Learning Objectives

1. Working knowledge of chemical and physical weathering processes
2. Susceptibility of different rock types to weathering

Standards Addressed

S6.D.1 - Earth features and processes that change Earth and its resources
S7.D.1 - Earth features and processes that change Earth and its resources
S8.D.1 - Earth features and processes that change Earth and its resources

Preparation Time Needed

If a teacher is bringing students to a cemetery to collect data, the teacher is encouraged to complete a pre-fieldtrip to observe variations within a cemetery and select a particular section with enough variation for students to record.  The virtual options are available as links on this website and only require a teacher to be comfortable with how the information is displayed on the websites.

Class Time Required

The length of time to complete this exercise varies, depending upon whether a class travels to a cemetery and the size of the cemetery.  A teacher can modify the assignment to correspond with how much time students can spend away from school and/or if online tombstone data is utilized.  Teachers are encouraged to work with the students in class processing the collected data, but students can write up their results outside of class.

Activity Description

A cemetery provides an ideal location for student investigative research. Cemeteries are easily accessible in all communities and provide a field location for a non-cookbook style of laboratory activity. Students can examine tombstone weathering rates, reinforcing rock identification. Students may collect cemetery demographic data, comparing the longevity and survivorship data with local environmental events and impacts. These types of studies can require students to practice hypothesis formation before traveling to the cemetery, learn how to collect and organize data, and process data to report in tabular and/or graphical form. Small cemetery-based research projects are appropriate for presentation in campus undergraduate research fairs and, depending upon the depth and scope of the project, at state academy of science meetings and discipline-based regional conferences. In addition to the scientific investigations, students can broaden their investigation by connecting their data with the local history. And a variety of cemetery data sets exist online for regional to national comparisons.

I have attached a handout I use with my introductory-level students in non-science courses at the university level (background information from the Smithsonian Institution).  I first bring students to a cemetery for observations, to get them thinking and identifying different types of data that can be collected.  Then, I have each student decide what hypothesis he/she would like to test, and what data need to be collected.  By having each student generate their own hypothesis, this cuts down on cheating and copying data from other students.

Depending upon the cemetery investigation, the trip with students can be qualitative, quantitative, historic, geographic, etc., and should always begin with a pre-trip lecture on how to behave and be respectful in a cemetery.  Cemeteries are great sites for interdisciplinary connections.  If you cannot take your class to a cemetery, online databases are available with tombstone data.  Note that more and more cemeteries are NOT allowing tombstone rubbings, as rubbings done improperly will damage tombstones.

I recommend exploring the following sites for additional ideas on how to explore cemeteries with students:

• Magnolia Cemetery Field Trip, by Louisiana State University
• How fast to materials weather? from SERC
• Cemetery geology, from SERC
• Tombstone weathering lab, from SERC
• Investigating factors that influence weathering of monuments in a cemetery, by MnSTEP
• Graphing names in a historic cemetery, by Education World
• Shift in life expectancy, by SISL (Sustainability in Math)

Finally, a full paper, titled Reinforcing quantitative skills with applied research on tombstone-weathering rates, can be read online. This Journal of Geoscience Education article describes a tombstone weathering exercise that reinforces quantitative skills with applied research. The article describes an exercise designed and carried out by students in a surficial processes course. Measuring the rates of rapid geomorphic processes emphasizes the quantitative aspects of research project design, data collection, and analysis. The project reinforced students’ recently acquired knowledge of statistics (from a required math class) as they used it, at their own initiative, to solve a geologic problem. When the field data were more complex than they expected, students demonstrated for themselves that mathematical analysis could give meaning to their data.

Attachment	Size
Tombstone weathering handout	211.18 KB