SC.4.13.4.d: Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of…

Restless Earth: Fossils, Soils, Volcanoes and Plates Grades 4–7

Press model fossils and read a cliff of layers, shake a jar of soil and watch it sort itself by grain size, plot real volcanoes and earthquakes on a world map to find the edges of Earth's plates, then move model plates and test a building on a shake table. Four hands-on lessons that build on Rocks and Erosion.

• What do moving plates do, and can a building survive? 80–90 min (easy to split over two periods)

  Teams move two foam plates on a tray of syrup to pull them apart and push them together, then slide sandpaper blocks to feel an earthquake build and release. They design and test straw towers on a shake table, compare two designs, and explain how engineers reduce earthquake damage.

Rocks and Erosion: How Land Changes Shape Grade 4

Why some rocks scratch and some fizz, how a trickle of water carves a canyon, what keeps a hillside in place, and how a boulder ends up as sand. Four hands-on lessons on rocks, weathering and erosion.

• What protects a hillside from washing away? 55–60 min

  Teams build model hillsides of soil in foil pans, some bare, some covered with leaves or mulch and some held together with string 'roots', then make it rain on each one the same way. They measure the runoff and the mud it carries, and recommend the best way to protect a real slope.

Living with Water: Salt, Rice and the Mekong Grades 4–5

Science and English together, for English learners (CEFR A2–B1). Three investigations from Vietnam: how salt farmers turn the sea into salt, how rice terraces stop a mountain washing away, and how a house in the Mekong Delta stays dry in the flood season.

• How do salt farmers turn the sea into salt? 60 min, plus a 10-minute check the next day

  Science and English together, for English learners at CEFR A2–B1. Teams paint salt water on dark paper to find the salt hiding in sea water, then set out wide and narrow dishes in sun and shade to see what makes water leave fastest. They use the evidence to advise a salt farm in Khánh Hòa.

• How do rice terraces stop a mountain washing away? 60 min, or two 35-minute periods

  Science and English together, for English learners at CEFR A2–B1. Teams make model hillsides from soil in trays: a bare slope, a terraced slope and a slope with plant cover. They pour the same storm of rain on each, measure the muddy water that runs off, and use the evidence to advise a mountain village in northern Vietnam.

• How can a house stay dry when the Mekong floods? 60 min, or two 35-minute periods

  Science and English together, for English learners at CEFR A2–B1. Teams design and build a model house on stilts or on a floating base, then test it as the teacher raises the water in a tub and makes waves. They use their results to advise a village in the Mekong Delta.

Printable practice for SC.4.13.4.d

• Restless Earth: Fossils, Soils, Volcanoes and Plates workbook included with the unit

  1 word wall, 1 English-support page, 1 practice page, 1 reading, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.

• Rocks and Erosion: How Land Changes Shape workbook included with the unit

  2 readings, 1 English-support page, 1 practice page, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.

• Living with Water: Salt, Rice and the Mekong workbook included with the unit

  4 readings, 2 practice pages, 1 word wall, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.

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