This lesson will explore the phenomenon of shoreline erosion, as students learn about how bodies of water, like rivers, carve out the landscapes around them, moving and depositing sediment, supporting the aquatic ecosystem, and providing natural and man-made ways to interact with human activities and the environment.
- Know how rivers sculpt the landscape, causing shoreline erosion
- Understand how dams are created and removed
- Be able to model erosion and deposition through stream table and simulation experiments
View the entire lesson plan including teacher background information, worksheets and more below or download for free here.
Activity 1:
This activity is a video discussion of a Great Lakes Now segment about how the Department of Natural Resources is removing old and obsolete dams to combat climate change. During the video they need to jot down four things they took away from the video using the 4 Notes Summary Protocol.
Watch a Great Lakes Now Segment
Activity 2:
In this activity, students will read about how the the 2020 Midland dam failures have allowed parasitic sea lamprey to invade local rivers and what local communities were doing to remedy the problem and prevent disruption to the ecosystem by the invasive species.
Read About Sea Lampreys in the Rivers
Activity 3:
In this activity, students will experiment with different factors to see the effects they have on shoreline erosion.
Activity 4:
In this engineering challenge, students will discover the impact of dams on river ecosystems and model the process of dam building and removal.
Modeling Dam Construction and Removal
Activity 5:
This activity is a video discussion of a Great Lakes Now segment about how residents in Ogden Dunes raised worked to combat shoreline erosion by building a revetment made of huge boulders stacked on the shore. During the video they need to jot down four things they took away from the video using the 4 Notes Summary Protocol.
Watch a Great Lakes Now Segment
Activity 6:
In this activity, students will physically model a stream by engineering a stream table using household materials in order to visualize and understand the processes of erosion, deposition, and the formation of landscapes.
Learn all about Episode 2311: Rivers of Water and Sand on this month’s landing page.
If you use this lesson or any of its activities with your learners, we’d love to hear about it! Contact us with any feedback or questions at: GreatLakesNow@DPTV.org
