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Icy Worlds – U2, Lesson 4: Crater Formation

Lesson Summary: Students will examine and compare features of Earth and at least one other body in the solar system. Then, they will design and carry out experiments to try and recreate the features they see. They will use the observations from these experiments and other sources of information to make a claim about how the features on other solar system bodies formed.

Lesson Level Question: What forces form craters and how do craters change over time?

30 minutes

Engage

Students will examine photos of several craters on Earth and speculate on what the area looked like immediately before and after the impact. 

30 minutes

90 minutes

Explore

Students will design and carry out investigations on the variables that affect the size and shape of impact craters and how those craters change over time.

90 minutes

30 minutes

Explain

Students will use their new learning to revisit and revise their work from “Engage.”

30 minutes

90 minutes

Elaborate

Students will apply what they have learned about the forces and processes that shape the surface of Earth to speculate about a specific surface feature on Europa.  

90 minutes

30 minutes

Evaluate

Students will make a claim from evidence about the specific surface features on Europa.

30 minutes

Extend (optional)

Students will take a virtual tour of well known impact craters.