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This Determining Absolute Age lesson plan also includes:
- Determining Absolute Age (Doc)
- Vocabulary
- Worksheet
- Activity
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How can radioactive decay help date old objects? Learners explore half-life and radioactive decay by conducting an experiment using pennies to represent atoms. Young scientists graph data from the experiment to identify radioactive decay as exponential.
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Instructional Ideas
- Have learners work in groups, especially if the number of required pennies is an issue
Classroom Considerations
- Experiment requires a large amount of pennies
- Resource is aligned specifically to Virginia Standards of Learning, so teachers of other states will need to check local and state standards
- The first installment of a three-part series
Pros
- Pre-lesson activity challenges learners to distinguish between relative and absolute dating
- Provides separate graph for aggregate class data in case individual data doesn't show the necessary relationship
Cons
- Resource lacks examples of actually determining absolute age using radioactive dating