STEM
Science Challenge
Rockin’ Around the Park
You are a geologist who teaches at a university. You receive the following letter from a local park
ranger.
Dear Professor Rubble,
Our park has some magnificent rock formations along our hiking trails. We receive many questions
from park visitors about how these rock formations were created, and how long it took for them to
form. One visitor even claimed that the same exact rock formation existed near her home thousands
of kilometers away. How can this be possible?
To answer these questions, can you help us develop a model of the Earth processes that shape and
change Earth’s surface that we can display in our nature center? We would also like an article to
accompany the model. The article should explain the model, as well as the time and spatial scales
involved in the processes that form and change rocks on Earth’s surface.
Yours sincerely,
Flint Cobblestone
Q) 1 :How is it possible that identical rock formations can exist thousands of kilometers apart?
Q) 2 :What clues would you look for in the identical rock formations to prove that they formed at the same
time? How might you incorporate this information in your model?
Q) 3 :What processes could have separated the rock formations over time?
Q) 4 :How might you incorporate this information in your model?
Q) 5 :The park contains mountain ranges. How could you determine how and when the mountain ranges
formed?
Q) 6 : How could you incorporate this information in your model?
Q) 7 : Do weathering and erosion cause fast or slow changes to Earth’s surface? Do they affect large or
small areas?
Some types of weathering and erosion occur quickly. A landslide, for example, can quickly transport
and break down Earth materials. Other types of weathering and erosion take place over millions of
years. These processes occur on both large scales (example, mountain ranges) and small scales
(example: a boulder). You could have two separate models to show different time and spatial scales.
One model might show the slow weathering and erosion of a rock using drops of water to simulate
rainfall. The second model might show the fast weathering and erosion of a mountainside during a
landslide triggered by an earthquake.
Q) 8 : How might you include this information in your model?
To model weathering, you could put rocks in a container and shake it many times. You could use
water or a fan to model erosion by rivers or wind.
Q) 9 : Which rock cycle processes will you include in your model? How will you model the sources of energy
that drive these processes?
Models should include weathering, erosion, deposition, compaction, cementation, melting, cooling,
heat, and pressure. Students might use a fan to model wind energy or a source of heat to model
energy from Earth’s interior.
Q) 10 : How will you model processes that occur on different time and spatial scales?
Develop Your Model
Use your information from the questions to construct your model and
prepare your article for the park to display at their nature center.
Models will vary, but should include processes that describe the cycling of Earth materials and the
flow of energy that drives the cycling. Examples of processes include weathering, erosion, deposition,
compaction, cementation, melting, crystallization, pressure, deformation, subduction, and seafloor
spreading.
Evaluate Your Model
After completing your model, identify the model elements in the table below.
Model Elements Descriptions
Components
(What are the different
parts of my model?)
Relationships
(How do the components
of my model interact?)
Connections
(How does my model help
me understand the
phenomenon?)
As the final part of your homework, construct an article that will accompany your model at the park’s
nature center. Your article should explain how Earth processes shape and change rocks on Earth’s
surface at different time and spatial scales.
Outline your article in the space below. Organize your central ideas into a structure that facilitates
understanding. Next, add relevant content including the evidence and reasoning that supports each
central idea. When you are finished with your outline, write your article in your Science Notebook.
Students’ articles should show an understanding that geoscience processes have changed Earth’s
surface at varying time and spatial scales. They should use evidence and reasoning to construct their
explanations for how the mountains and the rock formations in the park formed. They should identify
and describe the time and spatial scales involved (slow, large-scale, fast, small-scale).
Congratulations! You have reached the end of the science challenge.
