Earth Materials Dwellings

A Third Grade STEM Project

Erosion and weathering change the Earth’s surface. Weathering breaks down rock into smaller pieces, and erosion removes parts of the land. Erosion can be caused by water or wind.

Sediment is what we call the parts of the land that are carried away. (sand, soil, rock)

Grand Canyon- caused by erosion from the Colorado River

Pedestal Rock- caused by wind erosion

Earth MaterialsWhat are they? Any material that comes from the Earth and is not living now.

Many earth materials start out in a mine. Mines provide many Earth materials used to make products.

Examples of Minerals: Minerals are an example of an Earth material.

Zinc- used in paint andsun block

Calcite- used to make glass, paper, chalk

These earth materials solve human problems such as sun burn and improve our quality of life!

Every object in our life comes from Earth materials!

T-shirt- Cotton is an Earth material.

Paper- comes from wood

Glass- comes from sand

Plastic- made from oil

STEM Challenge:Your group will build an

Earth Dwelling (home made from Earth materials). We

will test it to see if it can stand up to wind and water

weathering.

Examples of Earth Dwellings from Ancient People

Materials: You will have a $20 budget to spend on the purchase of materials. $3/bag-Sand$8/block-Clay$5/bag-Soil$5/bag-StrawFree-WaterFree-Sticks$3-Bucket (for mixing only)

Notice that glue and tapeare NOT on the list!

Testing: We will test your dwelling to make sure it can stand up to wind and water weathering in the following ways:

-Wind Weathering: The Fan Test!

-Water Weathering: The Strainer Test!

Schedule: Today:-Introduce lesson-Draw and label blueprint -Write budget-Upload budget and blueprint to wallNext week:-Build dwellings-Test Dwellings-Write improvement plan