Deeper and deeper : discovering soil, erosion and rocks and minerals

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A Junior-level unit in Earth sciences which includes rock samples, equipment, and games alongside teaching guides and paper resources.

The unit is divided into 3 main topics, Talking Soil, Slip Sliding Away (Erosion) and Rocks and Minerals. In the first topic, Talking Soil, the students learn about the formation and composition of soil. This reviews the soil concepts covered in Grade 3 and forms a natural progression to the next topic, Slip Sliding Away. In this very hands-on topic, students make a landscape model, simulate the different forms of erosion and develop and test a solution to an erosion problem using their model. In the third topic, Rocks and Minerals, students learn to distinguish between rocks and minerals, to test the physical properties of minerals and to classify rocks. They locate mineral deposits in Ontario on a map and become familiar with these natural resources. Several math and visual arts activities are incorporated into this topic.