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Science Lesson Kit · Teacher Resource

Fast & Slow Changes to Earth — 5E Lesson Plan

Earth Science · 40 minutes

Grade 2

5E lesson flow

  1. 01

    Engage

    6 min

    Teacher Does

    Show one earthquake before/after pair and one slow erosion sequence.

    Students Do

    Notice what changed and predict which happened faster.

    Ask

    • What evidence makes you think one change was faster?

    Look For

    Students refer to the source sequence or event description.

  2. 02

    Explore

    11 min

    Teacher Does

    Provide earthquake, eruption, and erosion source cards.

    Students Do

    Sort events and mark the clue that helped for each.

    Ask

    • What does this source tell you about speed?

    Look For

    Use of captions, sequence, or event timing clues rather than picture drama.

  3. 03

    Explain

    8 min

    Teacher Does

    Formalize rapid, slow, source, evidence, and erosion.

    Students Do

    Revise one explanation using a vocabulary word.

    Ask

    • How is speed different from size?

    Look For

    Fast/slow is about rate of change, not size.

  4. 04

    Elaborate

    10 min

    Teacher Does

    Give pairs a new event card and two sources.

    Students Do

    Make a fast-or-slow claim using two pieces of evidence.

    Ask

    • Do both sources support the same claim?

    Look For

    Two relevant source clues.

  5. 05

    Evaluate

    5 min

    Teacher Does

    Assign the evidence-board task.

    Students Do

    Complete the final sort and explain one event.

    Ask

    • What is your claim and what evidence supports it?

    Look For

    Clear claim plus evidence.

Student goal

I can use several sources to explain whether an Earth change happens fast or slowly.

Learning objectives

  • Use information from several sources to classify familiar Earth events as happening quickly or slowly.
  • Support a fast-or-slow claim with at least two relevant clues from pictures, captions, or observation sequences.
  • Explain that the speed of a change is different from the size or importance of the change.

Materials

  • Earth-event source cards
  • Fast and Slow mats
  • Before-and-after image pairs
  • Evidence recording sheet
  • Crayons or pencils

Before class

  • Prepare at least three source types: picture, caption/text, and sequence or video stills.
  • Use age-appropriate, non-graphic hazard examples.
  • Keep the lesson qualitative rather than asking for exact timescale calculations.

Prior knowledge

  • Students know that land and rock can change.
  • Students can compare before-and-after pictures.

Vocabulary

event
Something that happens.
rapid
Happening quickly.
slow
Happening over a long time.
erosion
The movement of rock or soil by water, wind, ice, or gravity.
evidence
Information that helps support an idea.
source
A place where information comes from, such as a picture, book, video, or observation.

Differentiation

  • Read source captions aloud.
  • Use picture icons for FAST and SLOW.
  • Provide the frame: I think ___ is fast/slow because source 1 shows ___ and source 2 shows ___.
  • For extension, ask students to find a case where size would be a poor clue to speed.

Assessment

  • Check the fast/slow classifications.
  • Check use of at least two source clues in the final explanation.
  • Check that students do not treat large as automatically fast.

Exit ticket

Name one fast Earth event, one slow Earth change, and one clue that helped you decide.

Extension

Compare two additional teacher-selected Earth-event sources and explain whether they support a fast or slow claim.