Our World: The Rock Cycle
Find out how rocks brought to Earth by the Apollo astronauts have helped NASA learn more about the rock cycle. Compare igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks found on Earth to three types of rocks found on the moon.
Discussion and writing prompts
1. Every rock has a history shaped by the processes it has experienced. How can scientists use the characteristics of a rock to determine how it formed and what it has experienced over time?
2. Apollo astronauts brought rocks back from the Moon that scientists still study today. Why is it valuable to compare rocks from Earth with rocks from the Moon? What can these comparisons teach us about how different planetary bodies change over time?
3. The rock cycle has no true beginning or end. Instead, rocks are continually transformed by processes such as weathering, erosion, heat, pressure, melting, and cooling. Why is the rock cycle considered an example of Earth's dynamic systems? Trace the possible journey of a single rock over millions of years as it changes from one rock type to another. Describe the processes that cause each transformation and explain how Earth's internal energy and surface processes work together to drive the rock cycle.
Background Information
Grades 3 through 8
- NASA eClips Our World: The Stories Moon Rocks Tell (video)
Grades 3 through 12
- NASA eClips Ask SME: Lunar Sample Curator Dr. Ryan Zeigler (video)
- NASA eClips Ask SME: Senior Sample Processor, Lab Manager Andrea Mosie (video)
- NASA eClips Ask SME: Artist and Astromaterials 3D Science Principal Investigator Erika Blumenfeld (video)
Grades 5 through 12
- National Geographic Society The Rock Cycle (webpage)
- Lunar and Planetary Institute Apollo 11 Lunar Samples (webpage)
- Lunar and Planetary Institute Collecting Moon Rocks (webpage)
- NASA Astromaterials (webpage)
- NASA Lunar Rocks and Soils from Apollo Missions (interactive)
Grades 6 through 12
Activities
Grades 3 through 8
- NASA eClips Our World: Dirt (lesson pdf)
- NASA Explore Rocks Using Core Sampling (webpage)
Grades 3 through 12
- NASA's Johnson Space Center Astromaterials 3D (interactive)
- National Earth Science Teachers Association Windows to the Universe (interactive)
- The Geological Society of London The Rock Cycle (interactive)
Grades 4 through 8
- Scholastic Study Jams The Rock Cycle (interactive)
- NASA Candy Bar Geology (webpage)
Grades 4 through 12
- NASA Rocking the Rock Cycle (pdf)
Grades 5 through 12
- NASA Lunar & Meteorite Sample Disc Program (webpage)
- Annenberg Learner Rock Cycle Interactive (interactive)
- NASA's Johnson Space Center Rocks, Soils, and Surfaces (webpage)