Gr.

8 Science: The Moving Crust (The

history of rock)
Lesson Description: Direct instruction will be used to introduce concepts of
relative and absolute age, and how age of rock can be determined by using fossils
as determining points. Students will then make their own models of sedimentary
rock by using the knowledge they have just learned.

Objectives: Assessment/Evaluation:

Cognitive: Students will be able to -the written description about their

discuss the factors that explain the age
of rocks.
Psychomotor: Students will be able to
create a model using the knowledge
they have learned about the age of rock.
dissected rock model
-using a rating scale(1-10), did students
apply the knowledge from the lesson
into models, was it creative, were all
aspects of the assignment included.

- make note of level of cooperation

Affective: Students will be able to

cooperate with a partner to display what
they have learned.

CELS: critical and creative thinking, communication, personal and social values
and skills

Materials: notes for on board, playdough, ‘fossils’ (bugs, shells, bones, etc),
plastic containers, real fossil examples

SET: Ask students: who is older, me or Explain concepts of relative and absolute
Mr. B? age.

What about Ms. Wyatt or I? Get students to copy as notes

-it’s a bit more difficult, but

sometimes you can’t tell how old
something is just by looking at it.

Absolute age: an exact age, which

can be given in exact years, or fractions
of a year. A recording of events is
needed. For example: my sister is 13
years old, she was born on July 13th,
1994.
Relative age: a non-precise description
of time used by comparing events. For
example: ‘she was born after me’, or ‘I
learned how to play the piano before I
was in kindergarten’.

Ask students: how can you tell how old

trees are? Is it using relative or absolute
age? What about rocks? Can you tell
how old rocks are?
DEVELOPMENT:

Ask students what they believe the (draw diagram on the board)
majority of the earth’s inside is made up
of.

After listening to a few answers, mention

that the earth is actually a giant ball of
rock.

Explain that the earths crust is made up

of many different layers of rock, some
older then each other. The layers (write down as notes, get students to
closest to the center of the earth are the copy)
oldest, while the others closest to the
earth’s surface are the youngest. -draw diagram of sedimentary rock
layers, ask which one is oldest/youngest.
Principle of Superposition: the idea
that in sedimentary rock, any layer is
younger then the layer below it.

Ask students: what if there is a rock

from Ontario, and a rock from
Saskatchewan, how might you tell if one
is older?

In the 1800’s William Smith was

observing sedimentary rock, when he
noticed something. He was finding
many different kinds of fossils(the
remains or traces of an organism).

Discuss importance of types of fossils in

determining age of rock

Let’s talk more about fossils….

Explain that an organism must be buried

quickly to get away from scavengers,
and that only hard parts of organisms
can fossilize(bones, teeth, shells, etc)

3 kinds:

Petrified fossil: when an

organism(such as a piece of
wood)absorbs water and minerals, and
the minerals form a rock in the exact
form of the original organism
Show petrified wood
Mould: an imprint made from the
outside of an organism or its tracks that
hardens and becomes fossilized

Cast: is made when sediment fills a

mould or the inside of an organism and
makes a model of the organism. Show trilobite mould

Show students other fossils, and get

them to guess what each is (petrified,
Show clam-rock.
mould, cast)

Explain that like the trilobite, some

different species, or kinds, of organisms
existed at past points on the earth, but
Show and pass around other fossils.
do not exist now(like dinosaurs).
However, if we look at layers of rock, we
can find fossils of these past organisms,
and by using relative age, we can see
how long ago they were here. Scientists Ask students to turn to page 180 in
began to make a time scale to give textbook
names to different periods of time, or
eras. This is called the geological time
scale: each era is identified with a
different name
So using all the information that we’ve
just learned about, we are going to make
our own samples of sedimentary rock!!!
Expectations: must use casts, moulds,
petrified examples
Each layer of your rock must tell a story
of what was happening at that
time(maybe ocean, dinosaurs or other
large animals, people, etc)
Rock layers must be in order
appropriately depending on how old it is.
CLOSURE:
Ask students what they learned, and if
they had fun.
(20 minutes)
Show pre-made model, explain
expectations, hand out supplies
(30 minutes)
Get each student to write up a short
summary of what was going on during
each of there rock layers, and decide
which era it was in. Designate group
#’s, and get students to hand in models
and summaries. Next class hand out
partners different models, and get them
to geologically ‘dissect’ them, and write
down their guesses as to what happened
at the time based on their observations,
and which time period it was, and hand
those in.
(10 minutes)
Professional Goal: Giving clear directions

For the data collector: Please record the moments when my direction or
descriptions were unclear, and students may have had difficulty understanding the
concept or idea.