Phenomenon Description: A large boulder looks as if it has been bent and folded.
Location: Buncombe County
Grade Level or Course: Grade 4
Question: Why does this boulder appear to be bent and folded?
Crosscutting Concept: Cause and Effect: Mechanism & Explanation
Science Domain: Earth and Space Science
NC Standard: ESS.4.2 Understand patterns of change in the Earth's surface over time.
Topics Related to Earth and Space Science
Phenomenon Description: An area in a forest that has been burned by a fire.
Location: Harnett County, Raven Rock State Park
Grade Level or Course: Earth and Environmental Science
Question: How does fire affect this ecosystem?
Crosscutting Concept: Stability and Change
Phenomenon Description: Variations in water quality in the Neuse River Basin
Location: Wake County, Raleigh
Grade Level or Course: 8th grade
Question: Why does water quality vary along the Neuse River from Raleigh to New Bern?
Crosscutting Concepts: Energy and Matter: Flows, Cycles and Conservation
Other related questions about the phenomenon: How do human activities affect water quality? What are bioindicators?
Phenomenon Description: The fall line is a geologic boundary between the Piedmont and the Coastal Plain.
Location: Cumberland, Harnett and surrounding Counties, Raven Rock State Park
Grade Level or Course: Earth and Environmental Science
Question: Why do you find water rapids and other unique hydrological and geological features at Raven Rock State Park?
Phenomenon Description: North Carolina often experiences minor earthquakes, but the state is not located near a tectonic plate boundary.
Location: North Carolina
Grade Level or Course: Earth and Environmental Science
Question: Why does NC experience earthquakes?
Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect: Mechanism & Explanation
Science Domain: Earth and Space Science
Phenomenon Description: The Shadow of the Bear is a seasonal optical illusion observed around sunset in mid-October through early November and late winter.
Location: Jackson County, near Cashiers, NC, Whiteside Mountain
Grade Level or Course: Grade 3
Question: Why does this bear-shaped shadow on appear during certain times of the year?
Crosscutting Concept: Scale, Proportion, and Quantity
Phenomenon Description: In the fall, the green color in the leaves goes away, and we start to see the bright reds, oranges, and yellows that were hiding inside all along.
Location: Wake County, Wake Forest
Grade Level or Course: Kindergarten
Question: Why do leaves change color in the fall?
Crosscutting Concepts: Patterns
Other related questions you considered about the phenomenon:
Phenomenon Description: Solar panel farm in Robeson County, NC
Location: Robeson County
Grade Level or Course: Earth and Environmental Science
Question: How can a panel made of glass and silicon turn invisible sunlight into usable electricity?
Crosscutting Concepts: Energy and Matter: Flows, Cycles and Conservation
Science Domain: Earth and Space Science
NC Standard:
Phenomenon Description: Tilled vs Non-tilled Soil
Location: Rockingham County, Reidsville
Grade Level or Course: Earth and Environmental Science
Question: Why do some farmers choose no-till farming practices?
Provide other related questions you considered about the phenomenon:
What are the pros and cons of both tilled and no-till methods of farming?
How does tilling affect erosion, runoff, and the health of nearby rivers and streams?