Video Lessons

Weathering: Where Does Sand Come From?

Summary

Grade Range

4th

Group Size

2 students

Active Time

60 minutes

Total Time

60 minutes

Area of Science

Geology

Key Concepts

Weathering, rocks, forces of nature

Credits

Sabine De Brabandere, PhD, Science Buddies Alumni

Sandra Slutz, PhD, Science Buddies Alumni

Video narration by Jennifer E Paz

Pricing

Free for a limited time thanks to individual donors

Video Lesson

Overview

In this lesson, students explore weathering—the wearing away of rock by exposure to the elements. They learn how it creates smooth boulders, rounded pebbles, sinkholes to swim in, and caves to explore. In the activity, they explore the connection between weathering and sand using sugar cubes.

Learning Objectives

Investigate how forces of nature contribute to the weathering of rock.
Explain what weathering is and how it occurs.

Materials

Per group:

Sugar cubes (4)
Dark colored paper
Transparent cup
Tray
Dropper
Water

Per student:

Weathering worksheet

Prep Work (10 minutes)

Gather the materials. Have one or more containers of water ready so each group can fill their dropper.

Engage (10 minutes)

Students are asked to think about where sand comes from. Through discussion and video evidence, students learn that sand is created by the weathering of large rocks into smaller and smaller bits of rock.

Explore (45 minutes)

Students are lead through a series of experiments, using sugar cubes as a model for rocks, to explore the natural physical processes which lead to the weathering of rock. Processes like falling, wear by wind and water, and dissolving are explored.

Reflect (2 minutes)

This video takes students on a journey to see how all the types of weathering they have explored and discussed can work together, over the course of millions of years, to transform a boulder into sand.

NGSS Alignment

This lesson helps students prepare for these Next Generation Science Standards Performance Expectations:

MS-ESS2-1. Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth's materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.

This lesson focuses on these aspects of NGSS Three Dimensional Learning:

Science & Engineering Practices

Planning and Carrying Out Investigations. Collect data to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence to answer scientific questions or test design solutions under a range of conditions.

Analyzing and Interpreting Data. Analyze and interpret data to determine similarities and differences in findings.

Disciplinary Core Ideas

ESS2-A: Earth Materials and Systems. Rainfall helps to shape the land and affects the types of living things found in a region. Water, ice, wind, living organisms, and gravity break rocks, soils, and sediments into smaller particles and move them around.

Crosscutting Concepts

Stability and Change. Explanations of stability and change in natural or designed systems can be constructed by examining the changes over time and processes at different scales, including the atomic scale.

Assess

The student worksheet can be used to evaluate students' understanding of the activity and basic concepts. A quiz is available as a summative assessment.

Extensions

Earthsteps: A Rock's Journey through Time by Diane Nelson Spickert, is a fantastic picture book which follows a rock from the time of dinosaurs to modern day as it is weathered from a boulder to sand and finally transformed into a fossil. An on-video reading of the book is also available.

Activities

Creating Craters

STEM Activity

64 reviews

How did the Moon get its craters? What about the craters on Earth? Why do they look the way they do? Find out in this fun science activity, as you make your own craters by dropping balls into a tray of flour. Read more

Lesson Plans

Model the Rock Cycle with Crayons

Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th

2 reviews

Can one type of rock turn into another type of rock? In this lesson plan, your students will explore the rock cycle and model it using crayons. Can they turn a sedimentary "rock" made from crayon shavings into a metamorphic rock? What about an igneous rock? Try this lesson to find out! Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

MS-ESS2-1. Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth's materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.

Careers

Geoscientist

Career Profile

Just as a doctor uses tools and techniques, like X-rays and stethoscopes, to look inside the human body, geoscientists explore deep inside a much bigger patient—planet Earth. Geoscientists seek to better understand our planet, and to discover natural resources, like water, minerals, and petroleum oil, which are used in everything from shoes, fabrics, roads, roofs, and lotions to fertilizers, food packaging, ink, and CD's. The work of geoscientists affects everyone and everything. In the… Read more