Sculpted by Floods

Learning Resource Guide

Overview:

KSPS’s Sculpted by Floods tells the story of the ice age floods in the Pacific Northwest. It

is a story of the earth's power, scientific discovery and human nature - one touted by

enthusiasts as the greatest story left untold. During the last ice age, floods flowing with

ten times the volume of all the world's current rivers combined inundated the Northwest.

What they left behind was a unique landscape that citizens of the Pacific Northwest

call home.

Subjects: Earth Science, Geology, History, Pacific Northwest History

Grade Levels: 6-8

Materials: Lesson handouts, laptops/computers

Learning Guide Objectives:

Define the following vocabulary terms and use them orally and in writing: glacier,

flood, cataracts, landform, canyon, dam.

Analyze how floods can create landforms and shape a region’s landscape,

using the Missoula Floods as a case study.

Next Generation Science Standards

MS-ESS2-2. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth’s surface at varying

time and spatial scales. Washington State History Standards

EALR 4: HISTORY: 3.1. Understands the physical characteristics, cultural characteristics, and location of places, regions, and spatial

patterns on the Earth’s surface Common Core English Language Arts Anchor & Literacy in History/Social Studies Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and

quantitatively, as well as in words.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are

appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.2. Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate

summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.7. Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other

information in print and digital texts.

Lessons & Handouts

Before the Film

1. Warm-up – Mapping Activity: Students locate and color Washington, Oregon,

Idaho, and Montana on a U.S. map that displays landforms. Tell students where

Missoula, Montana is located and have them label the city on the map.

Next, students answer the following questions about the landform map and share

their responses with a partner:

What do you notice about the map?

What things do the four states have in common?

Why do you think they have these things in common?

Do you think the geological features of these states were formed quickly or

slowly?

2. Vocabulary: Ask students if they are familiar with landforms in the region (i.e.,

Palouse Falls, Lake Missoula, Grand Coulee, etc.).

Explain that the class will soon watch segments from a documentary entitled

Sculpted by Floods and explore how glaciers formed during the last ice age period

and the floods they caused helped shape the landforms of the Pacific Northwest.

Add that before viewing the documentary, the class will define and analyze key

vocabulary terms.

Using classroom dictionaries and/or online dictionaries, students complete

vocabulary charts to preview and define six key vocabulary words: glacier, flood,

cataracts, landform, canyon, dam. To extend this activity, have students create

posters of their vocabulary charts and post them around the room for students to

refer to in future lessons.

3. Pair Reading: In pairs, students read “Background on Glacial Missoula,” an

informational text from the Montana Natural History Center. Afterward, they write 5

important facts they learned. Students then share their findings in a class discussion,

novel ideas only. Write students’ findings on a chart paper or flip chart and post in

the room for future reference.

4. Wrap-up: On sticky notes, students write the most interesting/important thing they

learned in today’s lesson.

Name: ________________________________________________Date: ________________________

Sculpted by Floods: Before the Film

A. Warm-up: Mapping Activity

Below is a landforms map of the United States. Locate the following states and

color them red: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. In Montana, label

the city of Missoula.

1. What do notice about this map?

_____________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

2. What do the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana seem to have

in common?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

3. Why do you think they have these things in common?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

4. Do you think the geological features of these states were formed quickly or

slowly?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

B. Vocabulary

For each vocabulary word below, complete a “vocabulary analysis” chart. After,

write a definition of each vocabulary word in your own words.

1. Glacier:__________________________________________________________________

2. Flood:____________________________________________________________________

3. Landform:________________________________________________________________

4. Cataract:________________________________________________________________

5. Canyon: _________________________________________________________________

6. Dam: _____________________________________________________________________

C. Pair Reading

Read “Background on Glacial Lake Missoula” with your partner. Then, write 5

important facts.

Name: ________________________________________________Date: ________________________

Vocabulary Charts

Name: ________________________________________________Date: ________________________

Vocabulary Charts

During the Film Provide students with laptops or computers. In pairs, students view the video segments

for Sculpted by Floods and work together to complete the comprehension questions.

Encourage students to view the segments multiple times if needed to form their

responses.

Rather than having pair groups answer all questions, you could have groups focus on a

specific number of questions. They could then share their responses with groups who

answered a different set of questions.

Comprehension Questions

1. When did the last ice age occur?

(12-15,000 years ago)

2. At its peak, how many cubic miles of water did Glacial lake Missoula hold?

(520 cubic miles of water)

3. With how much force did the flood waters of Glacial Lake Missoula burst through

the valley above Lake Pend Oreille?

(Ten times greater than all the world’s present rivers combined)

4. How high did the flood waters rise? What did the waters look like?

(2,200 feet, dirty—filled with sediment, ice, & jumbles of rock)

5. Where did the flood waters crash through? How many miles of land did this

cover?

(Northern Idaho, Washington, Columbia Gorge, Portland, Oregon, Willamette

Valley, Vancouver, Oregon, Astoria, Oregon to the Pacific Ocean; 1,000 miles)

6. What are three specific ways that the ice age floods left a “unique signature” on

the landscape of the Northwest?

(Creation of cataracts, carving of new channels, creation of dry falls, quarried

gullies and canyons—i.e., the Grand Coulee).

7. Who was J Harlen Bretz? What theory did he develop?

8. Why didn’t Bretz’s colleagues support his theory?

9. In geology, what is the difference between uniformitarianism and

catastrophism? What category did Bretz’s theory fall under?

10. Who was Joseph Pardee? How is he connected to J Harlen Bretz and the story of

the Missoula ice age floods?

11. How long did it take for Bretz’s theory of the floods to be accepted in the

scientific community? Why did it take so long for the scientific community to

accept his theory?

12. Based on your viewing of Sculpted by Floods, describe how Glacial Lake

Missoula caused the flooding in the Pacific Northwest and shaped the region’s

landforms.

Name: ________________________________________________Date: ________________________

Sculpted by Floods: During the Film

Comprehension Questions

1. When did the last ice age occur?

___________________________________________________________________________

2. At its peak, how many cubic miles of water did Glacial lake Missoula hold?

___________________________________________________________________________

3. With how much force did the flood waters of Glacial Lake Missoula burst

through the valley above Lake Pend Oreille?

___________________________________________________________________________

4. How high did the flood waters rise? What did the waters look like?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

5. Where did the flood waters crash through? How many miles of land did this

cover?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

6. What are three specific ways that the ice age floods left a “unique signature”

on the landscape of the Northwest?

1. ________________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________________

7. Who was J Harlen Bretz? What theory did he develop?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

8. Why didn’t Bretz’s colleagues support his theory?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

9. In geology, what is the difference between uniformitarianism and

catastrophism? What category did Bretz’s theory fall under?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

10. Who was Joseph Pardee? How is he connected to J Harlen Bretz and the

story of the Missoula ice age floods?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

11. How long did it take for Bretz’s theory of the floods to be accepted in the

scientific community? Why did it take so long for the scientific community to

accept his theory?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

12. Based on your viewing of Sculpted by Floods, describe how Glacial Lake

Missoula caused the flooding in the Pacific Northwest and shaped the

region’s landforms.

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

After the Film – Suggested Activities

1. NOVA classroom activity: In this activity from PBS NOVA, students will use

everyday items to calculate the length, width, height, and speed of different

features related to the Spokane Flood.

2. Timeline: Students create a timeline that includes the ice ages that occurred

during 1) the late Proterozoic (between about 800 and 600 million years ago), 2)

the Pennsylvanian and Permian (between about 350 and 250 million years ago),

and 3) the late Tertiary and Quaternary periods of the Cenozoic era (the past 4

million years). For additional context, have students include the age of dinosaurs

and the ascent of humans on their time lines.

3. Compare and Contrast Essay: Students pick a scientist whose theory was initially

rejected like J Harlen Bretz’s. Students conduct further research on Bretz and their

chosen scientist and compare and contrast the obstacles they faced in

garnering support and approval for their theories.

4. Map poster: Working in small groups, students create a large map of Glacial

Lake Missoula and the Ice Age Floods. The map should include the following:

a. Compass: Indicating direction

b. States: Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Canada

c. Rocky Mountains, Lake Missoula, Clark Fork River, Bitterroot Mountains,

Snake River, Cascade Range, Columbia Gorge, Pacific Ocean

d. “The Channeled Scablands”

e. Cordilleran Ice Sheet

f. Ice Dam on Clark Fork River

g. Color key

h. Explanation of how the floods have not only shaped the landscape of the

Pacific Northwest but how people live in these regions.

5. Ice Age Animals Research: Students research one or more animals from the last

Ice Age.

http://exhibits.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/larson/ice_age_animals.html

http://www.historylink.org/File/10746

https://uwaterloo.ca/earth-sciences-museum/resources/ice-age-mammals

Students create a poster or Power Point presentation including the following

information then present to the class.

a. Picture of animal

b. Name Animal

c. Scientific name

d. Animal’s size (height, length and weight)

e. Diet

f. Habitat

g. Behavior