Primary Structures and Rotation

Laurel Goodwin, UW-Madison, and Carol Ormand, SERC at Carleton College
Author Profile
Initial Publication Date: April 10, 2014 | Reviewed: July 6, 2017
DOI | Cite this

Summary

In this exercise, students work in pairs to gesture the orientations of cross-bedded sandstones, and in particular the relationship between a single cross bed and the bed sets. They do this for photos of undeformed and deformed cross-bedding.

Share your modifications and improvements to this activity through the Community Contribution Tool »

Learning Goals

At the end of this exercise, students will be able to:

  • Use gestures to convey 3D information about cross-bedding.
  • Use gestures to convey hypotheses about the rotational history of deformed cross-beds.

Context for Use

We use this exercise both to review primary structures and to get students thinking about 3D deformation of rocks with primary structures.

Description and Teaching Materials

In this exercise, students work in pairs to gesture the orientations of cross-bedded sandstones, and in particular the relationship between a single cross bed and the bed sets. They do this for photos of undeformed and deformed cross-bedding.

Primary Structures and Rotations handout (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 2.9MB May19 15)


Assessment

We walk around the room, watching and talking with the students as they work through the exercise. It's a quick and easy way to assess student comprehension.

References and Resources

Goldin-Meadow, Susan (2011). Learning Through Gesture. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, v. 2, n. 6, pp. 595–607.

Goldin-Meadow, Susan, Howard Nusbaum, Spencer D. Kelly, and Susan Wagner (2001). Explaining Math: Gesturing Lightens the Load. Psychological Science, v. 12, n. 6, pp. 516-522.

Using Gesture to Support Spatial Thinking highlights the value of gesture in communicating spatial information. It consists of two short exercises, and can be used in preparation for any other exercise in which students will be asked to use gesture to communicate spatial information.