Eroding Away: A Weathering Tour

The Foundation

Study after study shows students learn best when they’re able to engage in authentic and interactive
learning experiences. But, how can teachers provide this when students are studying a process that
can take years and isn’t easily visible in their own neighborhood? That’s the question fifth grade
Math/Science teachers at Nance Elementary worked to solve. The weathering tour activity was
developed as a collaborative effort between, Mrs. Jamie Robinson and Mrs. Heather Morgan, along
with the campus librarian, Mrs. April Scott.

Thanks to proper city and community planning, most students today live in communities and
urban areas that actually see little to no deposition or erosion. Since students often lack real world
experience with the area of study, teachers were on the hunt for a digital learning tool that could
provide a way to make connections.

Google Earth Tour Builder proved to be the perfect tool for the task! Students were able to virtually
explore a variety of locations and see real life examples of what they were studying in science.
“It is hard to appreciate and understand the beauty of what is created through nature by just looking
pre-selected pictures in a textbook,” stated Mrs. Robinson. She also described, “This activity
gave them a chance to explore the locations that were assigned, as well as locations they were
curious about.” Students were actively engaged as they surveyed a few of their own favorite spots.

The Standard

The standard for this assignment was Science TEK 5.7 B: students should recognize how
landforms such as deltas, canyons, and sand dunes are the result of changes to Earth’s surface
by wind, water, and ice.

The Student Driven Process

“Tour Builder is a Beta Google Experiment that I came across recently”, said Mrs. April Scott.
“I was impressed with how easy it is to use and the students were able to easily present their
information to other classes.” Mrs. Scott explained how to use the tool for learning and because it
was so intuitive, the students went right to work.  Mrs. Morgan liked how she could check students
understanding when they added images and videos with each additional stop on their tour.

         

Students Hayden H. and Veronika C. said, “We love science and weathering and erosion are
interesting, but the best part of the project was working with the third graders.”  

@mrsscottreads @MrsJCay collaborating with 3rd grade. My students are teaching them how weathering and erosion shaped the land. Thanks April for this amazing idea. pic.twitter.com/GzUHUSru7z

— Jamie Robinson (@jamrobrob) December 11, 2018

"What I liked about this project was the fact that you could actually visit the place just like you
would in real life." "I also like the fact that you can share it so that people can visit places and
discover the place if they haven't been there before," said Queen T.

Students spent a majority of their time working on their tours in class, however they were able to
go to the library for any assistance that they needed along the way.

Following this, students were given the task to prepare a presentation documenting their findings
and tours to the third grade students who were also completing their unit on land forms.   

Discovering Jamestown – a Multi Grade Level Approach

Mrs. Swearingen, Mrs. Franco, and Mrs. Ahmad , all fifth grade teachers at Sendera Ranch

Elementary, know the power of feedback and praise.  They wanted their students to experience learning about Jamestown in a new and exciting way.  Mrs. Swearingen contacted an eighth grade teacher, Mrs. Kristen Mouser from Wilson Middle School.  The two teachers began to brainstorm to take the learning outside the four walls of the classroom.

First, the students in fifth grade classes were presented with the two learning targets for this project.

• I will analyze a DBQ document, so I can answer the question, “Why did so many colonists die?”

• I am successful when I can write a paragraph to explain my thinking.

Immediately students went to work and created a collaborative slideshow to brainstorm questions they wanted to know about Jamestown. The next day, students found out Mrs. Swearingen and Mrs. Mouser had set up a time for the eighth graders and fifth graders to Zoom to have conversations. Zoom is a web-based tool that allows anyone to virtually connect and host a video web conference.  

A few days later students began to write their paragraphs using Google Docs.   Using Google Docs allowed communications and collaboration for students to receive comments
and feedback from their peers.

“I liked reading what the 8th graders said.  They had some good ideas of how to make my DBQ
better.” said Brooke

“It was fun to see the 8th graders and hear what 8th grade was like and what an 8th grade DBQ was like.  They do it a lot faster than we do.” stated Logan

Research supports the value of peer collaboration and discussion across all content areas and concepts. By providing students the opportunity for peer feedback on their writing, students were able to offer one another constructive critique in order to improve their own communication skills. Extending, receiving, and evaluating feedback is a critical skill for all 21st Century Learners.  

ISTE Standards

1. Empowered Learner - Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning
sciences.
 - 1b. build networks and customize their learning environments in ways that support the learning process.
 - 1c. use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways

2. Digital Citizenship - Students recognize the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal and ethical.
 - 2b. Students engage in positive, safe, legal and ethical behavior when using technology, including social interactions online or when using networked devices.

3. Knowledge Constructor - Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others.
 - 3a. Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.
 - 3b. Students evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility and relevance of information, media, data or other resources.
 - 3c. Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.
 - 3d. Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories and pursuing answers and solutions.