Planetoidagories:

Goals
Students will understand the concept of plate tectonics, why rock
recycling makes Earths rocks unusable for dating the age of our solar system
Students will be able to compare the utility of four different sources
of evidence for determining the age of the solar system.
Students will comprehend that scientists are able to accurately
measure the age of rocks (age being the time they solidified) using radiometric
dating
Objectives
Students will play a game that involves comparing objects in the
inner solar system, and will generate a list of clues to determine which of the 4
statements is true:
1. Scientist can use Earth to determine the age of the
solar system
2. Scientist can use Moon to determine the age of the
solar system
3. Scientist can use Venus to determine the age of the
solar system
4. Scientist can use Meteorites to determine the age
of the solar system
students will use what they have
learned to prove they have chosen the correct answer
Students will observe the phenomena of heat-driven convection
and relate it to plate tectonics
Earths Oldest rocks

4.03 - 3.6 billion years

Moons Oldest rocks

4.5 - 4.4 billion years

Meteorites

4.6-4.4 billion years

http://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/parks/gtime/ageofearth.html

The Game
points for most observations
points for unique answers
ask for at least one or two clarifying questions & create scoreboard on white
board before beginning
bold questions are assessment questions to be answered individually
Rounds
Round 1
Mars vs Moon
both have lots of craters
Why do you think both the
moon and mars have so many craters?

they have both

been bombarded by lots of stuff

Riddle Round
Venus Atmosphere vs Venus surface
What do these two images have
in common? (5 bonus points for correct answer or good argument)
Venus has an intense
atmosphere

Round 3: Start setting up activity

Venus vs Mars
Venus has less craters
What are the differences
between these two planets that cause one to have more craters?
Venus has a
heavy atmosphere +volcanism

Round 4: continue to set up activity

Earth vs Venus
Earth has less craters than venus

Convection Activity
See handout
Answer two question on handout while

Round 4

observing

Challenge vs Earths cross-section

How can we use the convection experiment
to explain what has been happening to Earths crust for billions of
years? (feel free to draw diagrams and use the challenge as an analogy)
hot water = core
ice cubes = cooling that happens
at the surface
tub of water = mantle
Why might earth have fewer craters than
Venus and Venus fewer than Mars?
How do scientist know the age of the Earths
crust?
radiometric dating
If we cannot use Earths crust to age Earth,
what else is in the the solar system that we could use?
The moon: but is younger than earth
meteorites:
70 meteorites have
been dated using 5 different methods
Meteorites =

Fragments of asteroids that have landed on Earths

surface
Asteroids = small
primitive objects (rocks) orbiting the sun