we looked at the SEPS, DCI, and CCCs that are in 3-PS2-2. ...
Read more