Great Lab!!!

This could be a great lab to do on a nice day outside. It also provides you with an extension.

Great for demonstrating weathering and erosion

The title of the article is, Science Sampler: Chemical weathering- Where did the rocks go?, by Robin Harris, Carolyn Wallace and Joseph Zawicki. The main focus of the article is to address t... See More

The title of the article is, Science Sampler: Chemical weathering- Where did the rocks go?, by Robin Harris, Carolyn Wallace and Joseph Zawicki. The main focus of the article is to address the idea of chemical weathering into the classroom. As mentioned in the summery of the article, "This lesson is a part of a larger Earth science unit that combines the concepts of the rock cycle and the water cycle and how they interact to change landforms." The reason this article was chosen to review for this particular science lesson was its close tie with hands on science, showing a specific type of erosion. Although I am not demonstrating chemical weathering in my lesson on the Grand Canyon, reading this article gave me complex ideas on how to expand my current lesson, but also gave me ideas on how to structure my current lesson on weathering and erosion. Within the Science Sampler, the article touches upon how to begin the lesson, extend the lesson, create worksheets and formulate assessment. I feel as though reading articles that have direct relation with preparing a complex lesson plan would be useful to any teachers, especially if the article shows how to organize hands-on science lessons.

Good sample investigations

Chemical weathering can be a difficult concept for young middle school students. I developed an approach similar to the article with my 6th grade students. The investigations included defin... See More

Chemical weathering can be a difficult concept for young middle school students. I developed an approach similar to the article with my 6th grade students. The investigations included definitely provide a good starting point to give examples and get students thinking.

An Upgrade to an Old Activity

What makes this activity a little different is that students use technology to view real life examples of chemical weathering. A Google image search is done or www.usgs.gov site is used to ... See More

What makes this activity a little different is that students use technology to view real life examples of chemical weathering. A Google image search is done or www.usgs.gov site is used to allow students to find locations where actual conditions are contributors to chemical weathering. The classroom chemical weather activity itself is not to unique.

Chemical Weathering

This article addresses the issue of chemical weathering. Perhaps if I had the entire unit referenced in the article, I would appreciate the lessons presented more. However, I think the art... See More

This article addresses the issue of chemical weathering. Perhaps if I had the entire unit referenced in the article, I would appreciate the lessons presented more. However, I think the article misses an important opportunity to address the issues of acid rain and pollution in relation to the Earths systems. Also, I would have appreciated a more thorough description of the chemical reactions that are occurring – not for the students, but as background information for me. The three labs that are presented appear to be good, but again, there is not enough background information on the chemical reactions taking place for me to help my students see the correlations to the real world. The best lab is the lab, which uses real rock samples for the students to test. I am not sure if the students can make the connection between rocks and pennies. Overall the lesson plan ideas appear solid – a little more information would have made this a great article/lesson plan idea.