Objectives

By dividing the history of the Basin into three distinct periods associated with very different bodies of water—Lake Vermont, the Champlain Sea and Lake Champlain—students will gain perspective on geologic time and explore the causes and effects of dramatic changes in the landscape.

Vermont State Standards

[1.9 Narratives], [1.15 Speaking], 1.18 Information Technology, 1.19 Research, 3.9 Sustainability, 4.5 Continuity and Change; 4.6 Understanding Place; 6.4 Historical Connections, 6.7 Geographical Knowledge, 7.11 Systems, 7.15 Theories, Systems and Forces

Materials

• Research materials on the geologic history of the Champlain Basin, including the Geology and Geography sections of This Lake Alive!, the Geology section of the Lake Champlain Basin Atlas, the Natural History article provided here, and modern physical and topographical maps of Vermont
• Blank map of the Champlain Basin from the Blank Maps section of the Lake Champlain Atlas (one copy for each group)
• Enlarged versions of the blank map of the Champlain Basin (one copy for each group)
• Fact Sheets on Lake Vermont, the Champlain Sea and Lake Champlain [DOC]
• What's in the Basin? Trivia Questions [DOC]

Instructional Plan

It is important for students to have some background in geology, geography or ecology—for example, students should be familiar with the Ice Age and the difference between freshwater and saltwater. Relevant vocabulary and concepts include: drainage basin, glacier, and geologic time.

I. Geologic Timeline

Begin this lesson with an introduction to geologic time. How long is a billion years? How old is the Earth? How recent was the Ice Age? Create a timeline of important geologic events in chronological order, such as:

• 4.6 billion years ago Creation of Earth
• 230 – 65 million years ago The existence of dinosaurs on Earth
• 1.4 – 1.1 million years ago The formation of the Adirondack Mountains
• 450,000 years ago The formation of the Green Mountains and the Champlain Basin
• 2 million – 13,000 years ago The recent Ice Age
• 20,000 years ago The formation of Lake Vermont
• 13,000 years ago The formation of the Champlain Sea and the arrival of the first humans in the Champlain Basin
• 9,000 years ago The formation of Lake Champlain

Calculate how many human lifetimes go into a thousand years, a million years, and a billion years. If you have completed the Lesson Creating a Timeline, calculate the span of years the timeline represents and compare it to the span of years between geologic events. Introduce the students to the term "Deep Time," which scientists use to describe the immense time span of geologic history. Ask students to supply their impressions and ideas about it means. You may want students to write a journal entry about the Deep Time. This Lake Alive! also supplies several effective activities for portraying geologic time, on pages 38 and 48.

II. Exploring the Champlain Basin's Geologic History

Now divide the class into three groups representing different periods in the geologic history of the Champlain Basin: the Lake Vermont group (who will study the most ancient of the three bodies of water), the Champlain Sea group, and the Lake Champlain group. Stress the importance of the relative ages of the bodies of water.

Hand out the blank Lake Vermont, the Champlain Sea and Lake Champlain Fact Sheets for each group and direct students to research materials. Ask each group to draw the boundaries of their assigned body of water on their blank map. When the Fact Sheets are completed, students will transfer the labels from their maps onto an enlarged map for display in the classroom.

III. Presenting Group Findings

Students may present their findings in many ways: as a song, a poster display, or story told from the point of view of the Basin. Be sure to arrange their presentations in chronological order and to stress the relationship between each body of water. You may want to hand out blank Fact Sheets for students to fill out while they observe or critique other groups' presentations, so that each student/group has filled out Fact Sheets for each body of water by the end of the lesson.

• Song Write a song about the changes in the Champlain Basin. Choose a tune that the whole class knows. Based on the research from the unit ask the class to define the general theme of the song (I'm so old, Changes, Wet and Wild, etc). Work on what happens first, next etc. Try to come up with a chorus that ties the whole song together.
• Posters Create travel posters for each of the time periods that represent the history of the Champlain Basin. Include the kind of flora and fauna that would have been present if you traveled to that place during the time period represented in the poster. Include lodging, food, dangers, how to pay for the trip, etc.
• Books Write and illustrate class books about the Champlain Basin. Use the fact sheets, timeline and maps to determine the illustrations and text. Make the pages poster-sized!
• Mural Paint a class mural of the progression of the Lake Champlain Basin. Use the timeline, fact sheets and maps to help determine the illustrations.
• Narratives Let the Champlain Basin tell the story: write first person narratives or poems from the Basin's point of view.

Follow up the lesson with a class-wide trivia game, testing their knowledge of the three bodies of water. Suggested trivia questions (and answers) can be found in What's in the Basin? Trivia Questions.

Assessment

Rate students' group working habits and research ability; check Fact Sheets and maps for completion and accuracy; and assess presentations and display maps for depth of comprehension.

Extension

Spend time studying the Paleoindians, a group of people who experienced the transition between the Champlain Sea and Lake Champlain. How did this transition affect their patterns of behavior? Would individuals have been able to detect the changes taking place? Write a journal entry from the point of view of a Paleoindian.