Essay on "Earth Science When Teaching"

Essay 3 pages (1235 words) Sources: 3

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Earth Science

When teaching Earth Science to students there are many options today and many things that need to be addressed in the lesson plans. Most school districts have certain scope and sequence areas that are to be addressed in the classroom, first in the lesson plans themselves and later in the standardized testing that is done once a year, usually at the end of the year.

Mapping data helps students learn about and explore Earth processes. Data mapping helps scientists learn about the how the earth fits together and this allows them to keep an eye on troubled hotspots such as volcanoes and areas that have earthquakes. Children can learn about the earth processes by watching videos and studying websites that have data mapping on their sites. Depending on the ages of the students, they can learn about plate tectonics when they are younger students, and older students can learn about how scientists actually map the data. Some of these processes that are most utilized by data mapping are plate tectonics, which is the study of the earth. As early as the 16th century, mapmakers discovered that the continents looked like they fit together and were just separated by water. Later, when scientists started uncovering fossils, it was discovered that of the fossilized remains and geological formations were the same across the different continents. During the 1960s, when the Navy funded studies to map the ocean floor to improve submarine warfare, scientists discovered and later confirmed that the ocean floor was spreading.

In 1985, the Navy launched a satellite that used radar to map the ocean floor and scientists studied this data and validated the theory of plate tectonics. Scientists now understand that the Earth's surface (the upper 40-60 miles of the crust) is divided into massive plates that move 1-4 inches a year. This helps explain volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis. However, it is still not understood why the plates were joined originally or how they originally broke apart.

Deep time refers to the stretch of geological history. We have a hard time visualizing how old the Earth is, but we can discover it through the different layers shown in different rocks. The earth is approximately 4.6 billion years old and it has been altered significantly by climate swings, volcanoes, drifting continents (plate tectonics) and more. These conditions have, in turn, influenced every living thing on earth. Scientists utilize every type of science to discover our history and one of the best ways to learn about deep time is by the cycles of extinctions. Scientists speculate that only one in a thousand species that have ever lived are alive today. The other 99.9% are extinct -- gone forever. With few exceptions, the life span of individual species last between 2 and 10 million years, on average. No matter how well a creature adapts to the environment, history shows that even the most dominant can be wiped out. Picture the woolly mammoth or T-Rex. However, ironically, extinction is not the end to all life. Even in the most catastrophic events, death is not the end, for surviving species continue to evolve, often filling niches left by those who died.

We can help students understand how the Sun-Earth-Moon system affects our world, by teaching them about our solar system. There are many different ways to teach about the solar system and how it affects us on earth. Depending on the age of the students, the lessons can go from pretty simple to pretty complicated. NASA has lots of data and some lesson plans already written, along with pictures and diagrams. There are interactive programs on the computer to help teach about the solar system, that again go from… READ MORE

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