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Hi, 

I think erosion is something we don't think too much about. I think teaching kids about erosion is important because not everything on this earth is meant to last forever. Not everything stays intact. 

I was thinking about teaching 3rd graders about erosion with a science experiment with materials including:

trays

sand

water

plastic cups

With these materials I will model how erosion works. 

Using the plastic mold to build a statue or a sand castle, then pour water onto the sand and see what happens. Before I would ask my students what they think will happen to the sand castle. They will come up with their hypothesis and I will continue to pour the water onto the castle and see what happens. 

This is a great activity for those visual learners, and hands on learners. This would help kids to analyze what happens during erosion and how it happens. 

I think the teaching of erosion is very important along with what types of rocks and material tend to erode faster or slower. I think the sand is a great example to show a fast erosion, I would also suggest doing a part on hard form rocks that erode slowly over time so they can compare and contrast the two materials involved. 

This leads to my question: How would you show the slow erosion of rock and the fast erosion of sand by water? Would you introduce another liquid material that made aid in erosion? 

Hi, has anyone done a middle school PBL project on erosion?