Dynamic rock cycle and Plate tectonics workshops in Brazil

Both the Dynamic rock cycle and Plate tectonics workshops were presented in July at the GET2Class for Teachers at VIII GeoSciEd, in Campinas, Brazil.

 

All the photos from the workshops can be viewed in the photo gallery on the Earthlearningidea website.

Earthlearningideas in the Amazon

Professor Roberto Greco from the Institute of Geosciences, Campinas State University, Brazil, has sent the following report:-
Earth Learning Idea workhops  have reached the heart of the Amazon forest! In this very special environmental so far from everywhere, where the huge Amazon River crosses the country, how can Earth Science be taught in an interesting, engaging way? We decided to present ELI activities; we found that both teachers and trainee teachers were very enthusiastic about them.
5th to 8th November, II Seminar of Physical Geography of the Amazon was organized by the State University of Amazonia (UEA) and coordinated by Professor Reginaldo  Luiz Fernandes de Souza: the ELI workshop was offered to geography teacher-trainees. The workshop was held on Parintins island. (Parintins is popular with tourists, especially in June when there is a folklore festival.) The day after the workshop the students investigated some field activities and visited some local schools.
Professor Charlei Aparecido da Silva of the Universida de Federal de Grande Dourados, was one of the lecturers of the Seminar, giving an amazing lecture on research techniques in physical geography and climatology. He became very enthusiastic about Earthlearningideas and would like to organize ELI workshops in his university in Mato Grosso do Sul State next year.

9th November, more ELI workshops in another unit of UEA in Manaus, organized by Professor Flávio Wachholz.
ELI workshops about soils and seminars about teaching soils were offered by Professor Roberto Greco and Professor Francisco Ladeira. Professor Regina Celia de Oliveira talked about the educational relevance of field activities.

All the professors are from the University of  Campinas, where the translations of ELI from English to Brazilian-Portuguese take place.
All photos from these workshops may be seen in the Photo Gallery on the website.

More evaluations of ELIs

The following are more evaluations from workshops held in New Mexico. 
Rock, rattle and roll
We set up a ‘competition’ by asking for a prediction of which rock would erode most easily.  The two students made different choices.  As one of the students noted: It opened the door for a quick mention of experimentor bias.
Suggestion:  Begin with the rocks that are not going to erode easily and work your way to the ones that do.
Make your own rock
- We had a difficult time getting the sugar and salt cemented sediments to dry out.  We did heat them slightly but they were still damp at the end of the week.  It did open a discussion of why they did not work and how to improve the activity.
- The salt and sugar used for the other rocks did not really keep the sand together so we were not able to test them by dropping a ball bearing on them.
Suggestions: Be very specific on the amount of ‘cement’ to put into a cup.
… have other materials to make rocks out of.  Make one with white glue (Elmer’s glue is the common brand here in the States) and another with candle wax.
What was it like to be there – in the rocky world?
I liked being able to visualize the environment by looking at the rock.
Suggestion:  Students could write a story or essay about the environment that rock was in.
From an orange to the whole Earth
- realized that one object can be made up of layers with different density.
- the model also helped to visualize the Earth is made up of layers of different density.
From clay balls to the structure of the Earth
- The models built by the class did not work as well as expected.
Need to have a larger variation in weight between the two balls.
- Thinner layer of clay over a larger weighted center in order to be able to test with a magnet.
Magnetic Earth
We used a magnetized needle instead of a “magnaprobe.” The group struggled to understand the instructions.  I believe that part of the problem is because they truly do not understand the magnetic field; they could not adjust or adapt and did not understand the instructions. With guidance the students did locate the poles and the equator.  We then lightly marked those on the clay ball.  We had less success trying to measure the angles between the equator and poles.
- Directions were very confusing and took the entire class to figure out how things should look.
Suggestions: 
Better directions, more visual pictures and diagrams.
Use the diagram from activity Frozen magnetism.
Frozen magnetism
- The way the iron filings stuck out of the wax really showed the effects of the magnet.
- Magnetic field is seen 3 dimensionally.
- Was very well written and easy to understand.
Partial melting
The wax was a neat way to show how solid rocks when heated can become liquid and then cool and separate from the rocks that did not melt.
Learned a lot about the melting points of different rocks and how that affects what we find on the surface of the Earth today.
The continental jigsaw puzzle
Hands-on activity that really allows the students to learn by trial and error.
Magnetic stripes
When doing this activity referred back to Frozen magnetism.  This was when students had more questions and were trying to put it together and began to understand why magnetic stripes are important.
- Learned how rocks retain their magnetism long after they are formed and even after the poles have changed.
- During this activity we were able to see that as the magnetic fields arise they also change polarity from north to south.  Still some misconceptions….
- I learned more about magnetic alignments in rocks of the ocean floor.  The magnetic field has been reversed in Earth history and rocks still bear the magnetism from when they first formed. 
Suggestion: A step-by-step instruction for the construction of the model.  The illustration or diagram is not adequate.
If you have comments and suggestions about Earth Learning Idea activities, then please let us know.  

Evaluations of some ELI activities

Following Earth science workshops held in New Mexico, students were asked to complete a short evaluation of every ELI conducted in the class.  The evaluations were done at the end of each ‘unit’ and students sat and discussed the activities as they wrote up the evaluations.  They were asked to answer 4 questions:
(1) In a sentence or two – what did you learn from this ELI?
(2) What worked for you?
(3) What did not work?
(4) Any suggestions for changes or improvements?
The comments below are taken directly from student’s written comments.
Permeability of soils – The great soil race (Instructor presented)
- Teachers liked the ease of set up. 
- We only did two samples and teachers suggested additional samples or compacting one of the soils, so that students could see a direct comparison of compacted and uncompacted.
Maps from models – Cuesta (Instructor presented)
- Doing the model allowed me to visualize what a cuesta is supposed to look like.  A cuesta is steep on one side and has a gentle slope on the other.
- …clearly showed the characteristics of a cuesta.  It was easy to identify them during the next activity (Geological postcards) and imagine how cross sections would work.
Geological postcards 1 - Granite and Chalk (Instructor presented)
- We went in the field to look at rocks and structures in the area around the university.  Lots of cuestas here to observe.
- Teachers liked the field aspect and felt they learned more from being in the field than from pictures in a book or using hand specimens.
- We reviewed geologic maps of the areas we visited before the field trip and one suggestion was more map work before going in the field, so students understand the maps.
Rock Detective (Instructor presented)
- … having a rock that I really had to think about.  It was not really like the other rocks where a simple scratch or look through a magnifying glass could show you where it went.
Rock cycle through the window
Teachers decided to actually go outside and not just look through the window. 
- Going outside worked really well it got us out and really looking around explaining the vocabulary words and the examples worked really well, too.
The rock cycle in wax
- I learned the basic processes of the rock cycle and how to demonstrate it to students using common items.
Suggestion:  Add questions or ask students to make predictions.
Why do igneous rocks have different crystal sizes?
- … were really amazed at how you can actually see the crystals forming on the slide.
- We were able to predict that the longer time it took the crystals to grow, the larger the crystals
Suggestion:  Have students draw the crystals from the room temperature and cold slides while they wait for the warm slide to cool enough for the crystals to form.
The unfair ‘build your own crystal’ race
- Students are able to see when the model is cooled quickly the crystals are smaller and when the crystals are cooled with time the crystals tend to be a bit larger.
Suggestion:  could easily modify to use mini-marshmallows or gum drops and toothpicks
Metamorphism – that’s Greek for ‘change of shape’ isn’t it?
- We used marshmallows instead of foam balls.
- I used too many marshmallows for the initial presentations
- Some rocks can be squeezed and shaped into layers or squeezed and change shape completely.
Squeezed out of shape
- …we learned that fossils can be distorted in many ways.  Making the mold and then distorting it helps to realize that if the fossil is between two things that cause pressure it will more than likely be distorted.
- Fun to make and get to keep the end product.  Students would really like that.
Suggestion:  Make a plaster of paris cast of the undeformed fossil for comparison of the casts.
These are just some of the 44 evaluations sent to us - more later! 
If you have comments and suggestions about Earth Learning Idea ctivities, then please let us know. 

Workshops in New Mexico

In June, a week of Earth science workshops was organised by Professor Mary Dowse at the Western New Mexico University. Earth Learning Ideas made up most of the activities; the following are some of the results:-
- the series of activities on the magnetic field of the Earth probably promoted the most learning among the teachers.  We did the whole group of exercises related to the magnetic field together and it gave them a far better understanding than they had before.  The questions they asked became more sophisticated as we went through the activities indicating a more sophisticated understanding on their part.
- the activity they liked best was Volcano in the lab.  Lots of learning and insight resulted from that activity.  The teachers had fun dismantling the model and looking at the 'intrusions'.
- they were frustrated trying to build some of the plate tectonic models; they felt the pictures were good, but could not sometimes see how to get from the picture to a working model. Their suggestion was more detailed instructions for building the models. The instructor thought that their difficulties partly reflected their lack of understanding of the processes they were trying to model.
All these activities can be found on the ELI website by using the search facility.

Two ELI workshops in Italy

On 15th and 16th March the Istituto Sacro Cuore di Napoli was host to two Earth Learning Idea workshops run by Dr. Roberto Greco.
Lots of activities were carried out including,
'From clay balls to the structure of the Earth (ELI+)'
'Make your own rock'
'Laying down the principles'
'Himalayas in 30 seconds!'
'Rock, rattle and roll ...'
And, in Naples, of course - 'Eruption through the window' with Mount Vesuvius in the background!
Dr. Greco says that these two-hour workshops were really effective and involved the teachers in the use of these activities.
Many more practical, investigative activities can be found on our website.

ELI workshops in South Africa

Aeon EarthWISE used Earthlearningideas during workshops for National Science Teachers, 12th and 13th November in Bloemfontein, South Africa. 68 teachers and 2 learning area facilitators from 26 schools were involved. If you would like to see the powerpoint, click here, (5MB so it takes some time to download).
Lots of ELIs were tried and teachers took home copies of the activities.
We really like the one shown in the photo where our suggested foam balls have been replaced by marshmallows. You can eat them afterwards too; what a good idea! This idea will be included in the 'extension ideas' for the activity 'Metamorphism - that's Greek for 'change of shape' isn't it?'