Micro-Teaching on Physical Weathering

It is really too bad to hear from Mr. Yee that Weathering is out of the Secondary School syllabus. To us it was an important part of Geography in terms of land forms and also affecting buildings etc..

My lesson was focused on Physical / Mechanical Weathering, namely the different types of weathering, i.e.

1. Frost Shattering by freeze-thaw action
2. Thermal Expansion and Contracton
3. Pressure Release
4. Salt Crystal Growth
5. Action by Organisms

The lesson objectives were:

1. Learn the definition of Weathering
2. To know what the main types of Weathering are
3. To learn and identify different types of Physical Weathering

I started the lesson with a brief review on the Rock Cycle with a diagram, after which I used a video to give the class a general idea of what the results of Physical Weathering were, in terms of landforms etc. (I was corrected by Mr. Yee that the Grand Canyon is a place that was formed by erosional processes. But I was correct to say that it is a place where the climate is suitable for dominant Physical Weathering).

I realised that I was going too fast in the lesson as I only had 40mins and alot of theories to cover. The class felt that I was a little rushed with the explanations. I should have simply focused on 2 or 3 theories instead of 5.

For the description of freeze-thaw action, I managed to get a website that showed an animation of the process which the class felt was very useful in understanding the concept of this particular weathering. The use of many pictorial examples allowed them to get used to identifying the different types of physical weathering.

The class activity also involved identifying physical weathering processes that have taken place in a certain landscape. Each group was given a different picture of a certain weathering process and a description of the climate, location and geology of the area in which the picture was taken. They were then supposed to identify the weathering process by looking for evidence from the picture and infer from the information provided.

The feedback that I got from the class was that the lesson was interesting and that I managed to capture their attention with the use of videos, animation and pictures. They found that I was well prepared and well-versed in the area that I was teaching, being able to answer impromptu questions during the lesson.

The worksheets that I gave out, could have been more detailed as they did not have enough time to copy the information from the PowerPoint slides.

On the whole I enjoyed the lesson, however it is a pity that I would not be able to teach Weathering in such detail and depth to Secondary students.