Description

Comprehensive, affordable and effective, Delta Science Modules Edition 3 (DSM-3) Kits provide an inquiry-based, hands-on approach to teaching a specific science topic through the use of activities and investigative equipment. In the Delta Science Modules Earth Processes Complete Kit, your class will examine the evidence supporting explanations of continental drift and plate tectonics, the two most important geological theories. Students will first construct a layered Earth replica that demonstrates our planet's structure. Next, students will replicate the formation of the three types of rock and discover how heating, cooling, compression, and weathering create a perpetual rock cycle. Then, they will explore, map, and measure the forces that result in earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain-building. Finally, stuents will end with modeling the explosive events that make plate margins, especially the Pacific Rim's Ring of Fire, the most volatile area on Earth.

Along with the kit activities, the Earth Processes Delta Science Reader (and complementary Skillsbuilders packet) will have students read even more about the layered structure of Earth and the transfer of heat energy through convection currents, which drive Earth processes. Students will: explore the theory of continental drift, plate tectonics, and sea-floor spreading, and learn how the interactions at plate boundaries produce such dramatic earth processes as earthquakes and volcanoes; trace the rock cycle and find out how weathering, erosion, and deposition slowly, over time, reshape Earth’s surface and form soil; read a biographical sketch that introduces them to geologist Harry Hess, who pioneered the study of midocean ridges and trenches; and finally, gain an understanding of the geologic time scale and the clues that enabled scientists to create it.

Delta Science Modules Edition 3 (DSM-3) consist of a total of 59 assorted kits ranging from Grade K to 8 levels, each with a step-by-step teacher guide, student readers, 12-14 interconnected activities, and enough equipment to serve up to 32 students. Select kits also contain a pre-paid coupon for Living materials. Educators have the flexibility to have students follow the detailed activities that are provided, or customize their own curriculum plan with the equipment provided.