Description
Our unit focuses on the disciplinary core ideas of plate tectonics and large-scale system interactions which include how maps show where things are located and how maps can represent the shapes and kinds of land and water in any area (ESS2.B). Through the study of landforms and water forms on earth and the study of topographic maps, students develop a clay model to represent the shapes and kinds of land and bodies of water in an area. Students also investigate the roles of water in Earth’s surface processes. They do this by studying where water exists and that it exists in both a solid and liquid form (ESS2-C). Through the phenomenon of the Oroville Dam crisis, students study land and water forms in the area and trace the sources that filled Oroville Dam to near overflow. Students also portray these water systems through their clay model map.