Earth Science Lesson Using Models

I feel that I may have tried to teach too much of Earth’s structure and processes, but it was necessary to converse about these topics for optimum student comprehension.  Mountain building forces, the different types of faults, and the different plate boundaries are three entities that as an eighth grade teacher, I would spend weeks on.  To teach the three in a two day time period to sixth graders was a little too much.  While I had originally planned to only focus on mountain building forces, the other content came up in our discussions at the beginning of the lesson, and needed to be discussed for background knowledge and to fully comprehend mountain building forces.  If I taught this lesson again, I would take a longer period of time to cover this complex content with a whole class of students.  Without the small group setting, this lesson would not have been so successful. 

Using models help students to understand complex content that can be abstract to them, such as the structures and processes of Earth.  Using models also meets the needs of the group’s diversity.  Giving students a common perspective to relate to allows a universal approach to science instruction.  I attribute the success of the lesson solely to using models.  Without the use of the fault-block models and the sponge rock layers, students would not have the level of the understanding that they did.