Earth Explorers

Slide 3, 5

Introduce the ground rules, lesson norms, and team roles to students. You can check out our lesson approach if it’s your first time conducting an Eddy lesson.

Slide 6

Introduce earth’s physical features to the learners by asking, “How many continents can you locate on the globe".

Here educators can provide a 3D model/a picture and ask learners about different continents across the globe.

Slide 8

Ask learners how they are able to locate right continents and what are physical features that separates one continent from earth to another.

Now apprise them of the task for this section by sharing the project on google earth based on different continents and ask them to explore other continents and learn some fun facts about them. 

Slide 9

Share that learners will practice color coordinating different continents by identifying them and coloring them as mentioned in the continents worksheet.

Slide 10

Introduce learners to the main activity where they will be creating a prototype of different kinds of landforms.

NOTE: As a less logistics-intensive alternative to Google earth, teachers may check out these alternative activities.

Slide 11

Now introduce another Google earth project to the learners where they explore different kinds of landforms and gather information about them.

Slide 12

Introduce learners to the main activity for the day: Creating a landforms prototype. Explain that with their exploration of the knowledge they gathered. Now they would become an artist and create a prototype.

Slide 13

Introduce the learners with the Maker challenge where they have to create a landform prototype with the help of playdough.
 

To demonstrate how to make a landform prototype, use this video tutorial. 

Slide 14

Provide learners with the necessary things which are required to create a prototype of the landform:

• A pack of clay
• Scissors
• A pencil
• Cardboard

Slide 15

Share the steps to accomplish this maker challenge.

Introduce them with the steps they need to follow while creating the prototype. 

Step 1 : Selection of the landform you want to design.

Note: Educators can provide examples other than mentioned in the teaching deck.

Slide 16, 17

Step 2 : Help learners to shape their clay into a landform

• Start by rolling it into a ball,
• Then gradually flatten it out into a cone shape and shape it into hills or mountains.
• You can make the mountain or hill as tall or as short as you'd like.
• Likewise if you want to create a valley:
• Take a small amount of blue play dough and form a river or lake in between the hills or mountains. 
• You can shape it however you'd like, whether it's a winding river or a circular lake.
• You can also share further steps with the learners if you find them struggling with the shaping, cutting or formation according to their choice of landform.

Slide 18

Ask learners if they want to add something more to make their landform more colorful and unique such as:

• Experiment with different textures: Encourage learners to experiment with different textures for their clay dough, such as adding sand or rocks to create a rough surface for mountains or using smooth dough for lakes and ponds.
• Use different colors: Use different clay dough colors to represent other landforms. For example, brown for mountains, blue for water bodies, and green for forests.

Slide 19

Play the timer on the screen for learners to be mindful of completing the task on time. 

Slide 20

The educator asks learners to present their creations )and let the class guess the Landform prototype they have created.

• Learners go through the presentation guidelines ( pg 2 of student’s handout) and present taking help from supplement questions from the presentation template.
• Towards the end, teams could open the floor for feedback on how they could further refine their prototype.

Slide 21, 22

Please congratulate the learners on successfully creating a prototype of a landform. To help them reflect on their work, kindly ask the following questions. Sample answers for each question are provided below:

• Which type of landform did you choose and why?
• We decided to make a mountain because of its height and peak at the top. In addition, mountains are fascinating to study as they differ from the flat terrain we are used to seeing. Moreover, sculpting a hill out of clay dough was a fun and creative way to exercise our imagination.
• What inspired you to make this landform? 
• We were inspired by the pictures from the Google Earth project and decided to use play dough to create our version of the landform with our imagination and creativity.
• What did you discuss with your teammates while creating the landform?
• We discussed how to shape the clay dough to make the landform and what colors and textures we wanted to use. Additionally, we talked about adding details to the landform, such as trees, houses, or animals. Finally, we discussed various things within our teams while creating a landform, such as brainstorming ideas, planning, problem-solving, and collaborating on the final design.