Looking for a more RIGOROUS weathering activity? Students will practice SCIENCE GRAPHING SKILLS and answer questions in the CLAIMS-EVIDENCE-REASONING format as they extend their learning about changes to Earth’s surface! Perfect to support NGSS MS-ESS2-2.
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There are SEVEN graphing activities included. They can be used together, as stations, or completely independently from each other. The format of each of the seven activities is the same:
- Students read a brief background information section on the topic.
- Students make a graph from the provided data.
- Students answer questions in the claims-evidence-reasoning format using evidence from the data table and graph.
Included Graphing Activities:
- Weathering: Effects of Acid Rain
- Weathering: Effects of the Freeze-Thaw Cycle on Rocks
- Erosion: Impact of Vegetation Cover on Soil Erosion
- Erosion: Coastal Erosion by Wave Action
- Erosion: Wind Erosion of Soil
- Deposition: Glacial Deposition
- Deposition: River Delta Sediment Deposition
Through these activities, students will answer the following questions by making CLAIMS from EVIDENCE in the data:
- How does vegetation cover affect soil erosion?
- Which percent of vegetation cover likely causes the most water to be absorbed into the soil?
- Which type of rock experiences the most weathering due to the freeze-thaw cycle?
- Limestone has the same Mohs hardness score as marble (4.0), yet limestone experienced more weathering than marble (3.6 mm crack versus 2.8 mm crack). What could have caused this?
- How does exposure time affect the weathering of limestone?
- How does acidity affect the weathering of limestone?
- Look at the Acid Rain Exposure Over Time graph. About how much limestone mass would you expect to be lost after 52 hours?
- How does soil moisture affect soil loss when exposed to the same wind speeds?
- How does wind speed affect soil loss?
- How does average wave height affect shoreline retreat?
- How does the type of shoreline (rocky/sandy) affect the amount of coastline erosion by waves?
- How does water velocity affect the thickness of sediment deposition in a river delta?
- How does meltwater flow rate affect till deposition?
Teacher Notes:
- Answer keys included.
- Please note: the resources in this weathering activity set are not editable.
- You can also shop my TPT store!
- Get this at a HUGE DISCOUNT in my EARTH’S CHANGING SURFACE UNIT!
Related Standards:
- NGSS MS-ESS2-1: Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth’s materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.
- NGSS MS-ESS2-2: Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth’s surface at varying time and spatial scales.
