Titan AE

Project Description

            Human caused pollution and overpopulation threaten to break down the delicate ecological balance on Earth that allows the human species exist.  With this in mind, there is a thought of necessity that there might come a time, in the future, that the population of Earth might have to look elsewhere for those things that they need to survive.  Before they go looking for these essential items, however, one must know what is necessary to sustain an earthlike existence.  Through the six weeks given, our students will be able to conquer this task through the project based learning style and be able to apply the skills, research, and knowledge they have gathered throughout to change both the scope of today as well as tomorrow. 

Driving Question

What, at the basic level, do humans need to sustain this existence, and where would the population go to obtain these essentials? 

Goals

¯    Demonstrate the inter-relatedness of four major scientific disciplines. (Geology, Chemistry, Biology, Astronomy/Physics)

¯    Connect the complex processes that affect human existence on Earth.

¯    Engage students in the study of Earth Science.

Project Objectives

Rationale

Due to a decrease in global thinking and an increase in modernization of the globe, there may come a time where the worldÕs stage will need to look elsewhere for those items that re so vital to existence itself.  The question then comes to what, at the basic level, do humans need to sustain this existence and where would the population go to obtain these essentials.  This is the question that our project aims to answer through the six week period.

            By completing this project, students will be able to obtain a major goal of all sciences, which is bridging the numerous and complex aspects of the disciplines.  Too readily is the student willing to abandon an active pursuit of deep understanding of scientific concepts and therefore result in an inability to understand the scope of life on earth form the macroscopic to the microscopic view.  They view the sciences as different entities, existing outside each other, with no cohesive bonds that begin to link together those aspects that were learned.  With this skewed view of science, students do not see that the sciences inherently rely on an interdependent building structure organized around universal, scientific tenets.  In the same vein, students commonly resort to looking through the present and ignoring the bigger picture in the end.  The prediction skills that are needed in todayÕs fast-paced society are lost somewhere along the road through their individual and cooperative education.

            Both at the national level and at the state level, educators are trying vigorously to fix these types of problems through the science curriculums.  Throughout the state of Texas the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, more commonly referred to as the TEKS, hold educators accountable to standards which address the knowledge and skills needed for deep understanding of the various disciplines of science as well as ensure that all students are obtaining the same education across the board.  For example, the TEKS addressing knowledge that should be obtained in grade eight about scientific practices shows a commitment to linking disciplines both in a broad manner, as evident in the introduction, as well as more thoroughly in the knowledge and skills portion.  Consistent with the TEKS and trying to aim above and beyond the regular status quo, Austin Independent School District has set p their own working system of what all students should have grasped through the sciences entitled the Instructional Planning Guides, or IPGÕs.

            Along with standardized testing that is in practice, these high level curriculums seem to enforce the theory behind linking the disciplines of science in a way that the student can readily adhere to in practice.  With the aid of our six weeks project, this will drive the concept thoroughly so that students can actually retain the elements learned from the entire experience.

Background

Diamonds form deep inside the Earth under thick continental crust from ultramafic magama.  These ultramafic magmas have a high concentration of carbon dioxide and water which helps bring the diamonds to the surface through Kimberlite pipes.  Diamonds have the same chemical formula as the graphite found in your pencil.  The only difference is that diamonds formed under pressure up to 60,000 times greater compressing its atomic structure.  Diamonds are unstable on the Earth's surface and will eventually revert back to graphite, so that diamond slogan "diamonds are forever" is a lie.

Gold can be formed in two ways.  It forms in a Greenstone Belt which is a volcanic-sedimentary sequence that has been really deformed by regional metamorphism.  As hydrothermal fluids are released during alterations of minerals, the hot water takes the gold in solution and deposits it into veins.  Gold can also be found with silver in an epithermal deposit.  These have to do with hot water circulation like at hot springs.  Water circulates through the a porous rock and becomes heated by a 

shallow intrusion. Minerals become more soluble in hot water so they become dissolved then precipitated out when the water begins to cool.

Zinc, copper, pyrite, chalcopyrite, and several other minerals are found in Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide deposits which form at mid-ocean ridges.  The minerals are the black smoke coming from the black smokers. Sea water circulates near the surface, becomes heated and dissolves minerals and then precipitates them when the minerals reach the cold ocean 

water. This is very similar to the gold deposits.  

Nickel is found in ancient seafloor deposits called Komatiites.  Komatiites are ultramafic rocks that formed by the melting of the mantle.

Some good resources for volcanic mineral deposits are: 

http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/minerals/nickel.html

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/LivingWith/PlusSide/mineral_resources.html

http://esa.www5.50megs.com/mindep/depfile/clas_dep.html

*All of the websites describe the different kinds of volcanic minerals 

and how they are formed with good images. 

Standards Addressed

TEKS

National Standards

National Technology Standards

Assessment