Performance Test

Standard 3, Objective 3

Title: Strange Creatures and Their Story

Description:

Students will read a fictional story about creatures and the environments that they lived in. From the accounts included in the story, students will create a model of sedimentary rock sample that could have formed.

Materials (for small groups of 2-4 students) – each group will need:

  • Creature Story handout (included below)
  • Student Question handout
  • Clay – small sticks or balls of yellow, blue, red, and green
  • Toothpicks ˜ 10
  • Small rocks or pebbles ˜ 10
  • Match sticks ˜ 10

Time Required:

One class period – 45 to 50 minutes

Student Background Needed:

None required. This project may be used as an assessment tool at the end of a unit, or it may be used to introduce and teach concepts including the Law of Superposition, the Law of Uniformitarianism, the Law of Cross-Cutting Relationships, and the idea that earthquakes and movement of tectonic plates can cause disturbances in the rock and fossil record. If used as an assessment, the answers students give should show their knowledge of these concepts.

Notes to Teacher:

  • You may want to give the students a piece of scratch paper to put under their models so that the clay residue will not get on your desks.
  • The Law of Superposition states that rock layers deposited on top of other layers are younger than the layer underneath unless earthquakes or tectonic movement has overturned them.
  • The Law of Uniformitarianism states that processes shaping rocks and the land today are operating the same way they did in the past.
  • The Law of Cross-Cutting Relationships states that an intrusion that cuts through layers of rock are always younger than the rock layers that they cut through.
  • If you would like to make your own clay: 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of salt, 1 tsp. cream of tartar, 1 tbs. oil, 1 cup water with desired coloring mixed in. Heat and stir on low on a stove for a minute or two until dough pulls away from the sides.

Procedures:

1. Tell the students that they will read a story about some fictitious animals that lived a long time ago. Have the students read the story individually or as a class. Describe the task at hand to the students, and answer any questions that they have.

2. Have the students break into small groups of 2-4 students in your usual manner. Pass out the materials to the groups. While the students are working, roam around the room to answer any individual question about procedure, but don’t give suggestions as to how to correctly make the model. Guide students’ thinking toward important considerations, but don’t tell them how to do it if you are using this as an introductory activity.

3. Once students have completed their model and shown it to you, give them a copy of the questions. You may have them answer the questions individually or as a group, but the group should come to an answer together – don’t allow one student to “take over” and answer all of the questions. Promote discussion within the groups.

4. Have students hand the questions in when they are complete and then clean up. You may let them keep their “rocks” or have them separate the materials to reuse in another class – but give new toothpicks and matches to each period.

Scoring Guide:

For the model:

10 pts.Student shows exceptional thought, preparation, and insight. Model includes all layers in proper sequence with the correct fossils in place.

8 pts. Student shows good thought and preparation. Model includes all layers in proper sequence, but all fossils are not in the proper place.

6 pts.Student shows fair thought and preparation. Model may lack a layer or is slightly out of sequence. Fossils are included, but not all in proper place.

4 pts.Student shows little thought. Model is complete but inaccurate. Fossils are included, but none are in the proper place.

2 pts.Student shows no thought. Model is incomplete and inaccurate. Fossils are missing. Model appears “slapped together.”

0 pts. Student does not attempt to create a model.

For the Analysis Questions:

10 pts.Student shows exceptional thought, preparation, and insight.

8 pts.Student shows good thought and preparation.

6 pts.Student shows fair thought and preparation.

4 pts. Student shows little thought, information is incomplete or inaccurate.

2 pts. Student shows no thought or preparation, but mentions topic briefly.

0 pts. Student makes no mention of topic.

Student Page

The Story of the Strange Creatures

A long time ago, there lived a rock monster. He and others like him lived in a dry, hot, arid land. The wind blew continuously, but the golden caves that they lived in kept them protected from the sand, dust, and debris that was constantly in the air. When rock monsters died, the wind covered them up with lots of red sand before the other monsters could get to them.

One day, all of the rock monsters were gone from this place. The climate had changed to a wetter, more luxuriant environment. The trees, ferns, and grasses flourished everywhere you looked. It was beautiful!!! The matchleg creatures that were around ate and ate and ate, but could not even get close to eating all of the vegetation that grew there. Sometimes when one of them ate too much, they would just fall over where they were and die. The other matchlegs would look and look for their friend, but there was just too much stuff growing around to see them.

Then the climate began to change again! It would rain and rain for weeks and months on end. It rained so much that the area became as big as one of the great lakes. The matchlegs could not survive in this environment, but the toothpick fish LOVED it!!! They would swim all around and look for food to spear and eat. They could swim very fast because of their smooth skinny bodies. At first the water was very clear, but then the rain and wind at the surface began to erode the rocks around faster and faster, making the water murky with blue sediment. There were so many toothpick fish that when some died, the others didn’t even notice, and they just fell to the bottom.

This all happened a long time ago, and now the story of the toothpick fish, the matchlegs, and the rock monsters only lives in the rock that was formed during the many thousands of years that have passed.

Please try to make a model or representation of the rock that was created, using the materials that I have provided you. Please try to make the model as accurate as possible. Take as much information from the story into account as you can. When you have created your model, please show it to your teacher, when you will be given some questions to answer. Good Luck!!!

Science 8Student Page – Strange Creatures and Their Story

Name:

Period:

Answer the following questions. Please give some thought to your answers. Use complete sentences with your answers – simple yes or no answers will not be accepted.

  • What is the order of your rock colors from the top to the bottom? Why did you place them that way?
  • Which rock is the oldest? The youngest? Why?
  • Which species has existed for the longest time? Why?
  • Where did the rock monsters and the matchlegs go? How do you know? Is there another explanation? What other information could be useful?
  • Did you put the rock monsters between rock layers, or within a layer of rock? Which rock type did you associate them with? Explain why you did this.
  • Did you put the matchlegs between rock layers, or within a layer of rock? Which rock type did you associate them with? Explain why you did this.
  • Did you put the toothpick fish between rock layers, or within a layer of rock? Which rock type did you associate them with? Explain why you did this.
  • Flip your rock upside down. Knowing the story of the formation, is there anyway that this new upside down arrangement could be possible? What could have happened to invert your rock?
  • If you found this upside down rock, would the story of its formation change or stay the same? Why?