Image: 2013 Earth Science Week photography contest winning entry by Libby Hinchliff.

A heron stalking fish in a local stream. A beach rehabilitation team planting grass by the seashore.

These images are among the 2014 finalists in the American Geosciences Institute’s Earth Science Week photography and visual arts contests.

Open to individuals of any age, including students in public, private, or charter school, the photography contest’s theme for this year is “Earth Systems Interacting.” Entries must be original, authentic, unpublished photographs – including on Facebook – that capture at least one Earth system (land, air, water, biosphere) affecting another Earth system in your community.

Winners will receive a cash prize of $300 and a copy of AGI’s “The Geoscience Handbook.” In addition, the names of winners and finalists along with their entries will be posted on the Earth Science Week website and included in the Earth Science World Image Bank.

Click HERE for the “Earth Systems Interacting” photo contest entry form.

The visual arts contest is open to children in grades K-5. Click HERE for the “Picturing Earth Systems” entry form.

AGI, a nonprofit professional organization that represents more than 250,000 geologists, geophysicists, and other Earth scientists, also sponsors an essay contest for students in grades 6-9. Click HERE for the “Earth Science Visualization Today” entry form.

Deadline for all Earth Science Week contests is October 16, 2015

Earth Science Week 2015 Essay Contest
American Geosciences Institute
4220 King Street
Alexandria, VA 22302-1502

Email: info@earthsciweek.org

Filed under: Competitions and Contests, K-12 Outreach Programs, Web Resources | Comments Off on Earth Science Week Contests

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHMQyQ_YwL8[/youtube]

This hands-on activity is part of the six-unit Manned Mission to Mars lesson and Mission to Mars curricular unit from TeachEngineering.org.

Summary

• Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all. [Grade 3]
• Make observations and measurements to identify materials based on their properties. [Grade 5]

Before the Activity

With the Students

Contributors

Daria Kotys-Schwartz, Geoffrey Hill, Chris Yakacki, Malinda Schaefer Zarske, Janet Yowell © 2004 by Regents of the University of Colorado.

Supporting Program

Integrated Teaching and Learning Program, College of Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder

Acknowledgements

Last modified: September 11, 2015

Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Are We Alone?

This hands-on activity about the factors involved in getting astronauts off Mars is part of a TeachEngineering.org Mission to Mars curricular unit.

Grade level: 6 -8

Time: 45 minutes

Summary

• Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object’s motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object

Getting off Earth – Launch

The first step on the trip to Mars is the launch. Launch is the act of getting a spacecraft off the surface of the Earth and into an orbit around it. It takes a lot of energy to reach an orbit above Earth. Consider that just to jump a couple feet off the ground takes all the energy we can muster. To get a thousand kilogram spacecraft off the ground takes an incredible amount of energy. Not only do we have to overcome Earth’s gravity, but also the drag of the atmosphere.

Let’s consider the forces acting on a rocket. Look at Figure 1 showing a rocket just before liftoff. The two forces acting upon the rocket in this scenario are the rocket’s weight (W) and a normal force (N). A normal force is a force that acts on an object by a contact surface (in this case, the ground). A normal force also acts perpendicularly to the surface – because the ground is horizontal, the normal force acts vertically. If we add the forces together, we will find the net force (F_net) acting on the rocket: F_net = N – W. The weight is preceded by a minus sign because the weight of the rocket acts downward (the normal force acts upward and is thus positive, but does not require a plus sign by common mathematical sign convention). It is easy to understand from this situation that because the rocket is not moving, the weight is balanced by the normal force: N = W. Thus, the net force is zero.

Now let’s consider the scenario after liftoff. Look at Figure 2. There is no longer a normal force because the rocket is not in contact in the ground. The positive (up) force is now the thrust force (F_T; more on this later). Because the rocket is travelling in Earth’s atmosphere, there is a drag force (F_D; we can feel drag when we put our hands out a moving car’s window). Let’s find the net force acting on this rocket: F_net = F_T – F_D – W. The motion of the rocket depends on the magnitudes of these forces at an instant in time.

If the thrust force is less than the sum of the drag force and the weight (i.e., the downward forces are greater than the upward force), then the rocket will fall back to the Earth.

F_T < F_D + W –> the rocket falls back towards Earth

If the thrust force is equal to the sum of the drag force and the weight, then the rocket will continue travelling upward at the same velocity (it will not speed up or slow down). This scenario describes Newton’s 1st Law of Motion – this law (known as the “law of inertia”) simply means that if an object is in motion and is not acted upon by unbalanced forces, the object will remain in motion at the same velocity (it will not accelerate or decelerate). (The 1st Law also describes the scenario in Figure 1 – if an object is at rest and is not acted on by unbalanced forces, it will remain at rest.) In order to be travelling fast enough to orbit, the rocket must reach a minimum velocity of 8 kilometers per second (discussed later). If it does not reach this velocity, it will eventually fall back to Earth.

F_T = F_D + W –> the rocket continues at the same velocity

If the thrust force is greater than the sum of the drag force and the weight, then the rocket will accelerate upward (the velocity will continue to increase). This scenario illustrates Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion. The 2nd Law can be described mathematically by the equation F_net = ma, where m is the mass of the rocket and a is its acceleration. Thus, it is easy to see that the acceleration of a rocket is dependent upon the net force and the mass of the rocket.

F_T > F_D + W –> the rocket accelerates

If we rearrange the equation for Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion so that a is by itself (divide both sides by m), then we have:

F_net = ma

a = F_net/m

Now we can more easily see the effect of the rocket’s mass on its acceleration. When the mass increases, the acceleration decreases. When the mass decreases, the acceleration increases. We can describe this mathematically as shown below:

• Assume mass = 1 unit: a = F_net / 1 = F_net

• When the mass is doubled, m = 2 units: a = F_net / 2 = ½ F_net

• When the mass is halved, m = 1/2: a = F_net / ½ = 2 F_net

This demonstrates the importance of keeping the mass of a rocket to a minimum – doing so will allow the rocket to accelerate much faster.

To figure out how much velocity we need to get into an orbit around Earth, we use the following equation:

where, ∆ means change and V means velocity.

So ∆V_Launch is the total change in velocity needed to launch a spacecraft into an orbit around Earth. ∆V is the final velocity minus the initial velocity. Since the velocity of the spacecraft is initially zero while it is on the ground, ∆V is simply the final velocity. ∆V_burnout is the leftover velocity that we need to maintain and orbit around Earth. We will talk about this velocity a little later. ∆V_gravity is the change in velocity needed to overcome the gravity of Earth. ∆V_drag is the change in velocity required to overcome drag.

To achieve the required ∆V, engineers at NASA use huge rockets. The actual size and mass of the rocket, which engineers call the launch vehicle, dwarfs the actual spacecraft, which is referred to as the payload. For a typical mission into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) the mass of the launch vehicle and the fuel is roughly 40 times the mass of the actual payload.

So, how does a rocket create the ∆V we need? (Answer: Rockets take advantage of what is described in Newton’s third law of motion.) Newton’s third law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you were to stand on a skateboard and push against a wall you would move in the opposite direction. This is an example of Newton’s third law. Cars use tires to push backwards against the road, which causes them to move in the opposite direction. True, rockets do not actually push against the air, but the movement of a rocket is still described by Newton’s third law of motion. A rocket works by creating super hot gasses and “throwing” them backwards very quickly. This “throwing” of the air is the action. The reaction is that the rocket moves in the opposite direction, forwards.

We use two basic numbers to characterize rockets. The first of is the thrust — the force that pushes the rocket into orbit. We calculate the amount of thrust a rocket produces by using the following equation:

where the thrust force (F) is equal to the mass flow rate (m) multiplied by the exhaust velocity (V_e). The mass flow rate is how fast mass is coming out of the rocket. The mass is the exhaust gas that comes from the burning fuel. Mass flow rate is measured in kilograms per second (kg/s). The exhaust velocity is a measure of how fast the hot gas leaves the rocket nozzle.

The other number we use to characterize rockets is the specific impulse (I_sp) — a measure of the energy content of a propellant and how efficiently it is converted into thrust. Basically, the specific impulse tells us how much “bang for the buck” we get out a certain type of rocket. To calculate the specific impulse, we divide the thrust by the weight flow rate:

The weight flow rate is the mass flow rate (m) multiplied by the gravitational acceleration of Earth (g = 9.81 m/s²). The specific impulse has units of seconds. The I_sp measures how much thrust we are getting for how much fuel weight we are using. A higher I_sp means that we are getting more thrust for less fuel, and it is a more efficient system.

Three different kinds of rockets are currently used in space applications: chemical, electrical and cold gas. Chemical rockets are the most common typein use today, and include liquid fuel rockets, solid fuel rockets and a hybrid of the two. Chemical rockets rely on chemical combustion that creates a super-heated, high-pressure gas. This high-pressure gas can only escape through the nozzle. According to Newton’s third law of motion, this gas leaving the rocket at a very high velocity is the action, while the rocket moving in the opposite direction is the opposite reaction.

Liquid fuels are stored in large tanks and are pumped into a combustion chamber where they ignite before leaving the rocket through the nozzle. Figure 1 shows a diagram of a liquid fuel rocket. Liquid fuel systems are complicated since they require several tanks, complex valves and intricate piping, but they create a lot of thrust, have a high Isp, and can be throttled and restarted if needed. The space shuttles main engines use a liquid fuel that is a mixture of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. Figure 2 shows the liquid fuel tank and the liquid fuel main engine on the space shuttle.

Solid fuel rockets can be described as a tube, filled with a solid fuel, capped at one end and with a nozzle at the other end. The solid fuel is highly flammable and works in the same way the liquid fuel system works. As the fuel burns, a hot and high-pressure gas comes out of the nozzle creating thrust. Solid fuel systems are very simple, cheap and reliable, but they cannot be turned off once they start and they are not as efficient as liquid fuels. An example of a solid fuel system is the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB) on the space shuttle (see Figure 2). They are the two white rockets strapped to the side of the vehicle and are used to help get the space shuttle off the ground. Once the fuel inside the boosters is exhausted, they are released from the shuttle and dropped into the ocean. Bottle rockets and model rockets are both considered solid fuel rockets.

Electrical rockets use electricity to accelerate particles that are directed out the back end of the spacecraft, thus creating thrust. The rockets generally use charged atoms called ions that have a positive or negative charge associated with them. An electrical source, such as solar cells, or a nuclear reactor is used to charge plates in the engine with different charges so that the ions are pushed and pulled out of the spacecraft. The downside to electrical rockets is that they cannot create much thrust. If you hold one sheet of paper in your hand, the force with which the paper pushes on your hand due to its weight is roughly equal to the thrust of an electrical rocket. The plus side to electric rockets is that they are very efficient and have a high Isp. Since the thrust of an electrical rocket is so small, it is impossible to launch a rocket into space; but, once a spacecraft is in an orbit around Earth, an electrical rocket can be used to escape the Earth’s gravity and head to different places around our solar system. The small thrust means it takes a long time for the craft to build up sufficient escape velocity, but the high efficiency of the system means less fuel is needed to achieve the desired velocity. The first use of electrical rockets in space was on board Deep Space 1, which launched onboard a conventional liquid fuel rocket on October 24, 1998. Once it was in orbit, it started its own engine and eventually reached the Comet Borrelly in September of 2001.

Cold gas rockets use pressurized gas that is not ignited. This is usually a nonflammable gas such as nitrogen or helium. A balloon that is filled and then released is an example of a cold gas system. The pressurized gas can only escape out the nozzle, and as it does, it creates thrust. Cold gas systems have very low thrusts and are very inefficient (low I_sp), but they are very simple and cheap. They are often used on spacecraft to make very small velocity changes where large rockets are overkill. The rocket packs that astronauts use when they are outside the space shuttle or international space station use cold gas rockets.

Table 1 shows the different types of rockets and the typical thrusts and specific impulses for each system.

Orbits

Once a launch vehicle has taken the spacecraft out of the Earth’s atmosphere, it now must enter into an orbit. An orbit is a circular or elliptical path around a celestial body (sun, star, planet, asteroid, etc.) on which an object such as a spacecraft follows. One common misconception is that no gravity exists on the space shuttle and international space station. In fact, gravity is acting on a person in orbit around the Earth, but s/he does not feel it like we feel it on Earth, because no ground exists to push back on a person in space. So, why doesn’t a spacecraft just fall back to Earth once the rockets shut off? This is because the velocity of the spacecraft wants to move it past the Earth, while gravity pulls it back. These two actions cancel out to form an orbit. An orbit can be explained by Newton’s first law of motion, which tells us that an object in motion stays in motion unless a force acts against it. This means that an object will move in a straight line unless a force pushes it in a different direction. For any object to change the direction in which it is moving, a force must act upon it. For example, when you are on a bike and want to turn (change directions), your tire must apply a force to the ground. This force is called friction; without friction, it would be like biking on perfectly smooth ice. If you tried to turn, there would be no frictional force; you would keep moving in a straight line as Newton’s first law describes. Just like your bike, a spacecraft will not turn unless a force acts on it. The force that acts on objects — ultimately causing them to orbit a planet or a star — is gravity. An orbit is just a balance between the velocity of an object and gravity.

Figure 3 shows how gravity affects the path of a spacecraft. The diagram on the left shows the path of a spacecraft if there was no gravity. In this case, the spacecraft would continue along in a straight line. The diagram on the right shows the path of a spacecraft under the influence of gravity. Gravity is pulling the spacecraft towards the center of the Earth, while the velocity of the spacecraft makes the spacecraft want to keep going past the Earth. The balance of these two opposing actions is known as an orbit. For a low Earth orbit (LEO), which has an altitude between 600 and 2000 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, the spacecraft must have a velocity of about 8 kilometers per second. That means that it can go all the way around the Earth in 90 minutes. So, what happens if the spacecraft is not moving (that is, it has no velocity)? If there is no velocity, then the only force acting on the spacecraft is gravity. This means that a spacecraft would fall to Earth just as a stone falls to the ground when you drop it. So, what happens if the spacecraft is moving much faster than the 8 km/s needed to maintain a LEO? In that case, the gravity will not be able to hold the spacecraft as close to the Earth, and the spacecraft will either move into an orbit that is further away from the Earth, or if it is moving fast enough it will overcome the Earth’s gravity entirely. This is called the escape velocity, and it is the minimum velocity needed to escape the Earth’s gravity.

Sir Isaac Newton performed a famous mind experiment to demonstrate how an orbit works that involves shooting cannons off the top of a mountain. See a demonstration of the cannon ball orbit on the NASA website at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/how-orbits-work/.

Getting to Mars

Now that our spacecraft has left Earth’s gravity, our mission is to arrive at Mars. We have left the influence of Earth’s gravity, but we are not free of gravity altogether. Since we are now orbiting around the Sun, we are now under the influence of the Sun’s gravity.

Thus far, we have talked about circular orbits — the simplest kind of orbit. However, most orbits are actually ellipses, a stretched circle. Ellipses are often called ovals. Figure 4 shows a diagram of an elliptical orbit.

Two foci (each one called a focus) define an ellipse: the periapsis, which is the point on the elliptical orbit that is closest to the planet or sun; and the apoapis, the point furthest from the planet or sun. You may have also heard these points called perigee and apogee. These are the periapsis and apoapsis for an elliptical orbit around Earth, respectively. In an elliptical orbit, the Earth (or other massive body) is located at one of the two foci. Elliptical orbits enable movement between planets. Using the Sun as one of the foci, and the Earth as the periapsis, the spacecraft will actually be closer to the Sun when it is at the periapsis. When the spacecraft is at the apoapsis, it will be further away from the sun. This is useful for traveling to planets further from the Sun such as Mars. Figure 5 shows how half an elliptical orbit can be used to get from Earth to Mars.

In addition to great engineering and excellent calculations by scientists, it takes good timing to reach Mars. Since the Earth and Mars are both moving, it is like standing on a moving platform and trying to shoot a basketball into a hoop that is moving as well. To make things worse, since it takes about 6 months for a spacecraft to go from the Earth to Mars, scientists and engineers have to anticipate where Mars is going to be when the spacecraft gets there. If we try to shoot a spacecraft right at Mars, by the time it actually gets there, the great Red Planet will be long gone. Once we get to Mars, we must slow down so that we are in an orbit around our destination. From our orbit, we can take photographs of Mars, take scientific readings, or even land on the planet.

• The Great Gravity Escape – Students use water balloons and a length of string to understand how gravity and the speed of an orbiting body balance to form an orbit. They also see that when the velocity exceeds the escape velocity, the object will escape the gravity of the sun or planet that it is orbiting around.

Geoffrey Hill, Daria Kotys-Schwartz, Chris Yakacki, Janet Yowell, Malinda Schaefer Zarske © 2004 by Regents of the University of Colorado.

Supporting Program

Integrated Teaching and Learning Program, College of Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder

Acknowledgements

Last modified: September 11, 2015

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[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewElUJwvLvI[/youtube]

Say the words “math test” and most U.S. students shudder. But what if they got to tackle engaging numerical puzzles, brainteasers, and imaginative problems that require creative thinking? Better yet, what if they could immediately get scores and measure how well they did against competitors around the world – along with beautifully presented solutions? Most might discover they had a head for mathematics!

That’s the premise of the 2nd annual Great Global Math Challenge, a free online contest designed to enhance STEM literacy among people of all ages that takes place Sunday, September 27, 2015.

Sponsored by Sony Global Education, a branch of the Japanese electronics giant, the Global Math Challenge is unlike other math contests. Questions are devised by the Japan Prime Math Olympic Committee and require participants to combine their “intelligence and intuition every step of the way.”

Some 22,000 math fans in 85 countries took part in the first Global Math Challenge in March.

The challenge is free to enter and can be accessed from mobile devices in several languages, including English, Japanese, and Chinese. Home accounts can register up to four participants, and Edmodo members can sign up their schools FREE.

For a fee, home participants can receive step-by-step, beautifully illustrated explanations for every question, an analysis of their critical thinking strengths, and an extra set of bonus questions. Schools, clubs, and other organizations can register up to 1,000 participants for a fee ranging from $2.99 to $5.99 each.

Watch the Edmodo video about the challenge.

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[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzXxHYJnsqo[/youtube]

Back to school season typically brings a deluge of training sessions to refresh or build new skills for the coming year. But professional development costs money and time away from classrooms.

Imagine if, instead of gathering for a sit-and-git on some new math program or online portal, teachers could watch short, lively cartoons featuring a lively classroom teacher named Isabella Reyes demonstrating research-proven techniques for teaching science.

That’s the idea behind The Smithsonian Science Education Center’s new web series, Good Thinking! The Science of Teaching Science. Aimed at K-8 educators and launched in the summer of 2015, the free videos identify common misconceptions, explore the science of how humans learn, and provide instructional techniques for effectively conveying scientific principles and concepts.

Content-specific topics include photosynthesis, energy, and the water cycle. Other videos examine cognitive research on student motivation – with tips for giving useful feedback – and the left-brained, right-brained learning style myth.

New episodes will be distributed through the Smithsonian Science Education Center’s YouTube channel and PBS Learning Media.

Read the STEMConnector interview with Marjee Chmiel, associate director for curriculum and communications at the Smithsonian Institution.

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As a teacher, you’re supposed to have all the answers–but you know that sometimes, you just don’t. What if you always had an engineering expert to provide inspiration and advice?

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) recently announced the launch of LinkEngineering, a new website that connects preK-12 teachers with engineering experts, fellow educators, lesson plans, tips, and tools. It will empower educators to implement engineering education in classrooms and out-of-school settings, providing the first-ever platform for K-12 teachers and informal educators to work and learn as a community to improve precollege engineering education.

The innovative new site is the result of collaboration between Achieve Inc., the National Science Teachers Association, the American Society for Engineering Education, the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association, and the Council of State Science Supervisors following sponsorship by Chevron.

“LinkEngineering provides the first-ever platform for K-12 teachers and informal educators to work and learn as a community toward the goal of improving the reach and quality of U.S. precollege engineering education,” said NAE President C.D. Mote Jr.

There is plenty to discover on the site. Members can not only read interviews with prominent engineering educators, but they can also ask direct questions to them and other educators. There are instructional teaching example videos, design resources, curriculum reviews, after-school activities, and tons of supplemental resources.

Still in the beta-testing stage, the website is an evolving project. It will grow and evolve with the support and participation of educators.

Filed under: Class Activities, For Teachers, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5, K-12 Education News, K-12 Outreach Programs, Lesson Plans, Web Resources | Comments Off on NAE Connects Educators with Experts

It might not be pretty, but it’s pretty amazing.

This ordinary-looking stretch of road is anything but. Nestled in the mountains of southwest Virginia, the 2.2 mile blacktop contains three bridges, including the tallest maintained by the state and a lighted intersection–but that’s not what makes it extra-special.

This road has a brain.

Its pavement contains sensors that measure moisture, temperature, strain, vibrations, and weighing-in-motion. The road also has a lighting test bed and a half-mile stretch that produces rain, fog, and snow! It’s called a Smart Road.

This open-air laboratory run by Virginia Tech is responsible for a lot of transportation innovations. Back-up cameras, forward-collision warnings, and crash-imminent braking (the mechanism that stops the car automatically if a crash is going to happen) were all tested and developed on this road to some extent. There are other technologies on the horizon, including “connected vehicles” that could predict crashes and warn the driver in both cars; they could also apply brakes in case of an imminent accident.

With a lab of this scale, huge projects come through, bringing large teams of undergraduate and graduate students with them. More than 100 undergraduate students in electrical, mechanical, software, and civil engineering programs (to name a few) have contributed to research on the Smart Road.

Click here to read Prism’s full coverage on the Virginia Tech Smart Road.

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TeachEngineering.org lesson contributed by the Integrated Teaching and Learning Program, College of Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder.

Summary

In this activity, students investigate major landforms (e.g., mountains, rivers, plains, hills, oceans and plateaus) in groups of two. They build a three-dimensional model of a landscape depicting several of these landforms. Once they have built their model, they act as civil and transportation engineers to build a road through the landscape they have created.

Grade Level: 3-5

Time: 100 minutes (Two 50-minute periods)

Expendable Cost/Group: US$0.50

Group Size: 2

Engineering Connection

Engineers must understand the landforms and the geology of the Earth in order to build an infrastructure for transportation. Engineers are responsible for deciding where to put roads, highways, train tracks and bridges. Engineers are also involved in city planning and determining the locations of water and power resources for cities and communities along the way. This can sometimes be very challenging in areas where there are large mountains, hills, waterways or dense forest.

Learning Objectives

After this activity, students should be able to:

• Identify the major features of the Earth’s surface such as mountains, rivers, plains, canyons and plateaus.
• Describe how engineers need knowledge of landforms for designing transportation systems.
• Explain why engineers build a model before a final project.

Standards

Next Generation Science Standards

• Develop a model to represent the shapes and kinds of land and bodies of water in an area. [Grade 2]
• Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost. [Grades 3 – 5]

International Technology and Engineering Educators Association

• E. Models are used to communicate and test design ideas and processes. [Grades 3 – 5]
• D. The use of transportation allows people and goods to be moved from place to place. [Grades 3 – 5]

Materials List

Each group needs:

• 2 feet by 2 feet square of cardboard
• 2 copies of the Winding Road Worksheet

To share with the entire class:

• Various colors of construction paper
• Colored markers and/or paint
• Cotton balls for the tops of mountains
• Popsicle sticks for making bridges
• Paper Mache or clay for creating landforms
• Scissors
• Glue
• Tape

Introduction/Motivation

Who’s driven on a road before? Is there a road that is near our school? Well, who builds those roads? Did you know that engineers usually build the roads that connect our communities? Have you ever driven through a tunnel? Do you know how that tunnel was built? Who built it? Again, engineers built it! How did they know where to put that tunnel? How do engineers determine where to build the roads? We are going to learn more about that today.

The landscape of the Earth is very different from place to place. Have you been somewhere that looks very different from here — maybe to the top of a mountain, on the ocean or someplace where the land is very flat? What different kinds of landscapes do you know about? (List the landforms they answer on the board.) Tell me about the landscape around our school.

There are different types of landforms that make up the landscape around us. Can you picture what each of these look like? (Point to the ones that the students already listed during this explanation and add any landforms that the students did not name to the list as you go through them. To help with the explanations, show the students any available pictures of the types of landforms.) Well, hills are a raised mound of land, and they can be small or large. Mountains are very tall places on Earth, much higher than a hill. Plateaus are just like mountains, except they have large, flat tops. Plains are flat lands that have only small changes in elevation — almost no hills there! An ocean is a large body of salt water that surrounds a continent, and a river is the moving body of water that usually empties into that ocean. What else? Well, a valley is a low point in the Earth’s surface, usually between ranges of hills or mountains, and a canyon is a deep narrow valley with steep sides that usually has a stream flowing through it. See, there are so many types of landforms that change the surface of the Earth!

Now, how do engineers know where to build roads, tunnels and bridges across these landforms? They know because geologists have studied the landscape and its composition. Geotechnical engineers study the different rocks and soils of the Earth and work with civil and transportation engineers to build roads, highways and train tracks to provide safe places for travel. Can you imagine if a tunnel collapsed, or if a road fell off the edge of a mountainside? This rarely happens because engineers have studied and understand the landforms that they are building on to make sure the roads and tunnels are safe. They decide if it is safe to build a road, bridge or tunnel there, and then decide how strong a material to use to build it. Often, engineers build a model of a transportation system before they build the real thing. This helps them explain to other people, like citizens and city planners, why a road or tunnel is in the right place. In this activity, you get to act like engineers and build a model of a landscape and decide the best place to put a road across your model. Are you ready?

Figure 1. Engineers must use topographic maps to help them decide where to build roads and other modern amenities.
Copyright © U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service

Procedure

Before the Activity

• Gather supplies and make copies of the Winding Road Worksheet.

With the Students

Day 1

1. Explain to students that they will be creating a landscape of their choosing out of a variety of materials. Give the students guidelines for the landforms that their model must include (all models should include a body of water and a mountain). For example: at least one mountain, a river, a large body of water, and two hills. The body of water should take up approximately a quarter of the space on their cardboard (6 inches by 6 inches). The mountain should be at least 4 inches in diameter.
2. Make a list or T-chart of the required landforms on the board. Next to each landform, have the class brainstorm materials to use for creating each landform from what is available.
3. Have students design a plan for their landscape. They should list the landforms that they will have and what materials they will use to build them on their worksheet.
4. Have students build their landscape and leave them overnight to dry.

Day 2

1. Once students have built their landscape, have them draw a picture of it on their worksheet.
2. Next, tell students that they are going to be civil engineers who need to build a road through their landscape for a new community that is moving there. Tell the students that their road must go from one corner of the model to the other. Have students draw on their picture where they are going to put their road. Remind students that they might have to build a bridge over a river, if there is one where the road is going.
3. Have students add their road(s) to the model using black paper and their bridge(s) using Popsicle sticks.
4. When all students are finished, have each group show their model and explain why they put their road(s) where they did to the rest of the class.

Attachments

Winding Road Worksheet (English .doc)
Winding Road Worksheet (English .pdf)
Winding Road Worksheet (Spanish .doc)
Winding Road Worksheet (Spanish .pdf)

Troubleshooting Tips

Sometimes it is helpful to have a model built ahead of time to show the students. If you have built a model, do not put a road running through it. You want to prevent students from copying your model all together.

Students may have problems building tunnels through the mountains in their landscape. If they do, have them indicate the tunnel on their mountain by having their road lead up to the mountain, color a black mark for the tunnel entrance and exit, and then continue the road on the other side of the mountain.

If doing Paper Mache, it may also be difficult for students to build tunnels through their mountains. The teacher can use a utility knife and make the cuts for them. You would also want to make sure the students do not make their Paper Mache too thick.

Assessment

Pre-Activity Assessment

Question/Answer: Ask students questions and have them raise their hands to respond. Write their answers on the chalkboard.

• Where do we find water?
• Where do we find land?
• What are some of the landforms on our Earth?

Activity Embedded Assessment

Winding Road Worksheet: Have the students complete the activity worksheet; review their answers to gauge their mastery of the subject.

Group Question: During the activity, ask the groups:

• How is a plateau different from a mountain? (Answer: Plateaus are elevated flat surfaces, while mountains typically come to a point or peak.)
• How is ocean water different from river water? (Answer: Ocean water is very salty; river water usually is not as salty as the ocean.)

Post-Activity Assessment

Class Discussion: Ask students questions and have them raise their hands to respond.

• What kinds of landforms did you put in your model?
• What other landforms could you add to your model?
• Why do you think is it important for engineers to build models?

Class Presentation: Working in groups of two to four, have students give a class presentation in which they dynamically present the concepts they learned in the unit. Encourage role-playing and creativity.

Have the students act out the scenario of a civil engineering company that has just been hired to put a road through their model landscape. Other students in the audience can role play people who want the road for travel, people who want to turn that landscape into a park, other engineers, etc. Have students explain their model landscape and where they would put the road. Also have them talk about any challenges they might face when trying to put a road around or through the various landforms on their model.

Map it! Have students make a map to scale of their landscape model and the road they built running through it. For advanced students, have them design a topographic map of the landscape that includes elevations from the bottom of the cardboard base of the landscape.

Activity Extensions

Challenge the students to create a landscape that fits next to one or more other teams, maybe even the whole class. How might two or more engineering teams work together to design the roads and communities that cover their landscape(s)?

Have students think about the challenge of designing transportation that does not use a lot of fuel or energy around existing Earth landforms and create a design for a whole new futuristic city. Or have them describe an alternative idea for energy-saving transportation around their own city. Some ideas for innovative energy-saving transportation might include: roller coasters everywhere, shape cities like a bowl and have tiny cars roll down the side of the bowl to the next destination, or design a way to have citizens hang glide to their next location.

Have older student look into bridge building. The US Military Academy at West Point has the following bridge designer website and contest with a good introduction into simple bridge building: LINK.

Activity Scaling

For upper grades, allow the students to be creative in designing their landscapes. Have students practice measuring when building their landscapes by requiring them to measure the length of their road and the size of their different landforms. They can include these measurements on their worksheets.

For lower grades, give students explicit directions on locations to place landforms and the sizes that they must be. Also, make a model for them to follow before they begin the activity.

References

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service, New Hampshire Cooperative Salt Marsh Projects, Beard’s Creek, Durham, NH, USGS Topographical Map, accessed August 15, 2006. LINK

2006 West Point Bridge Design Contest, accessed August 15, 2006. LINK

Contributors

Sara Born, Malinda Schaefer Zarske, Janet Yowell

Copyright

© 2006 by Regents of the University of Colorado.

Supporting Program

Integrated Teaching and Learning Program, College of Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder

Acknowledgements

The contents of this digital library curriculum were developed under a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education and National Science Foundation GK-12 grant no. 0338326. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the Department of Education or National Science Foundation, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.

Filed under: Class Activities, For Teachers, Grades K-5, Grades K-5, Grades K-5, K-12 Outreach Programs, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Carving Out the Landscape

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhc0xAuo_uo[/youtube]
Science competitions and research opportunities can pave the path toward STEM degrees and careers. But low-income students often face barriers to participation, including lack of support.

The nonprofit Society for Science & the Public (SSP), which runs the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair and Intel Science Talent Search, has launched a pilot program to address that gap.

Armed with a $100,000 grant from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, SSP aims to recruit nine teachers, counselors, and scientists who can serve as coaches and advocates for between 30 and 50 low-income students in grades 6 to 11. The advisers – nine in total – would receive stipends of $3,000 to coach groups of “exceptionally promising” students in how to apply for and participate in science contests, reports The Journal.

Schools in the pilot program are located in Conyers, Ga., Durham, N.C., and Evanston, Ill. Participating organizations include Environmentors, Project SEED, Stanford RISE and Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science.

Filed under: Competitions and Contests, K-12 Education News | Comments Off on Stipends for STEM Advisers