Teacher Activity Guide: Scholastic's The Magic School Bus Explores The Earth

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Scholastic's The Magic School Bus® Explores Inside the Earth begins in the classroom of everyone's favorite science teacher, Ms. Frizzle. But there's just one problem: Rocks and minerals are missing from Arnold's collection. Where on Earth could they be?

With help from the Friz and her spunky class, your students track down Arnold's missing rocks and minerals among six geological wonders. From inside and outside the bus, they'll explore the Grand Canyon, a fault, an active volcano, caverns, a geode (hollow rock lined with crystals), and an undersea volcano.

At each site, children learn geology concepts in highly motivating ways: fun activities and experiments, fast-action games, fascinating Earth x-rays, and more. The activities and experiments in this teaching guide reinforce concepts presented in The Magic School Bus Explores Inside the Earth. The guide includes an introductory lesson as well as a lesson for each geological site. The Quick Reference Guide outlines the content of each site.

On This Page

	Overview
	Quick Reference Guide
	Ms. Frizzle's Classroom
	The Grand Canyon
	Inside a Geode
	The Undersea Volcano
	Land Volcano
	Caverns
	The Fault

Overview

Computer Basics

The booklet inside the CD case will tell you how to load and run the program. The disk has a Help file with further instructions and a troubleshooting guide. The following quick tips will make your first geology adventure easier.

Clicking 

Point the cursor at objects and characters and click the mouse. Click boldly and often to uncover zany surprises!

On-Screen Help 

In all games, experiments, and activities click on the question mark (?) for help. Magic School Bus characters sometimes offer help in games and activities; try clicking on them to hear instructions.

Music 

To turn music on or off in the front or back of the bus, click on the musical note.

Scrolling 

In the classroom, you can scroll to the left or right of the opening screen. Move the cursor along the edge of the screen. When it turns into a big red arrow, click and hold down the mouse to scroll.

The Bus 

In the front of the bus, click on the little bus doors under the TV monitor to exit the bus. Click on the rear view mirror (top left) to go to the back of the bus. In the back of the bus, click on the big bus doors to exit. Click on the small monitor (far left) to go to the front of the bus. The cursor will turn into a steering wheel. When you're done exploring a site, click on the bus to go inside.

Traveling Between Sites 

You can visit the sites in any order, as many times as you like. There are two ways to travel:

Going Directly to Games and Activities

As you explore sites, icons for games and activities at those sites will appear on the wall of the front of the bus. Click on an icon to go directly to the game or activity depicted. For example, click on the cave figure to go to the cave painting activity.

Arnold's Missing Rocks and Minerals 

In the back of the bus, click on the empty spaces in Arnold's rock and mineral collection to find out which four rocks and minerals are missing. The missing specimens change each time you play. For up to three clues, click again on the empty spaces. By exploring the sites, reading reports, listening to characters, and doing activities, you will gather enough information to find the missing specimens.

Geo Table 

In the back of the bus, click on the Geo Table (lower left) to experiment with rock samples. The Rock Box contains a permanent group of samples along with samples that you add while exploring sites. You can dig up samples with the big shovel in the front of the bus. Click on the Rock Box to flip through the rocks. Then click on a rock to view it through a magnifying glass, drip vinegar on it, scratch it with various tools, and so on.

Earth Kitchen 

In the back of the bus, click on the Earth Kitchen oven to experiment with making different rocks and minerals by changing the chemical composition, heat, and gas.

Earth Digger 

In the front of the bus, click on the red lever to the left of the gear shift to operate an Earth Digger. This giant shovel scoops up specimens outside the bus and deposits them in a Rock Box.

Rock Transformer 

In the back of the bus, click on the round machine with yellow and black stripes (upper right). Then click on the Rock Box to choose a sample rock or mineral. Click and drag the sample into the top of the Rock Transformer to see what objects people make from various rocks (an arrow head out of obsidian, for example).

Stopping 

Click on the QUIT/SAVE button the front of the bus to stop playing, save the current game, or search for new missing rocks. To leave the game quickly from any point, without saving the game, press the ALT button while at the same time pressing on the F4 button.

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Quick Reference Guide

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Ms. Frizzle's Classroom

Your students are ready to "rock" and roll on the Friz's latest zany field trip. But first, ask them "Just what is a rock, anyway?" 

Science Concepts 

Background

As in the game "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral," minerals include Earth's inorganic (non-living) materials: copper, diamond, salt, etc. Some are single elements (the simplest form of a substance): gold, silver, carbon, etc. Others are mixtures: quartz is one part silicon and two parts oxygen. Either way, a mineral is chemically the same throughout. Rocks contain one or more minerals: limestone is mostly calcite; granite is quartz, mica, and feldspar.

Activities 

Intriguing Science Question: Are all rocks old? 

1. Stone Search 

Ask children: Do two stones of the same type look exactly alike?

Display a group of similar stones such as landscaping stones or gravel. What differences do students observe? (Size, shape, markings, patterns.) Have each student choose a stone and study it: weigh it, measure its volume (drop it in a graduated cylinder of water; measure how high the water rises), note features such as cracks, and draw it. Collect the stones, mix them, and spread them on a table. Who can find their stone? Careful observers will do it by sight alone. To test whether students have the right rock, measure the weight or volume.

2. Is it a Rock or Not? 

Read this list. Collect and study as many items as you can. Then decide if each item is a rock - or not. Make a check under the "Rock" or "Not" column to show your choice.

1. What properties (traits) do all the rocks share?

2. What types of properties make the other items non-rocks?

Answer Key: To be a rock, an item must be non-living and in a natural state. Slate, sandstone, natural chalk, granite, gravel, raw diamond, and gold nuggets are all rocks. The brick, blackboard chalk, penny, shell, glass marble, and cement chip are not in a natural state. The bark and pine cone are living materials.

Intriguing Science Answer: Most rocks are up to 3.9 billion years old. But some, such as fresh lava rock, were born yesterday. 

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The Grand Canyon

How can one river carve away and carry off a canyon-full of rocks? With a little help from its friends: wind, heat, cold, gravity, animals, and even plants! 

Science Concepts 

Background

A land form, such as a canyon, is a feature that natural forces (wind, water, ice, etc.) have sculpted. This sculpting is called erosion. The river in a canyon started as a stream. The stream cut deeper into the rock, causing more water to pour in and form a river. The steeper the slope of the ground, the faster a river moves. The faster the river, the greater its force; the greater the force, the more rock the river carries away.

On flat land, the river slows and loses the energy needed to carry sediments (bits of rock and other material). So the sediments settle on the bottom. Heavier bits fall out sooner than lighter ones. That's why sediments form layers and why a mountain river has many heavy rocks while its low-lying delta is full of light-weight, muddy debris.

Activities 

Intriguing Science Question: Why do canyons form in deserts and not rainy areas?

1. Hard Rock Canyon 

Ask children: How can a little river chip away a canyon-full of hard rock?

Magic School Bus Explores Inside the Earth shows the incredible scale of a canyon. How does a little river erode so much towering rock? It has allies. Time is one: The Grand Canyon took 10 million years to look awesome. How does gravity speed erosion? Tumbling rocks hit each other and break each other down into smaller bits.

In two coffee cans, soak soft rocks in water overnight. Cover one can tightly. Everyone shakes it 50 times. Observe both cans for sediment, chips, marks, or smoothing of rocks. If a shore has jagged stones, what conclusion could students draw? (It's young; Earth's natural forces haven't yet smoothed over the rocks.) Compare the erosion of rocks in your area: in backyards, streams, parks, etc.

2. Water Fall-Out 

Ask children: How do sediments form in layers?

Put a spoonful each of sand, gravel bits, and soil in a jar of water and shake it. What do students observe? (Bits float, making the water muddy; heavy objects fall quickly to the bottom.) Leave the jar overnight. But first ask students to predict what will happen. Will the water be clear? The sediment mixed? (Water clears partially; sediment forms layers - lighter bits on top.) Observe the jar for a week. Encourage students to experiment with various sediment materials.

3. Mud Cup 

Ask children: How do geologists get fossils out of rocks?

In Magic School Bus Explores Inside the Earth, students piece together a fossil. Have them practice extracting "'fossils" in one of two ways: remove chocolate chips from a cookie with a toothpick or make a Mud Cup. Fill paper cups with wet mud. (Or make imitation sandstone: one part plaster, such as plaster of Paris, one part water, two parts sand.) Dip "fossils" (small plastic animals, chicken bones, twigs, leaves, shells, etc.) in cooking oil or petroleum jelly and bury them. Pack the mud and allow it to dry. Remove the cups. Give students any "rock hound" tools available to unearth the "fossils" - intact, if possible. Point out that most real fossils are just imprints. Only bones, shells, and other hard parts, if anything, usually survive.

Intriguing Science Answer: Rain wears away mountain slopes. So in wet places, a steep-walled canyon becomes a v-shaped or flat valley. 

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Inside a Geode

Look into a crystal ball, and you won't see the future. You'll see the past. Long ago, liquid minerals cooled into crystals. 

Science Concepts 

Background

Molecules fit snugly, with no empty spaces. Only certain three-dimensional shapes - orthorhombic, triclinic, hexagonal, isometric, tetragonal, and monoclinic - can fit together without leaving gaps. Thus, all crystals are made up of one of these six shapes (or variations). Most minerals are crystals; some crystals can be polished into gems (rubies, sapphires).

Geodes form when the minerals inside a molten rock (limestone, for example) cool and crystallize. The crystals remain hidden inside until something or someone breaks open the rock. Crystals are sold at rock and gem stores, gift shops, New Age stores, some children's bookstores, and stores that carry educational toys.

Activities 

Intriguing Science Question: What do your pencil and a diamond have in common?

1. Giant Geode Crystals 

Ask children: Why are the crystals in some geodes so big?

Grains of Epsom salt, table salt, rock salt, sugar, and rock candy are crystals. With a hand lens, have students compare these crystals to the crystals in a large geode. Which ones are bigger? More colorful? Clearer? Why are some crystals bigger than others? Explore this question by preparing four or more identical crystal makers. For each one, boil a cup of water, remove it from heat, and super-saturate it with about two cups of sugar or one cup of salt. Tie string to a pencil. Set the pencil across the top of the cup so that the string dangles into the solution.

Students should place the crystals makers in spots where water will evaporate fast (near a heater, in the sun) and slow (in a cool closet). After crystals have formed, compare them. How does evaporation rate affect crystal size? (The slower the evaporation, the bigger the crystals.) Crystals that form slowly, whether through cooling or evaporation, have more time to grow bigger.

2. Geode Geometry 

Ask children: What shapes fit together exactly, with no gaps?

Compare irregular rocks to crystals. If students had to build a "rock solid" shape with no air pockets, which would they use? (Crystals.) Why? (They have smooth sides.) Which geometric shapes can form solid crystals? Start by passing out plastic, cardboard, or wooden shapes: circles, triangles, squares, various rectangles, pentagons, and hexagons. Challenge children to "tile" their desks with a single layer - no holes, no overlapping. Which shapes can they use? (All but circles and pentagons.) What if these shapes were 3-D? Which ones do students predict will work? For example, salt crystals are cubes. Have students build a clay " crystal" using one of the six crystal shapes (see "Background").

3. Geode Detective 

Ask children: How would you know if a rock is a geode (without breaking it)?

All the "good stuff" is hidden inside. Think like detectives: What are the properties of geodes? For example, they're hollow. How is this a clue? (Geodes weigh less than solid counterparts; they may sound different when tapped.) The outer shells are calcite or quartz. How does this fact help? (Identify promising rocks with a field guide; dribble vinegar to see if calcite fizzes.) Research the source of geodes. Where are many found? (The central Midwest, for example.) Put rocks in a canvas bag and break them with a hammer. Do rocks all break alike? (No; the unique break, or cleavage, helps identify a rock.) Students will enjoy hunting for geodes, crystals, etc., with an adult.

Intriguing Science Answer: Graphite (pencil "lead") is pure carbon. A diamond is pure carbon in crystal form. 

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The Undersea Volcano

Where's the underwater action, geologically speaking? Wherever crustal plates meet under the sea, you'll find more than the usual volcanoes, earthquakes, trenches, and ridges. 

Science Concepts 

Background

Earth's crust is up to 22 miles thick on land, but only 3 miles thick under much of the ocean. In the Atlantic, the North American and Eurasian Plates are spreading apart. Magma rises and cools to form the Mid-Atlantic Ridge from Iceland to the South Pole.

Colliding plates create mountains (the Himalayas). A subducted plate melts in the mantle and sometimes rises through the plate above it, creating volcanoes (Mount St. Helens). As a plate moves over a "hot spot" in the ocean, chains of volcanic islands form (Hawaii). In 1993, scientists found the biggest field of undersea volcanoes (1,133) near Easter Island in the South Pacific.

Activities

Intriguing Science Question: Where on Earth is a mountain taller than Mount Everest?

1. Anti-Gravity Magma

Ask children: Why does magma rise, against the pull of gravity?

Review the undersea volcano site in Magic School Bus Explores Inside the Earth. A subducted plate melts and rises through the plate above it. What force is "strong-arming" gravity? Pressure from below can force magma to rise. (Prick a tube of toothpaste and squeeze the bottom.) But usually, it's because the magma is less dense (lighter for its volume) than the material around it. Put oil and colored water in a jar. The oil floats (it's less dense). Flip the jar upside down. The oil rises (like magma) to the surface. Experiment: How does heat affect density? Make hot water rise through cold water. (Use food coloring to make the water more visible.) Which solids rise or float in liquids? (Butter, chocolate, cherries, etc.)

2. Hot Spots

Ask children: Why do islands form chains?

Locate maps of Hawaii and the Galapagos Islands. What's similar? (The islands form chains; there's one big island at the edge; others get smaller and flatter.) The big islands (Hawaii and Isabela/Fernadina) have the only active volcanoes. Based on what students learned in Magic School Bus Explores Inside the Earth, what's below these islands? (A "'hot spot" of magma.) On each map, mark the movement of the underlying plate. (Your arrow should parallel the chain from the big island to the smaller ones.) All the islands were once above the "hot spot." They moved past the hot spot and became extinct. Which islands are older? (The ones leading the chain.) Which is youngest? (The volcanically active island.) Why is it so much bigger? (Less time to erode.) Have students search a map for more island chains. They can now figure out which way the plates move, which islands are oldest, and which one has an active volcano.

3. Rock of Ages

Ask children: How old are rocks?

Most rocks are millions and billions of years old. But some were literally born yesterday - when hot lava cooled, for example. An underwater volcano in Hawaii is creating a whole new island that should debut in tens of thousands of years - soon in geological time.

Make a time line starting at 4,600,000,000 years ago (when Earth may have formed). At 1 cm per 10 million years, the line will be 460 cm long. Wind it all around the school. Have students research and mark geological milestones. For example:

Intriguing Science Answer: Mauna Kea in Hawaii is 4,400 feet higher, but most of it is underwater. 

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Land Volcano

Some volcanoes explode, some ooze, and some snooze. They can destroy land, change land, and create land at the same time. 

Science Concepts 

Background

Earth has about 500 active volcanoes. The majority are near mountain chains, where the folded or faulted crust is weak. Fast, fluid lava forms flat shield volcanoes, which have many points of eruption. Slow, sticky lava containing lots of debris forms flat-topped mountains called cinder volcanoes. An alternating combination of the two forms high-peaked composite volcanoes.

The types of lava:

Activities

Intriguing Science Question: Do islands float in the ocean?

1. Fire Rocks 

Ask children: Are all igneous rocks alike?

Igneous means fire. Fiery lava that cools quickly on Earth's surface forms fine-grained extrusive igneous rocks (basalt, obsidian, pumice). Fiery lava that cools slowly inside a magma chamber forms big-grained intrusive rocks such as granite. Students will see both types in Magic School Bus Explores Inside the Earth.

Ask students to examine igneous rocks with a hand lens. How many colors do they see? Which rocks are smooth and shiny? Which have big grains?

Help students divide the rocks into intrusive and extrusive groups. (Use a rock field guide if you're not sure.) What do rocks in each group have in common? Experiment with cooling speeds by making fudge. Set half in a freezer and half in a warm spot to cool. The warm-spot fudge will taste grainier.

2. Flow-Going 

Ask children: Why doesn't lava rock all look alike?

The short answer: because lava doesn't all flow alike. Pahoehoe forms when the flow is fast (as much as 50 m.p.h.); aa lava forms when the flow is slow. To explore why liquids flow at different rates, students can measure viscosity (resistance to flow) in two easy ways:

Experiment: Do liquids such as lava flow faster or slower when they're hotter? Does the type of surface matter? The slope? The amount of liquid?

3. The Big, Fat Blow-Up 

Ask children: How do scientists know a volcano is about to erupt?

In Magic School Bus Explores Inside the Earth, an earthquake happens just before the volcano erupts. Bigger, more frequent, and shallower earthquakes are just one warning sign. More gas escapes, the grade (tilt) of the volcano steepens, and the volcano's summit gets taller and wider.

Why does the volcano get taller and wider? Blow up a large, round balloon three-fourths of the way and tie it off. Use a marker to draw a caldera (crater-shaped summit) around the neck of the balloon. Draw the volcano's sides stretching from the caldera to the fat end of the balloon. Plot and label (A, B, C, etc.) three points along the caldera's rim and three points anywhere on the sides. Have students measure and record the distances between neighboring points and the caldera's diameter. Fully inflate the balloon. Explain that this is like the volcano's chamber filling with magma. Have students re-measure the distances between points and compare them to the first figures. What do they find? (The "volcano" got taller and wider after fully inflating it.) What do they predict happens after a volcano erupts and magma leaves the chamber? (The volcano will get shorter and narrower.)

Intriguing Science Answer: An island is the tip of a mountain. Its wide base sits on the ocean floor. 

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Caverns

When underground water carries away rock, bit by bit, a cave is born. When water carries away lots of rock, a mammoth cavern is born.

Science Concepts 

Background

Here's the recipe for a cave: lots of rainfall, cracks through which the rainwater can seep into the ground, rocks that dissolve in water (limestone, for example), a drain so that water and dissolved rock can exit. All of these ingredients must be present. Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico is a town-sized cavern with chambers that have ceilings several hundred feet tall. Caves are much smaller. Sinkholes are collapsed caves. They can drag down cars, trees, and houses. Many of Florida's smaller lakes are flooded sinkholes.

Activities

Intriguing Science Question: If caves are holes carved in rock, where does all the missing rock go? 

1. Chalk it Up 

Ask children: Why are many caves formed in limestone?

Limestone (calcium carbonate) comes in many forms that look very different. Locate samples: sea shells, natural chalk, calcite, marble (the metamorphic form of limestone), and rocks. Mix in non-limestone rocks and challenge students to identify the limestone samples by testing for an acid reaction. Wearing safety goggles, add drops of vinegar or lemon juice. Look and listen for fizzing. The gas given off is carbon dioxide. Discuss the corrosive power of acids such as vinegar. Show photos of limestone statues eroded by acid rain. Caves form easily and often in limestone because limestone dissolves easily.

2. Hang "Tite" 

Ask children: How do stalactites and stalagmites form?

Remember: Stalactites "hang tight" to the ceiling. Stalagmites grow from the ground. Water seeps into a limestone cave, drips, and evaporates leaving behind minerals. One drop of water makes a circle of mineral. The circles pile up, forming an "icicle."

Show pictures of strange formations. One in Luray, Virginia, looks like fried eggs! Limestone is white. Yet what colors do students see? Why? Minerals (iron, copper, sulfur) stain the limestone. Compare distilled and hard water. Do students see, smell, or feel a difference? Experiment: Evaporate the two kinds of water and look for residue, freeze them (impure water has a lower freezing point - why we salt winter roads), add dish soap (suds don't last in hard water), wash fabric swatches and look for mineral stains and other differences.

3. Classy Cave 

Ask children: What's it like inside a cave?

Some students may recount visits to public park caves. Invite a spelunker (caver) or speleologist (cave scientist) to speak. Then turn your room into a cave! Like rings of a tree, stalactites and stalagmites grow in concentric layers. Columns form when a pair meets in the middle. Make these forms out of gray or white (limestone), orange (iron), and yellow (sulphur) paper. Have students research and create models of cave life (birds, bats, insects, spiders, etc.). Add "cave paintings" made with Magic School Bus Explores Inside the Earth. Then set the mood: Block all light. Lower the temperature. (Carlsbad stays 56'F all year round.) Run a humidifier. Add dripping sound effects.

Intriguing Science Answer: Underground rivers carry it off and drop it in oceans or lakes. 

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The Fault

Thin ice on a pond cracks and crashes together or floats apart. Earth's thin crust does the same, every day of the year. 

Science Concepts 

Background

Earthquakes may be "earth-shattering," but very few are "The Big One." More than a million quakes strike each year. Of those, we feel just a handful. Like the earthquake in Magic Schoolbus Explores Inside the Earth, most quakes cause little damage. Only rarely do earthquakes destroy towns and cities. Humans are helpless to stop the intense waves of energy. The quakes' waves originate below the ground, in the hypocenter. The epicenter is on the ground directly above the hypocenter.

If students plot previous earthquakes on a world map, they'll mark the Ring of Fire, a perimeter around the Pacific Ocean. But earthquakes can occur anywhere the crust is cracked, including the site of America's worst known earthquake - New Madrid, Missouri.

Activities 

Intriguing Science Question: How can fossils of sea creatures be on the highest mountain tops? 

1. Fractured Faults 

Ask children: How do faults form?

Pass out a hard-boiled egg and a metal spoon to each pair of students. The Earth's crust is like the shell of the egg: hard, thin, and fragile. Ask students to gently crack the eggshell, but not remove it. What do the pieces look like? Are they smooth-edged or jagged? Are some bigger than others? Where does the "mantle" (white part) show through? (Look for "plates" that "drifted" apart.)

Do any pieces overlap? Have students gently squeeze the egg and observe the pieces. Are they slippery or sticky? Do any "mountains" form?

2. Knuckle Down 

Ask children: Why are some earthquakes stronger than others?

Magic Schoolbus Explores Inside the Earth introduces types of faults (normal, reverse, and strike-slip). Students can form "faults" by pressing their hands palm to palm and sliding them up and down and side to side. Which way is harder? (Side to side.) Why? (Fingers stick up and get in the way.) How would they describe the sliding motion? (jerky and uneven, like a car on railroad tracks.) Next, have students make a fist and interlock their knuckles. Can they slide one fist up and the other down? It takes more effort. They press harder and harder and then, pop! The fists violently jerk past each other. Likewise, strong earthquakes happen when faults build up lots of pressure and release it all at once. Weak earthquakes are more like the sliding palms.

3. Mountain Tweak 

Ask children: How did the Rocky Mountains form?

Kansas and almost all of Colorado are pancake flat. Then mile-high mountains rise abruptly. Starting about 65 million years ago, the Rockies rose from Earth's fabric in a process called folding. Stack three flat towels on a table. Slowly push the towels inward from either end. Bumps rise (like mountains) in waves, but much of the fabric stays flat. Flatten and squeeze the towels harder. Any difference? Have students experiment with folding on different materials: bread or sponge, paper, cardboard, clay, and so on. Stiff materials may break and crack. These breaks cause earthquakes.

Intriguing Science Answer: The mountains were once the ocean floor! Two plates pushing from opposite sides forced the floor to rise. 

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