Education Standards
Earth Systems - Grade 5
Overview
Elementary school lessons utilize local phenomenon and are organized by grade level. By organizing instruction around local phenomenon, students are provided with a reason to learn shifting the focus from learning about a disconnected topic to figuring out why or how something happens. #Going 3D with GRC
Lesson - Making Waves
Student Science Performance
Phenomenon: Tsunami waves are destructive and change Earth’s landforms.
Gather:
Students develop questions to obtain information about how changes in the geosphere cause changes in the hydrosphere.
Students obtain information about the causes of tsunamis.
(Teaching Suggestions: Video to introduce phenomena to students. Maybe show a portion of the video that addresses what a tsunami is. Focus on the actual wave itself and how it differs from a normal wave and leave out any sections that talk about the causes of tsunamis. The students should be the ones that gather information about the causes of tsunamis. Don’t give away too much information to the students. Let them gather it for themselves.)
- Phenomenon Video without Explanation of Causes: https://edpuzzle.com/media/5ec42273bafe873f1d0885a7
- Full Video including explanation of Cause: https://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/101-videos/00000144-0a30-d3cb-a96c-7b3dc88c0000
Class Discussion:
- Of the four Earth systems that interact, what do these systems consist of?
- How do the two spheres/systems interact with each other?
- Why do we refer to these as systems?
- How are energy and matter transferred from system to system?
- What are the two systems that interact when a tsunami occurs?
Reason:
3. Students analyze data to find patterns in the relationships of the geosphere and hydrosphere.
4. Students construct an explanation supported by evidence for the causes of tsunamis.
5. Students develop arguments from the evidence that tsunamis are caused by changes in the geosphere, but not all changes cause tsunamis.
Class Discussion:
- What caused changes in the system of the ocean (hydrosphere) that results in tsunamis?
- Why does the input of energy cause the change in the ocean system?
- How does the intensity of energy affect the change?
- How does the tsunami affect the ecosystem? On land? In the ocean?
(Teaching Suggestions: Changes in the geosphere (Earthquakes/landslides) cause a force to run through the water which displaces the water when it encounters something that can stop it (like land). The wind provides less energy to create waves vs. the energy created by an earthquake or landslide. Any change requires the input of energy into the system. The height of a wave is a measure of the energy of the wave. It takes more energy to make a large wave.)
Communicate Reasoning:
6. Students develop a model to demonstrate the transfer of energy between the geosphere and hydrosphere that cause tsunami waves.
(Teaching Suggestions: The source of energy of tsunamis originate from the geosphere and constitutes a larger input of energy causing waves. They should see the warning signs and know how to stay safe.)
Additional Lessons can be found at #Going 3D with GRC (Gathering, Reasoning and Communicating). Original authors were: Clorinda Galbraith, Andrea Fernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Ann Ushiroda, and Misha Shidaki