Geology of the Grand Canyon

Carol Ormand

SERC, Carleton College

This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Peer Reviewed Teaching Activities collection. (view details)

This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Reviewed Teaching Collection

This activity has received positive reviews in a peer review process involving five review categories. The five categories included in the process are

Scientific Accuracy
Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
Pedagogic Effectiveness
Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page

For more information about the peer review process itself, please see https://serc.carleton.edu/teachearth/activity_review.html.

Initial Publication Date: September 13, 2017 | Reviewed: December 10, 2020 (see revision history: 2 events)

Summary

Students analyze topographic and geologic maps, through a set of guiding questions, to decipher the geologic history recorded in the rocks of the Grand Canyon.

Fluvial | College Introductory

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Context

Audience

Geology of the National Parks (intro level course for majors and non-majors)

See the course description, including links to all of the other teaching activities for this course.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

While this lab exercise does provide some scaffolding for interpreting the geologic map, it assumes students have some familiarity with both topographic and geologic maps. Students also need to be able to describe how a variety of sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks form.

How the activity is situated in the course

This is the first of two labs about Grand Canyon National Park. It builds on previous exercises on rock identification and interpretation, and it precedes a field trip to a local river gorge.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

Students will decipher the geologic history recorded in the rocks of the Grand Canyon.

Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity

Geologic map interpretation: students will construct a geologic history of the Grand Canyon region, using only the information on the geologic map and their wits

Other skills goals for this activity

Description of the activity/assignment

Students analyze topographic and geologic maps, through a set of guiding questions, to decipher the geologic history recorded in the rocks of the Grand Canyon. This includes interpreting what each rock unit tells us about the regional environment at the time of its formation and interpreting the gaps in the rock record.

Determining whether students have met the goals

Working alone or in groups, students compile a timeline of events recorded in the rocks of the Grand Canyon. I evaluate their timeline using a rubric.

More information about assessment tools and techniques.