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I am a first year teacher and as we are going over our rock and rock cycle unit, we will be discussing erosion. My wife found a great idea on a website that suggested that we build three models using bottles that have been cut in half from the lip to the base. It is done this way to allow the water to be able to run-off and give the students a full visual of how erosion works and the run=off that occurs under different circumstances by being able to catch and observe the run-off. You would then fill each bottle with dirt. In each of the three bottles you would simulate a different type of scenario; in bottle one you would have the dirt and plant some sort of widespread and fast rooting plant in order to show the effects of erosion on well vegetated areas. Next you would have a bottle with dirt and some type of garbage that is easily broken up, like toilet paper, which i believe will break up in small particles as you water it over time. This would simulate a heavily polluted area. Finally, you would have a bottle with just dirt. I am very excited to try this since it allows the students to visually see the effects that vegetation has on erosion, which directly effects the water around us. Because we live in Hawaii, this lab is a great idea to actually get students to see how our actions have a direct effect on the environment around us. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas on how to improve this idea? I know that the students may get a bit impatient as they wait for the plant simulation to grow and finally root itself into the dirt. I would also appreciate any ideas for the pollution simulation (any chemicals you think we could pour onto all of them that the vegetation simulation would catch and filter and the others would not?) Thank you in advance for any ideas or advice the community can give me. P.S. I will be running this lab in the next week or so.

Hi Mitchell,
I thought you might want to check out the National Science Foundation funded website called Bottle Biology
It has lots of great instructions and helpful hints there.
Hope this helps.
Carolyn

Hi Mitchell, Great ideas! I like how you are setting up different scenarios for the students to "see" what is happening when erosion strikes and weathers. It might be interesting to add some basic chemicals that we use alongside vegetation (both thoughtfully and carelessly). If you are actually growing some vegetation in the bottles, then add some motor oil, salt, or fertilizer to see how run-off affects vegetation and therefore spurs erosion. The oil and salt will kill the vegetation and thus ruin the root systems that hold soil in place. The fertilizer might enhance the vegetation? Might also be interesting to introduce pesticides if it can be safely applied around students. Just some thoughts. Have fun!

What a great idea for erosion. I used a modified version of the "bottle biology" posted by Carolyn in this forum earlier this month to discuss soil filtration and runoff. After the initial bottle set-up, I had the students bring in different materials to improve their soil filtration to clean the "dirty" (food colored) water. It was good transition into our unit on water treatment plants!

Hi Mitchell!

I'd like to second Carolyn's suggestion for the biobottles - LOVE them. I also did a quick search in the Learning Center and found 28 different book chapters and journal articles that deal with erosion. Thought you might like to check them out. CLICK HERE to see what else you can find.

Best of luck! Be sure to come back and let us know how it goes. We all enjoy reading about how lessons are applied in different classrooms.

Thanks!
Kendra

Thank you so much for the replies. I will definitely try to add in some of our normal and daily pollutants. Hopefully the plants that we do grow will absorb some of the run off and actually show that when we do consume things like vegetation that is contaminated by human impact, it ends up going back into our bodies. On a side note, I am not sure how many of you are from Hawaii, but on Oahu we have a ton of tourists and i remember looking closely at the water as my cousins and I were setting out to go diving from Ala Moana and we could actually see the run-off of suntan lotion as it created a film on the top of the water...nasty. But yes, it is life lessons like this that has really made me change my ways and because I am a fisherman, I really make it a point to watch myself and those around me when it comes to dropping litter into the ocean or any access point that leads to the ocean. It's too bad that a lot of our students today don't even go outside and would rather stay at home and be on their smart phones or on xbox shooting at each other in call of duty mw3.

This is a great activity! I might steal this for a lesson in the future as well. As for ideas, I think since you sstated that your students may get impatient, maybe have them measure with a timer and take data on observations over a period of time at every 15 or so second interval. This way, the students are staying on their toes and not off task.