Cupcake Geology
adapted by Jess Krim from various sources
Content Background (What the teacher should know)
There are types of rock – sedimentary, igneous, metamorphic. Geologists find out about the earth
from many methods, one of these is core sampling. Rocks are formed from temperature and pressure,
and get buried by additional layers. When more temperature and pressure is applied, these rocks
bend. An inch of a core sample is equal to many years. Core sampling takes place in the earth’s
crust.
The core sample in the cupcake is compressed because of the pressure applied to the cupcake. The
air is forced out of the cupcake so the layers appear smaller.
The more samples that are taken, the better an idea we will have of what the inside of the cupcake
looks like.
Lesson Objectives: What knowledge, skills, and dispositions will the students gain from this
activity?
Concept to be Invented (knowledge)
o Scientists took core samples to see the different layers of the Earth
o Scientists seek to explain natural world using evidence from core sampling
o Explanations in science are tentative and open to change as new information is
gathered.
Process Skills
o Basic Skills
! Observation
! Communication
! Prediction
! Inference
o Integrated Skills
! Forming hypothesis
! Modeling
! Investigation
! Interpreting data
Dispositions / values to be developed:
o Valuing groupwork as a way of solving problems
o Appreciating others’ opinions
o Gained appreciation for exploration of the earth’s layers
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CI 442 Fall 2010
Next Generation Science Standards:
MS. History of Earth
DCI:
ESS1.C: History of Planet Earth, bullet 1
The geologic time scale interpreted from rock strata provides a way to organize Earth’s
history. Analyses of rock strata and the fossil record provide only relative dates, not an
absolute scale.
ESS2.B: Plate Tectonics and Large-Scale System Interactions
Maps of ancient land and water patterns, based on investigations of rocks and fossils,
make clear how Earth’s plates have moved great distances, collided, and spread apart.
Crosscutting Concepts (in order of priority):
4. Systems and System Models
Defining the system under study – specifying its boundaries and making explicit a model
fo that system – provides tools for understanding and testing ideas that are applicable
throughout science and engineering.
3. Scale, Proportion, and Quantity
In considering phenomena, it is critical to recognize what is relevant at different measures
of size, time, and energy and to recognize how changes in scale, proportion, or quantity
affect a system’s structure or performance.
1. Patterns
Observed patterns of forms and events guide organization and classification, and they
prompt questions about relationships and the factors that influence them.
Science and Engineering Practices (in order of priority):
1.
2.
3.
4.
6.
7.
8.
Asking questions and defining problems
Developing and using models
Planning and carrying out investigations
Analyzing and interpreting data
Constructing explanations and designing solutions
Engaging in argument from evidence
Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social
Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects:
Text Types and Purposes:
1. Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
a. Introduce claim(s) about a topic or issue, acknowledge and distinguish the
claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and
evidence logically.
b. Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and
evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the topic or text, using credible
sources.
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CI 442 Fall 2010
e. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the
argument presented.
2. Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events,
scientific procedures/experiments, or technical processes.
a. Introduce a topic clearly, previewing what is to follow; organize ideas,
concepts, and information into broader categories as appropriate to achieving
purpose; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., charts, tables), and
multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
b. Develop the topic with relevant, well-chosen facts, definitions, concrete details,
quotations, or other information and examples.
c. Use appropriate and varied transitions to create cohesion and clarify the
relationships among ideas and concepts.
d. Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or
explain the topic.
Procedure
Engage
- Ask students questions to probe their prior knowledge. Have them write down everything
they know about geology.
- What is geology? (the study of the earth)
- What kinds of things in the earth get studied? (rocks, minerals, volcanoes, earthquakes)
- Who studies the earth? (geologists)
- How do geologists study the earth? (many ways, one way is core sampling)
- What is core sampling? (drilling a tube through the crust of the earth)
- What are the layers of the earth? (crust, mantle, lithosphere, athenosphere) *it is
important here to draw a picture of these layers and tell of the characteristics of each
layer.
Explore (Concept Exploration)
Tell students that they have an opportunity to be a geologist during this lesson, and that they
will have their own model of the earth’s crust to examine. Organize students into groups of 3.
Show them a cupcake and explain like the earth, the top is covered, and the sides are covered,
and it’s hard to find out what is inside.
Step 1: no cores - Speculate what’s in the cupcake. Have students draw and color a picture of
what they think is in the cupcake. Have them present their ideas to the class and explain their
thought process behind their drawing.
*Coring Procedure – students cannot touch the cupcake, and must take a core sample from the
top (not through the side of the foil). They can go straight down or at an angle.
Step 2: One core – have students take one core and then from that information, draw another
picture of what they think the inside of the cupcake looks like at this point.
Step 3: Three more cores – have students take three more cores, and from that information,
draw yet another picture of what they think the cupcake looks like at that point.
Explain
Each student cuts the cupcake in half and finds out if their inference was correct. Have
students draw one more cross-section of what the cupcake actually looks like. Discuss findings
as a class.
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CI 442 Fall 2010
Elaborate (Expansion or Concept Application)
1. Discuss how heat and pressure can make rocks that are originally horizontal bend and fold.
Emphasize how students were able to draw a more accurate picture as they took more core
samples; with repetition of sampling comes more specific information.
2. Plan cupcakes that will tell a story, depending upon where in the pan each cupcake was
selected from.
3. Have students make evidence-based arguments about what continents (cupcakes) were once
part of the same land mass
4. Have students communicate findings in the form of a presented lab report. Several groups in
the class can report and then come together to create the story of all cupcakes, not just their
individual cupcake.
Evaluate
Have students write down what they learned about the earth from this process.
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CI 442 Fall 2010
Name _________________
CUPCAKE GEOLOGY
It’s not possible to see all the stratigraphic layers in the earth. Landscape
features or manmade obstacles often hide some sections of rock. Rather than digging
up vast tracts of land to expose an oil field or to find some coal bearing strata, samples
can be taken and analyzed to determine the likely composition of the earth’s interior. To
approximate in the most accurate way, one of the methods geologists use is that of core
sampling, where a drill drives a pipe deep into the bedrock. The core is then extracted,
and geologists then analyze the rock, measuring it, thinly slicing it, looking at it under a
microscope, and numerous other measures of analysis.
In this activity, you are presented with a model of a section of several layers of rock
beneath the earth’s surface. Keep in mind that your section of Earth will hold the clues
to the class model of the Earth. Before selecting your section, plan with your classmates
how you will go about choosing what section to examine.
Then, after selecting your section, It will be your job to take core samples in a
methodological way to explore what layers of rock your section of earth contains,
without peeling away the wrapper or scraping off the icing.
Measuring carefully, create a stratigraphic map showing what you think your earth looks
like. Combine this map with the other students in class to discovery the mysteries that
the earth contains.
15
10
5
0
0
5
10
15
all measurement is in cm.
Finally, after constructing your map, cut your “earth” in half, and see if your hypothesis
was correct!