Soil Unit Part 2: Erosion, Coastal Erosion, Mass Movement of Earthen Materials

This unit consists of 5 lessons of about 50 minutes and 8 page work bundle.

The lessons include interactive slideshows about coastal erosion that includes built-in video links, questions and answers, red slide notes, amazing visuals, and much more. A student highlight is a wave tank / coastal erosion simulation where students create a coastal environment in a tray and then make slow and steady waves to observe how the coast erodes. They then make modifications to the coast after learning about sea groynes, jetty's, and breakwaters and run again. Fantastic visuals, a step by step approach to PowerPoint, chronological worksheet to the slideshow, 100+ slide review game assessment, and more are included. This lesson bundle is now Part in my larger Weathering, Erosion, Soil, Ice-Ages, and Glaciers Unit.

This lesson begins defining erosion (removed from preview to save mb), describing sediment, and deposition. Visuals of ways sediment is transported by wind, water, and glaciers is provided. A small demonstration where the teacher uses chalk dust and an empty table reinforces how water and wind can transport sediment. How erosion occurs in a river system is addressed to reinforce how sediment travels from the mtns to the mouth and delta.

Sea glass is then covered with students trying to figure what the picture is, and then how sea glass forms is described. Some pictures of sea glass beach in Vladivostok Russia are provided. A neat activity has one side of the glass make a wave noise and then the other. Each slide shows the glass becoming rounder as the glass is moved back and fourth.

Coastal Erosion is then covered and a news video link to houses falling into the ocean in California. Headlands and Bays are then addressed with visuals. Wave-cut platforms are described and then the causes of coastal erosion. Hydraulic Action, Attrition, Abrasion/Impact, and Solution are covered as red slide notes. Students should record these into their notebook . A series of questions have them put their notes to work to match the cause to the correct visual in the slideshow. A waves fetch is then described with visuals, and more questions about causes of coastal erosion with visuals. A video link is then provided which gets you down on the beach seeing the causes of coastal erosion. Constructive and Destructive wave types are then addressed with visuals and followed by questions and answers. Students then do a step by step sketch in their notebook and a video link helps label their sketch with the correct vocabulary. The moving of the Cape Hatteras in 1999 is addressed with visuals. Longshore Drift is covered with visuals and Sea Groynes. Students have to figure out the current direction based on how the sediment fills in along the groynes. The dangers of rip currents are addressed with visuals and video link to keep the kids safe on the beach is provided. Notes and visuals about Jetty's and various types of breakwaters are provided and neat video link with a wave tank that visualizes the effectiveness of various breakwaters. Barrier Islands and their importance is provided.

The slideshow then describes how to create wave tanks, build a coastline, and create waves. Students mark on the side of the tray where the coastline is, and then again at the end and measure how it changes. Students are also encouraged to take pictures before and after. I usually just do this with my phone but having a student be the class photographer could be a useful way to get the pictures. There are five simulations with the wave tank. Visuals on the slideshow show the students how to set-up each one and provides directions. It's always a fun lesson but its important to stress that the students should be patient and make slow steady waves. Students usually want to go full tsunami at the start which will yield poor results. Students then design various breakwaters, jetty's, and sea groynes, on a drawing of a beach in the work bundle. A final musical tour covers all of the important vocabulary with visuals. The teacher just clicks the music link and then points to the features with arrow. The next slide unveils the answers. A series of box games concluded the lesson where each slide unveils a relevant hidden picture from the lesson. A 20 question review game is also provided with bonus and final wager question. This quiz is a nice end of the unit assessment and fun at the same time.

Mass movement of Earthen materials is presented describing mudslides and landslides with some links to great videos. The general theme that gravity is a major player in mass movement underlies the entire slideshow. A reference to the Old Man of the mtn. that fell in New Hampshire is described with supportive links. A neat challenge describes the force of gravity by having a student try to hold a soda can out from his/her chest. After about a minute gravity wins. All of your students will want to try but you'll have to move on. Slump and soil creep are both described with great visuals and visual questions have the students determine which picture is which. This is a skill they will need later when they take the quiz. Mass movement classification with a triad with water content and speed of movement is then described (see preview). This will be on the homework/classwork and students can complete. A set of visuals then reinforces the activity and has the students match pictures. The angle of repose is described and optional activity that has students measure the angle of sugar, fine sand, and coarse sand / gravel using a level surface, protractor, and ruler. A nice 1-10 visual quiz has students recall information from the lesson. Answers are revealed at the end so students can self assess. A hidden box games conclude this PowerPoint that has the class guess a relevant picture. Each slide removes boxes above and the picture becomes more clear. This is a really neat PowerPoint that's full of visuals and fun along the way.