STEM Lesson: Creating Landforms

In this lesson Meredith Williams, Boxlight MimioMaster, shares how she used the MyStemKits Landform Topography Kit to help her students review the concepts of weathering, erosion, and deposition in the process of creating landforms. 

Creating Landforms 

STEM Supplies: 

• MyStemKits Landform Topography Kit 

• pictures of landforms (for comparison to 3D model) 

• teacher-created worksheet 

Grade level: 8 

Objectives: Students will - 

• Review ways in which Earth’s surface is affected via weathering, erosion, and deposition 

Time frame: one class session, or approximately 45 minutes 

This Creating Landforms lesson is aligned to: 

• SC.6.E.6.1 Describe and give examples of ways in which Earth's surface is built up and torn down by physical and chemical weathering, erosion, and deposition. 

Lesson description 

As review for the Florida State Assessments, the students reviewed weathering, erosion, and deposition and how these processes create landforms across the globe. All nine landforms in the Landform Topography Kit were printed and set up at stations where students worked together to identify them. They also had to explain how weathering, erosion, and deposition played a part in forming each landform, being specific with their explanations of the process. 

Students were given 25 minutes to work together to identify as many landforms as they could, as well as provide explanations of the three processes. As a class, we discussed each landform including their explanations. On the interactive board, I displayed a picture of each landform so that the students had a visual for comparison with the 3D-printed model. On a worksheet, they had to sketch the landform and describe how weathering, erosion and deposition and their relationship to landforms. This concept was reinforced repeatedly through this activity.  

Overall, the students loved the activity and were very engaged throughout. It was amazing to hear the conversations and friendly debates when identifying the landforms. Students not born in the state of Florida were able to add helpful reasoning and input about regions they grew up in with landforms not found in this state like canyons, plateaus, and mountains. Students did have difficulty differentiating between hills, mountains, and plateaus.  

About the Author: Meredith Williams, an 8th grade science teacher at Freedom Middle School (Orlando, FL), specializes in integrating MimioSTEM solutions in her science instruction. To encourage her students to think critically and creatively about problems through science exploration, Williams incorporates a variety of 3D-printed manipulatives, so her students have something hands-on to observe, analyze, and form ideas around. Williams also regularly implements and provides feedback on MyStemKits lessons and activities, which she uses in conjunction with her 3D printer.