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The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project

How Are Rocks Formed?

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How Are Rocks Formed?

A 4th grade STEM lesson

Tracy Sullins

5/1/2023

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Notes for teachers

The data sheet is attached to this lesson plan. These can be cut and pasted into their notebook or you can have them create their own depending on your class.

List of Materials

  • Science Notebooks
  • glue stick
  • permanent markers
  • scissors
  • Data graph

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Standards

4.E1U1.7

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Develop and/or revise a model using various rock types, fossil location, and landforms to show evidence that Earth’s surface has changed over time.

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Standards

4.L.6

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Acquire and accurately use grade-appropriate general academic and domain specific words and phrases, including those that signal precise actions, emotions, or states of being and that are basic to a particular topic.

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Objective:

Students will explore weathering of solid rock and how it changes over time. They will use a sugar cube to represent the rock and test the effects of a rock at the top of the mountain and what occurs to it as a result of making its way down the mountain.

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Agenda (45-60 minutes)

This lesson should take about 45 minutes to an hour depending on your class.

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LESSON PLAN

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Intro

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Why do rocks at the top of the mountain look different then the rocks at the bottom of the mountain?

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Hands-on Activity Instructions

Experiment

  1. Groups or partners will glue a data observation sheet into their science notebook
  2. Get supplies for each group (4 sugar cubes, one container with lid)
  3. One person from each group will use a permanent marker to color the edges of ONE sugar cube. This will be the one that is observed during the experiment
  4. Have students draw in their notebook what the cube looks like now and label it
  5. Have students draw what they predict it will look like when the experiment is completed
  6. Once they are ready, place all four cubes inside the container, put the lid on, and have one person shake it 20 times
  7. Open the lid and mark the observations on the data sheet
  8. Repeat until the sheet has been completely filled

Once completed you can have a class discussion about what they found. They should see the cube start to smooth out.

Guiding questions to ask

  • The sugar cube represents rocks in nature. What is the shaking of the container representing?
  • What is left in the bottom of the container? (There should be sugar dust) What does this represent? (Sand or smaller rocks)

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Assessment

How Are Rocks Formed - Quiz

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Differentiation

Remediation

Extension/Enrichment

To add to this lesson, students can make a prediction of what the “rock” will look like if you shake it 100 more times. How long would this take in nature? This can be a writing assignment or can be a class discussion.

I if a student is struggling with the concept then you can pull those students in small groups and do the experiment in small steps to enable you to stop frequently and have discussions about the whys. Or you can choose the partners and match up a strong student with one that needs more guidance at the beginning of the lesson and this allows you to walk around the class and join in on all conversations to ask guiding questions.