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SavannahYear 8
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ScienceEarth and climate25 min★★ difficulty

The rock cycle in three journeys

No rock is permanent. Given enough heat, pressure or weather, any rock can become another kind — and it does, over and over.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Chemistry: Earth and atmosphere: Understand the composition of the Earth and its atmosphere, and the rock cycle and the formation of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand the composition of the Earth and its atmosphere, and the rock cycle and the formation of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks

Key learning points

  • • Inside the Earth
  • • Three rock types
  • • The cycle

This lesson at a glance

  • 25 minutes
  • 16 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

compositionatmosphereformationigneoussedimentary

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 16 · Discover6%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 16

Watch first

The rock cycle in three journeys

An English teaching video on this topic from CENTURY Tech. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand the composition of the Earth and its atmosphere, and the rock cycle and the formation of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 16

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · Inside the Earth

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 16

Learn

Inside the Earth

A thin rocky crust sits on the hot mantle, which surrounds a liquid outer core and a solid inner core of iron and nickel. Today's atmosphere is roughly 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, with small but important amounts of carbon dioxide and water vapour.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 16

Learn

Three rock types

Igneous rock forms as molten rock cools; slow cooling underground grows large crystals, fast cooling at the surface leaves small ones. Sedimentary rock forms as fragments settle in layers and are compacted and cemented, sometimes trapping fossils. Metamorphic rock forms when heat and pressure change an existing rock without melting it.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 16

Quick check

Which rock type can contain fossils?

6

Quick check

Part 6 of 16

Quick check

What causes large crystals in igneous rock?

7

Reset break

Part 7 of 16

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 16

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · The cycle

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 16

Learn

The cycle

Weathering and erosion break rock into sediment; burial compacts it; deeper burial cooks it into metamorphic rock; deeper still it melts and returns as igneous rock when it cools. Uplift can return any of these to the surface to start again.

10

Quick check

Part 10 of 16

Quick check

How does metamorphic rock form?

11

Quick check

Part 11 of 16

Quick check

Roughly what proportion of the atmosphere is nitrogen?

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 16

Worked example

Worked example: identifying a rock

A sample contains visible shell fragments in layers and fizzes with dilute acid. Conclusion: it is sedimentary, most likely a limestone. Fossils survive only where rock never melted, and layering points to sediment settling — both rule out igneous and metamorphic origins.

13

Challenge round

Part 13 of 16

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

14

Challenge round

Part 14 of 16

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

Today's ____ is roughly 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, with small but important amounts of carbon dioxide and water vapour.

____ rock forms as molten rock cools; slow cooling underground grows large crystals, fast cooling at the surface leaves small ones.

____ rock forms as fragments settle in layers and are compacted and cemented, sometimes trapping fossils.

15

Mastery quiz

Part 15 of 16

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: The rock cycle in three journeys

4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. Which rock type can contain fossils?

  2. 2. What causes large crystals in igneous rock?

  3. 3. How does metamorphic rock form?

  4. 4. Roughly what proportion of the atmosphere is nitrogen?

16

Lesson round-up

Part 16 of 16

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Why the school greenhouse failed

A science club grew tomato plants in the school greenhouse. In June the plants grew well: leaves were dark green and the fruit set quickly. In July the club went away for two weeks and left the greenhouse door shut. When they came back, the leaves were curled and pale and most of the fruit had dropped.

The club had a data logger inside. It showed the temperature reached 46 °C on several afternoons and the soil moisture fell close to zero. The club knew photosynthesis needs light, water and carbon dioxide, and that enzymes in a plant work best in a narrow range of temperature. Above that range the enzymes stop working properly.

The club repeated the summer with the door propped open and a water bottle drip on each pot. Temperature peaked at 31 °C and the plants survived.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Name the variable the club changed the second time, and one variable they kept the same.
  2. Explain, using the words photosynthesis and enzymes, why the plants were damaged in July.
  3. Write a conclusion for the club's report, saying how far the evidence supports it.

  • Method and results

    Writing

    Write the aim, what you changed, what you measured and what you kept the same, then record your results in a table.

    1 page + results table

  • Conclusion

    Writing

    Explain what your results show and why, using the scientific words from the lesson. Say how you know you can trust them.

    6–8 sentences

  • Labelled diagram

    Diagram

    Draw the apparatus or the process in pencil, label it fully, and photograph it.

    1 labelled diagram

  • Reading and notes

    Reading

    Read the lesson text again and write the key ideas in your own words.

    Half a page of notes

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 16 · Watch & discover

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    Understand the composition of the Earth and its atmosphere, and the rock cycle and the formation of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks

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