Quick Look
Grade Level: 7 (6-8)
Choose From: 0 lessons and 8 activities
Subject Areas: Earth and Space
Quick Look 
Summary
Through this earth science curricular unit composed of eight activities, student teams are presented with the scenario that an asteroid will impact the Earth. In response, their engineering challenge is to design the location and size of underground caverns to shelter the people from an uninhabitable Earth for one year. Driven by this adventure scenario, student teams 1) explore general and geological maps of their fictional state called Alabraska, 2) determine the area of their classroom to help determine the necessary habitable cavern size, 3) learn about map scales, 4) test rocks, 5) identify important and not-so-important rock properties for building underground caverns, and 6) choose and defend a final location and size for a survival cavern.Engineering Connection
The Asteroid Impact unit provides a project framework in which student groups act as engineering teams to design underground caverns, following the steps of the engineering design process. Real-world engineers work in teams to invent and develop solutions to problems. Following the steps of the engineering design process, they first identify and define the problem or challenge. They gather pertinent information and conduct research to learn about topics related to the problem, and they brainstorm and propose multiple potential solutions. Engineers then evaluate the various possible solutions and select one that best meets the criteria for success. Testing is often used to verify that the proposed solution will solve the problem or challenge. And the final solution is communicated to others.
Educational Standards
Each TeachEngineering lesson or activity is correlated to one or more K-12 science,
technology, engineering or math (STEM) educational standards.
All 100,000+ K-12 STEM standards covered in TeachEngineering are collected, maintained and packaged by the Achievement Standards Network (ASN),
a project of D2L (www.achievementstandards.org).
In the ASN, standards are hierarchically structured: first by source; e.g., by state; within source by type; e.g., science or mathematics;
within type by subtype, then by grade, etc.
Each TeachEngineering lesson or activity is correlated to one or more K-12 science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) educational standards.
All 100,000+ K-12 STEM standards covered in TeachEngineering are collected, maintained and packaged by the Achievement Standards Network (ASN), a project of D2L (www.achievementstandards.org).
In the ASN, standards are hierarchically structured: first by source; e.g., by state; within source by type; e.g., science or mathematics; within type by subtype, then by grade, etc.
See individual lessons and activities for standards alignment.
Unit Schedule
This unit is composed of eight hands-on activities. The unit takes 8-10 class periods (350-450 minutes) total. Conduct the activities in the following order:
- Incoming Asteroid! What's the Problem?
- How Big? Necessary Area & Volume for Shelter
- Using Map Scales to Figure Distances and Areas
- Identifying Possible Underground Cavern Locations
- Rocks, Rocks, Rocks: Test, Identify Properties & Classify
- Ranking the Rocks for Desired Properties
- Recommendations & Presentations: Drum Roll Please
- Building & Testing Model Underground Safety Caverns
Note: The Asteroid Impact Student Workbook contains worksheets for all activities in this unit in one pdf file; the same worksheets are also available as individual attachments in each lesson and activity.
Worksheets and Attachments
Visit [www.teachengineering.org/curricularunits/view/csm_asteroid_tg] to print or download.More Curriculum Like This
To kickoff the Adventure Engineering Asteroid Impact unit, students learn of the impending asteroid impact scenario, form teams and begin to study the situation in depth. A simple in-class simulation shows them the potential for destruction and disaster. They look at maps and complete a worksheet an...
Students apply their knowledge of scales and areas to determine the best locations in Alabraska for the underground caverns. They cut out rectangular paper pieces to represent caverns to scale with the maps and place the cutouts on the maps to determine possible locations.
After data analysis, student teams commit to their choices of the best cavern-building locations in the state of Alabraska—an ongoing hypothetical engineering challenge scenario. They prepare and give final presentations to explain and defend their final decisions to the class.
Student teams determine the size of the caverns needed to house the population of the state of Alabraska from the impending asteroid impact. They make measurements and calculate area and volume from individual bedroom size to classroom size to large enough to house all Alabraskans. They convert betw...
Copyright
© 2013 by Regents of the University of Colorado; original © 2005 Colorado School of MinesSupporting Program
Adventure Engineering, Colorado School of MinesAcknowledgements
Adventure Engineering was supported by National Science Foundation grant nos. DUE 9950660 and GK-12 0086457. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the National Science Foundation, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.
Last modified: July 20, 2021
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