Rocks and minerals

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Home : 2004 : July : 8

Rocks and minerals
By RC

Nick I teach this unit first thing too. One thing I have done that works well is I have a bunch of little rocks in a box for each pair of kids, their task is to find the mystery rock by following the clues. The clues introduce
them to some terms and give them an understanding of categorizing by colour, hardness, etc. When they read a clue it gives them a type of rock to look for and discard - at the end they are left with the mystery rock. Clues included: 'I am not quartz (transparent clear or white crystal)';'I am not granite (a mixture of pink feldspar, black mica and quartz)'; I am not sedementary (formed

in layers); I cannot be scratched with your fingernail;etc. according to whatever rocks I could find. I had them left with two kinds of black rock - the last clue 'I am not magnetic' - one kind was magnetite (hematite) the other the mystery rock - when students found the mystery rock they looked at rock poster and rock books to try to figure what type it was. I got rocks from the ground and from the gift shop at the museum.