Title: Interpreting Natures Rock Puzzles

Desired Established Goals:

outcomes
Students will develop an understanding of how rock formations all over the Earth
can be used to interpret the Earths prehistoric past.

The students should be able to use their understandings of relative dating to

systematically interpret the geologic history/ order of events that contributed to
the development of different rock formations.

Meanings Essential Questions:

1. What are the general principles that can be used to relative date geologic
events in history?
a. How do igneous rocks tend to interact with other rocks?
b. What can the position of sedimentary rocks tell you about the history
of a rock formation?

Understandings:
Students will understand that:
1. There is a systematic way to look at a rock outcrop that allows a person to
infer the order geologic events occurred in a location.

2. Students should be able to explain, interpret, and apply the following

principles:
a. Horizontality
b. Superposition
c. Cross-cutting relationships
d. Inclusions
e. Unconformities

3. Students will be able to combine their understandings of relative dating

with their understanding of what environments form different rocks in
order to interpret the geologic past of a location.

Expected Prior - Many students will have gone past rock outcrops on the side of the road.
Student
Knowledge - Students will have completed a unit in this class on rocks where they practiced
interpreting the formation environments of different types of rocks.

- Students will have participated in activities where they explored different types of
fossils and practiced identifying different fossils from different geologic time
periods.

Standards ES.9 The student will investigate and understand that many aspects of the history and evolution
of Earth and life can be inferred by studying rocks and fossils. Key concepts include
b) superposition, cross-cutting relationships, index fossils, and
radioactive decay are methods of dating bodies of rock;

Possible 1. Students dont often fully understand the large spans of geologic time and
misconceptions geologic history that rock formations represent.
Performance Students will be able to demonstrate:
Tasks 1- That they can create and explain models that represent the following
principles
a. Horizontality
b. Superposition
c. Cross-cutting relationships
d. Inclusions
e. Unconformities
2- Students will properly explain how to apply the above principles to different
rock puzzles.
3- Students will be able to develop a geologic history explanation of a rock
outcrop by using the above principles.
Daily Agenda Daily Agenda
for board
Day 1 (90 minutes)
1- Warm up: Whats the history of this rock?
2- Relative dating a students story
3- Be an archeologist: Fun with Stratigraphy
4- Rock puzzle rules and models
5- Solving rock Puzzles
6- Telling a Rock Puzzles story

Day 2 (90 minutes)

1- Revisit the Whats the history of this rock? picture
2- Share your rock puzzle stories
3- Complete the relative dating stations
4- Relative dating quick check.

*** After completing these students will start a set of lessons on absolute
dating methods either the next day or at the end of day 2***

Materials - Whiteboard materials per person: One whiteboard per person, one whiteboard
needed marker, and one whiteboard eraser.
- Each student should have an activity packet
- One sediment settling tube for every two students
- One set of stacked layers of colored clay for every two students
- One plastic knife for every two students
- Station materials set up at each station location: Each station should have a copy
of detailed instructions, required images, a list of expectations of what they should
accomplish during the activity.
Engage 1- Whats the history of this rock?: Project pictures of different outcrops
onto the board and have the students write observations about the outcrops
onto their individual whiteboards. Then have them write inferences that
their observations could lead them to related to the geologic history of the
formations. **After going through the lesson go back to these pictures and
have the students write observations and inferences again about the same
outcrops. Lead a discussion around how the principles learned in this
lesson can be used to interpret the history. Encourage the students to think
about how their new interpretations connect to their first interpretations.**
2- Relative dating a students story: Students will be introduced to the
 differences between relative dating and absolute dating through making
models related to their own lives
a. Absolute dating: Students will reflect on evidence that tells them
when they were born (similar to the concept of chemical evidence
that provides absolute dating information)
They will compare it to
b. Relative dating story of their life: The students will be asked to
choose four events from their life that they will include in their own
relative dating story. They will draw pictures or write captions to
illustrate the events that happened, and the events from longest ago
should be at the bottom of their story.
i. Once the students have completed their story, they will have
to find two separate students to estimate how old they were
during each of the events in the story. The students should
write their guesses on either side of the story outline, and
then the students can discuss how close they were.
ii. Once the students have finished guessing the class should get
back together in order to have a discussion around the
following questions.
1. What did we notice about the estimates of the ages?
2. What were the same about the ages?
3. What helped students have more accurate estimates?
4. How are the two sections of this activity the same and
how are they different?
3- Be an archeologist (Fun with Stratigraphy): Students will start this
activity once they are completed with their story model and they have
shared with two partners. Through this activity they will practice applying
the concept they just modeled to the fun with stratigraphy activity on page 7
of their materials.
a. Students will then choose to go up to the smart board to write their
answers. Depending on the class, and how comfortable students are
with their answers I sometimes have the students pass the pen.
When students pass the pen, one student puts and answer up and
then gives the Smartboard pen to another student who hasnt gone
up to answer a prompt.

Explore 1- Rock Puzzles Rules and Models: Go through a short set of slides/ cloze
notes activities and demonstrations that have many visuals and practice
examples of how to apply each principle.
a. Each pair of students has a sedimentation tube on their desks
related to the model of stratigraphy and horizontality.
b. Each student has clay at their desk to use to model the cross cutting
principle and to model how layers can change as a result of mountain
building.
2- Display on the Smartboard the puzzles in order to model for the students
how to apply the principles to the puzzles. Make sure to explain the
reasoning and thought process when modeling it. While explaining the
solution to the puzzle explain how the rocks connected to the letters formed.
3- Have students try a second one on their own and then go through the
answer as a class. While going through that example have the students
explain their answers in terms of what happened with the rocks connected
 to the letters.
4- Have the students independently practice applying the rules to a set of four
other puzzles.
5- Once the students are complete with their rock puzzles they are to compare
their answers with a partner in the class, and then have their answers
checked by a teacher. it is up to the teacher about how they want partners
to be assigned or if they want to allow students to pick partners . That
might vary depending on the dynamics of the class
6- If their answers are not correct the teachers will ask students to explain
some of their answers and will give feedback related to where they need to
look at and have them make adjustments to their responses based on the
principles they reviewed.
7- Once they have made any needed adjustments the students will work in the
pairs they were in to discuss and interpret a more complicated puzzle. The
students will then work together to write out a geologic history related to
that puzzle explaining what most likely happened to the rocks in that
location over time based on the principles they learned as a class. Students
will be told that they will be expected to share their interpretations with the
class during a class discussion.
Explain - The class will discuss how the principles work as the class talks about their
models and when they explain their reflections that they wrote.
- Students will explain their understandings of how the principles relate to
the rock puzzles to one another when they compare their answers to the
rock puzzles.
Elaborate The students will be placed into groups of three by the teacher and each group will
be assigned one of two stations to work at (station1 or station 3). Once students
have worked together and created their responses they will discuss their responses
with the teacher. They will make any needed adjustments to their responses and
then switch stations once they have made any needed adjustments based on
teacher feedback. One teacher will be at each station. Once the groups have
finished both stations they may go over to station 3 and complete the activity there.
Station 3 will be set up in a way so students can get the materials and work where
they would like. The teachers will monitor students completing station 3 as more
groups go to that station.

Station 1 (each group should work together to develop an answer and then
each group member should record the answers on their sheet): The students
will be provided with pictures similar to the ones they worked on in class during
the explore section. However, this time instead of letters the layers connect to a key
with names of specific types of rocks. Instead of putting letters in order, the
students are to write the events out in more detail related to the types of rocks for
four different rock formation pictures. There will be an example at the station for
them to reference.

Station 2 (each group should work together to develop an answer and then
each group member should record the answers on their sheet): : The students
will be provided with a list of an order of events that formed three different
outcrops at this station. They will be given a key showing symbols connected to
different rocks. The student will be asked to draw what the outcrops would look
like based on the order of events that occurred there.
 Station 3 (one product per group): There will be laminated colored pictures of
real outcrops labeled with where each outcrop is found. They will be given
information on what types of rock are found in different layers of the formations,
and they will also be provided with information related to index fossils from a
certain time that are found different sections of the rocks. The students will have
instructions to choose one as a group. They will have the responsibility of working
together in their groups to interpret the history of those rocks. They can choose to
either record the story, draw the progression in pictures, or write out a story about
what they think happened historically to the areas based on what they see.

Evaluate Formative Evaluation:

- Teachers will look at student responses on the whiteboard to gauge their
prior knowledge and interpretations of rock outcrops.
- Teachers will take notes and adjust instruction based on the conversations
they have with students as they make their models and practice applying
the principles.
- Teachers will give verbal feedback to students as they complete stations 1
and 2. Students will make adjustments to their work based on the verbal
feedback, and the students will make adjustments to their feedback based
on the teacher responses.
- The teacher will evaluate the student Station 3 interpretation based on the
rubric provided.
- Students will complete the relative dating quick check google form until the
score a 100%