Engineering & Design: Modeling & Mitigating Stream Processes
Students model the phenomenon of sediment movement in a river to gather evidence for how geoscience processes change Earth’s surface. In Part A, students investigate how flowing water erodes and deposits sediments to create common landforms. Part B is an engineering design challenge where students use design criteria and constraints to design and test erosion-control structures. Based on the results of their initial testing, students redesign and retest their structures.
Details at a Glance
- 2-3 Days | 2-3 ~50 minute class periods
- 1 Activity
- Accommodates 3 classes, each with 8 groups of 4 students
- Consumables service 96 students
- Meets our criteria for supporting literacy
- Includes digital resources
- Developed in partnership with SEPUP
- Requires a water source
Scientific Concepts
Disciplinary Core Ideas
•MS-ESS2.A Earth’s Materials and Systems
•MS-ESS2.C The Roles of Water in Earth’s Surface Processes
•MS-ETS1.A Defining and Delimiting Engineering Problems
Science and Engineering Practices
•Asking Questions and Defining Problems
•Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
Crosscutting Concepts
•Scale, Proportion, and Quantity
•Energy and Matter
•Influence of Science, Engineering, and Technology on Society and the Natural
World
•Stability and Change
Key Vocabulary: constraint, energy, constructive, erosion, criterion, criteria, gravity,
delta, model, deposition, sediments, destructive
Guides & Student Sheets
Our kits and modules provide you with everything you need so you can open, review, and teach the material confidently the next day.
- Full downloadable Teacher Guide with background information, detailed instruction, example data and answers
- Downloadable Student Sheets with age appropriate background information, full procedure(s), and analysis questions
- All materials necessary to carry out the investigation
- Safety Data Sheets
Kit Components
- 82 building bricks
- 16 mesh sleeves
- 8 Lab-Aids© 3-piece River Models (stream bed, stand, catch basin)
- 8 Lab-Aids© Rainmakers
- 8 Lab-Aids© Channel Makers
- 8 30-mL graduated cups
- 8 9-oz plastic cups
- 8 plastic spoons
- 1 1250-cc bag of Lab-Aids© Stream Sand
- 1 210-cc bottle of small rocks
- 32 Student Worksheet & Guides
- 1 Teacher's Guide
- Not included and needed for instruction: Paper to cover work areas, paper towels.
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