Warm-up Your Brain and Make Observations
Utah Student Science Experience format adapted from the work developed by Chris Zieminski and TJ McKenna for NGSSphenomena.com
What do you see? What do you wonder?
Canyon 1
Canyon 2
How Can I Explore What is Happening?
Compare the formation of a river valley to the model of a valley created by ice. How does the shape of the valley change when ice forms the valley?
How do you think the two different shaped canyons formed?
Canyon 1: Canyon 2:
What Can I Learn to Help Me Make Sense?
Read the following:
Landforms
Land and water cover the surface of Earth. The ground under your feet is part of the land. Earth’s surface has many features such as mountains, valleys, canyons, and floodplains. These features on Earth’s surface are called landforms. These landforms can also be found at the bottom of lakes and oceans.
Creation of Landforms
Land can be pushed up to form mountains. Earthquakes can cause landforms to crack and break. Water can fall on the land in the form of rain or snow. When water lands on mountains and hills, it drains down forming canyons and rivers. The rivers move the water to lakes and oceans. We see lakes in valleys or floodplains at the bottom of landforms.
How does water help valleys form?
What can I do next?
Look at the canyons near your home. Are the canyons V shaped or U shaped?
These patterns will help you see if they were made by water or ice.
Share what you saw with another person. Make sure to tell them why you think this happened. How did it go? Either circle or keep the emoji that matches your experience.