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Knowledge and Skills Statement

Earth and space. The student knows that there are processes on Earth that create patterns of change.

Safety note: Eye protection should be worn when modeling wind erosion.

While weathering can be chemical or physical, in grade 4 the focus is on physical weathering by water, wind, or ice.

Weathering: the process of breaking down rock; caused by the forces of wind, water, ice, and human interaction

Stages of weathering. Rock is decreasing in size and changing shape.

Erosion: the movement of rock and soil to new locations

Erosion occurs as soil is moving from one place to another through rushing water.

Deposition: the process in which sediments from erosion come to rest in a new location 

Deposition of weathered rock from a cliff occurs where the rocks have settled at the base of the cliff.

In grade 3, students were introduced to weathering as the breaking down of rock into smaller pieces. In grade 4, students should understand that erosion is the movement of broken pieces of rock away from their starting point and deposition is when the pieces settle in a new location. The foundation laid in discussing rapid and slow changes to the Earth's surface will provide context for discussing some of the abiotic factors that impact climate and ecosystem stability in later grade levels.

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a process in which sediments come to rest in a new location

the movement of rock materials from one place to another

a natural phenomenon marked by gradual changes that lead toward a particular result; a continuing natural or biological activity or function

the process of breaking down rock; caused by the forces of wind, water, ice, and human interaction

Research

Cheek, Kim A. “Washed Away!” Science and Children 50, no. 8 (April/May 2013): 52–56. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43176420. 

Summary: In this article, the author provides examples of instructional strategies that can be used to teach students that weather plays a large role in changing the Earth's surface. Students can see examples of these changes every day. Because these changes often happen very slowly and on a large scale, models allow students to see how these changes take place. Students can start by recording examples of water changes on the earth in their everyday environment. They can take pictures of these examples of illustrating them in their science journals. These examples can be used to generate questions that can be tested. As a class, students can use soil and water to model these processes and find answers to their questions. Students must understand that models have limitations and are different from the natural erosion process.