Title

Purpose/Rationale
SOLs

Materials and
Resources

Safety Issues

Sinkholes in a Cup 5-E Model Lesson Plan

Sinkholes in a Cup
To teach students how sinkholes form and how pollution put into sinkholes directly
contributes to groundwater quality
ES.8 The student will investigate and understand how freshwater resources are
influenced by geologic processes and the activities of humans. Key concepts
include:
b) development of karst topography;
e) dependence on freshwater resources and the effects of human usage on water
quality;
Essential Understandings:
Karst topography is developed in areas underlain by carbonate rocks, including
limestone and dolomite. Karst topography includes features like caves and
sinkholes and forms when limestone is slowly dissolved away by slightly acidic
groundwater. Where limestone is abundant in the Valley and Ridge province of
Virginia, karst topography is common.
Earths fresh water supply is finite. Geological processes, such as erosion, and
human activities, such as waste disposal, can pollute water supplies.
Sand
Sugar
Food dye
Spoons
Clear, water-tight buckets
Tap Water
250 mL Beakers
50 mL Graduated Cylinders
8 oz Styrofoam cups
Scrub pads, cut to the bottom radius of 8 oz Styrofoam cups
Small paper tubes (~2 tall by ~1 in diameter)
No safety issues are associated with this lesson.

Procedures for Teaching (numbered with time frame)

1. Students will be engaged through a bell-ringer:
Engage
a. Karst is a landform characterized by sinkholes, caves, and sinking creeks.
What rock in this area dissolves to form these features, and what process is
responsible for this?
i. Answer: Limestone; chemical weathering
2. Students will explore how sinkholes and karst topography form, and how
Explore
pollution can get into groundwater through sinkholes, through the creation of
their own sinkholes. I will already have nine stations set up. Each station will
have:
a. Two Styrofoam cups: one filled with granulated sugar; the other, with fine
sand; each cup has a spoon
b. Third Styrofoam cup to poke a hole in the bottom of
c. Scrub pad cut to fit into the bottom of the Styrofoam cup
d. 50 mL graduated cylinder to measure out 40 mL sugar
e. 250 mL beaker to measure out 150 mL sand
f. Food dye
g. Paper tube

Explain (include key

vocabulary/concepts)

Elaborate
Evaluate
Formative
Summative
Activity Sheet
(includes safety, data
recording,
open-ended questions)

h. Two clear buckets, about to 1/3 full of water

3. Students, in groups, will follow these steps, in order:
a. Write their names, via marker, onto their Styrofoam cup
b. Poke/rip a hole about the size of their thumbs into the bottom of the
Styrofoam cup
c. Place the scrub pad in the bottom of the cup
d. Measure out 40 mL sugar and 150 mL sand
e. Place the paper tube into the center of the cup, above the scrub pad
f. With one partner holding the tube, another will pour the sugar into the tube
until it reaches the top
g. Pour the sand into the cup around and up to the top of the sugar tube
h. Remove the paper tube, and put a thin layer of sand above the sugar
i. Place the sand and sugar filled cup into the clear bucket containing water,
and start working on their activity sheets
j. Once a sinkhole forms after about several minutes, drip 4-5 drops of food
coloring into the sinkhole
k. Next day: observe where the food coloring went
4. Key vocabulary and concepts:
a. Karst topography
b. Sinkhole
c. Pollution
d. Groundwater and acid rain
e. Limestone
f. Dissolve
5. Students will take notes on karst topography, sinkholes, and how these features
form.

Students will turn in the sheets that they filled out during this activity
How well students sinkholes turn out
The students were quizzed on this material
(Attach to lesson plan)

Name: ________________________________________
Earth Science Period: __________
Partners Name: _________________________________________________________
Sinkhole in a Cup Activity
Label the diagram below.
Add a dotted line to the diagram to indicate where the sinkhole formed.

Sand represents

Water represents

(Specific rock)

Sugar represents
(Specific rock)

Answer the following questions in full sentences:

1. What natural weathering process does the water in the bottom of the plastic container represent? You must
use the word dissolve in your answer. ______________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
2. You labelled the diagram above with the specific rock type that the sugar represents. What type of rock
(igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary) is that rock? ____________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
3. What is a sinkhole? (refer back to your lab, class notes, or the textbook to help you answer this question)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
4. How do sinkholes form? (refer back to your lab, class notes, or the textbook to help you answer this
question) _______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
5. What surface features help define a karst landscape? ____________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
6. What did the food coloring represent in this activity? ____________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
7. Why is it so important to not throw trash in sinkholes, especially in karst terrain? _____________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
8. Give an example of a county that is located in karst topography? __________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________