My students need plastic bins and soils to create stream tables and perform hands on experimentation to examine the effects of water erosion on earth samples.
My classroom is home to an interactive diverse group of 70 students who rotate into my class for an hour and a half of math and science instruction. My students come from a rural area and we are a school that is considered "low socio-economic".
What we are high in is curiosity, love for one another and excitement for learning.
My kids are interested, they want to learn! They all want to be involved in their learning, and work together toward a common goal.
We live in Southern WV, a proud but rural area. My students live here in our beautiful state with glorious mountains and wooded areas covering highly sought after Natural Resources. Land clearing and mining are common here, but an environmental risk for our beautiful state.
My Project
My students will discover the effect of erosion on WV before/after land clearing through this unit. I have students who may become Civil Engineers, Environmentalists, or Legislators. Erosion as an environmental issue is important to share with my WV students, due to the mountain top removal and clearcutting occurring here today.
This Unit will really STEAM, using skills in every aspect of the acronym Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics!
We begin with an analysis of soil components (using tiny paper cups to hold the samples). The stream tables are created in plastic bins with a drain hole, by adding 4 different types of soils. Students will control the flow of water over the soil with plastic cups with various holes or with sprinkler heads that simulate rain. They will record the amounts of wash out by marking soil levels with wipe-able markers on the outside of the bin. The plastic spreaders are used to mix the soils and create a controlled surface. The rubber stoppers are key to keeping the water runoff in the bin after the experiment for storage. After the experiments are conducted on bare dirt we will grow rye seed on the sample and conduct experiments comparing the results. The final component of the unit, is a series of tests on soils from WV and all over the world. Dirt is dirty business, so we need gloves to protect our skin when we mix the samples, especially when mixed with chemicals. As the students observe their results they will draw diagrams detailed with colored pencil artwork and written text. They will learn STEAM skills and understand how to help keep WV the beautiful state it is now for generations.
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