Name: ____________________________ #:

Grand Canyon Mini-Unit

Part 1:
Pre-Reading:
1. What does the word reliable mean?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
2. What does speculation mean?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
3. What is reasoned judgment?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
4. What would you consider a reliable source for scientific information? Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Grand Canyon Glossary

Directions: As we read the two articles please highlight these words within the texts.
Abundant: existing in large quantities
Chasms: a deep gap in the earths surface
Contends: to state or make a claim
Crucial: extremely important
Detritus: rocks in small particles (sediment)
Geologist: someone who studies the earth (rocks)
Geomorphologist: someone who studies the changes in the earth
Incision: a cut, or a gash
Majestic: splendid, magnificent, grand
Mamillaries: mineral deposits formed in caves (usually on the roof when the water used to be higher than the
cave)
Merger: a combination of two things
Posited: assume as a fact, put forward as a claim
Proto: original, first
Rigorous: extremely thorough, accurate
Yields: produce or provide
1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Part 2:
The Cast
Victor Polyack: geologist at the University of New Mexico, led the research for this new discovery.
Carol Hill: geologist at the University of New Mexico, a member of Polyacks research team.
Yemane Asmerom: geochemist at the University of New Mexico, Polyacks boss.
Joel Pederson: geomorphologist at Utah State University who has spent his career studying the Grand Canyon.
Tim C. Atkinson: geologist at University College, London.
Michael Leeder: geologist at University of East Anglia in Norwich, England.
Directions: As we read the two articles please explain the position of each cast member (what claim are they
making, or what do they believe to be true?).
Polyack:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Hill:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Asmerom:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Pederson:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Atkinson:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Leeder:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Part 3:
After we have analyzed the sources and determined their arguments, what are the facts presented, what
was reasoned judgment and speculation, please answer the following questions about each source.

New York Times article:

Directions: after reading please answer the following questions.

1. Are there any important facts, or key pieces of information that the author leaves out of this article?
How could the claim be better supported using this information?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Do you think this is a reliable source? Why or why not?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Having knowledge on persuasion, did this article persuade you to believe the authors claim? Why or
why not?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Washington Post article:

Directions: after reading please answer the following questions.

1. Are there any important facts, or key pieces of information that the author leaves out of this article?
How could this article be more reliable?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Do you think this is a reliable source? Why or why not?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Having knowledge on persuasion, did this article persuade you to believe the authors claim? Why or
why not?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Science Friday news clip:

Directions: answer the following questions as you listen to the news clip.
1.
How old do people usually say the Grand Canyon is?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
2.
How old does new research say it is?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
3.
What landform did the scientists go into to study how old the canyon is as part of the new evidence?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
4.

What is one of the problems of figuring out how old the canyon is?
The processes that form the canyons tend to remove _______________________________ of origin.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
5.
What does uranium lead dating do?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
6.

The scientists found 4 different dates for the age of the canyon. How old was the sample closest to the
river?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
7.
Does the first phone caller (who works in the Grand Canyon) believe that it is 17 million years old?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
8.
What evidence does he have? (There are a few pieces of evidence).
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
9.
Is Dr. Polyack going to continue doing research on the Grand Canyon?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Directions: after listening please answer the following questions.

10.

Are there any important facts, or key pieces of information that are not included in this broadcast? If
so, please explain.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
11.

Do you think this is a reliable source? Why or why not?

__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
12.

Having knowledge on persuasion, did this broadcast persuade you to believe the Polyacks claim?
Why or why not?

__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7th Grade Teachers Discussion Clip

Directions: after listening please answer the following questions.

1.

Are there any important facts, or key pieces of information that are not included in this broadcast? If
so, please explain.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
6

2.

Do you think this is a reliable source? Why or why not?

__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Final Question:
Of these three sources, which do you believe is the most reliable source? Why? (What sources did they use?
What information did they present? How did they present it? etc.) Explain why you think this source is the
most reliable by comparing it to other sources (why were some of those sources NOT as reliable?).
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
7

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Part 4: Synthesis and Conclusions

Directions: Using what you have learned about rocks, and looking at the information we have compiled, answer
the following questions:
1. What are the arguments presented in these four sources?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

2. What are the supporting details the authors include? Be sure to cite which source you are talking about.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

3. How is the age of the Grand Canyon determined? There can be a few different steps described here.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

4. How and why has the age of the Grand Canyon changed over time? Explain. Use your sources to
provide evidence.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

5. What could this information do to the way we view the earth, and why do we care about this?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

As a group, write (and then present) a conclusion about the information in the 3 sources we looked at and
determine which source is the most reliable. Support your groups conclusion with evidence from the source(s).
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
9

Listen and write down the conclusions from the other groups.

Were their conclusions similar to yours? Why or why not?

__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

For the conclusions that differed from yoursdo you agree with them? Why or why not?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

10