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Grade Level: 3 - 4
Purpose and Goals:
This lesson begins by guiding students to the connection between differences
in rocks and the presences of minerals in the rocks. The differences in
rocks are dependent on the number, kind, and amount of minerals in the
rocks. After examining rocks for the presence of different minerals, the
students will be introduced to Illinois minerals, learn about properties
of minerals, and perform hardness test on several minerals. Observations
and test data will be recorded in their Science notebooks.
Targeted Objective:
Identify properties of minerals and be able to identify certain minerals
using specific tests.
Background:
Minerals are materials which are not plants or animals and are found in
nature. Rocks may be made of only one mineral or several minerals. This
is why minerals are called the building blocks of rocks. To identify minerals,
we can look for clues. One clue is color. Many minerals have distinctive
colors. Another clue is texture. Some minerals are rough; others are smooth.
Checking for luster or shininess is another way to identify minerals.
Some are bright and shiny, like metals. Others may be glassy, others pearly,
and some dull. A good test for identifying minerals is the scratch test.
A mineral’s hardness can be determined with the Mohs scale. This
scale ranks minerals’ hardness according to whether the minerals
can scratch and be scratched by various materials. This lesson allows
students to further sharpen their process skills of observing, describing,
recording, and concluding.
Materials:
For each student:
- A rock (from the classroom collection)
- Science notebook
- Hand lens
- Hardness Rating Sheet (Appendix 1)
For each group of 4 students:
- Set of four Illinois minerals, numbered as follows: (1) Fluorite,
(2) Gypsum, (3) Calcite, (4) Quartz
- Penny, paper clip, empty glass baby food jar
- Copy of Mohs Hardness Scale (Appendix 2)
For the class:
Procedure:
- Hand out Science notebooks. Have students retrieve their rocks from
the classroom collection. Ask the students to refer to the page in their
Science notebooks for the lesson on Exploring Rocks. Question 3 asked,
“How can you tell that these rocks are made of more than one material?”
Ask students if they know what these “materials” are called.
Guide them to the term mineral. Tell the students that minerals are
the building blocks of rocks, because all rocks are made up of one or
more minerals. Spend some time discussing the differences between minerals
and rocks. Have the students turn to a new page in their Science notebooks
and write today’s date. Have them write the definition of a mineral
in their Science notebook.
- Have the students examine their rocks with the hand lens. How many
different minerals can they see in the rocks? What determines differences?
Guide them to a discussion of color, texture, and luster. Have the students
return their rocks to the class collection. NOTE: It would be helpful
to have a set of minerals to look at while they are looking at their
rocks.
- Tell the students they are going to have the opportunity to examine
some Illinois minerals to see if they can identify them by their properties.
Put the students in groups of four and give each group a set of four
numbered minerals. Have them write a thorough description of each mineral
in their Science notebooks. Tell them to be sure to include properties
of color, texture, and luster for each mineral Allow about ten minutes
for this activity. Follow with a class discussion of mineral properties.
Write Mineral 1, Mineral 2, Mineral 3, and Mineral 4 on the chart tablet
and have groups offer characteristics of each mineral. Ask, “What
if I were to ask you to hold up the mineral that is white? Which one
would you hold up? What if I were to ask you to hold up the rough one?
The shiny one?” Students should point out that more than one mineral
has each of those properties. Draw their attention to this fact on the
chart tablet. (Words such as shiny, rough, and white should appear numerous
times.) Tell the students they will perform one more test to identify
these minerals.
- Before beginning the scratch test, ask each group to predict which
mineral they think is the hardest. Record the predictions on the chart
tablet. Give each group a penny, a paper clip (Have them unbend it.),
and an empty glass baby food jar. Hand out the Hardness Rating Sheet
to all students and explain how to use it. Give the group time to test
the minerals by scratching them with their fingernail, the penny, and
the paper clip. Ask them to attempt to scratch the surface of the glass
jar with each mineral. After they have tested the minerals and placed
X’s in the proper places on their Hardness Rating Sheets, give
each group a copy of the Mohs Hardness Scale and have them use it to
determine the name of each mineral in its appropriate place on their
sheets. They should then finish the sheet by writing the minerals’
names in order of hardness (hardest to softest) on the sheet. Have a
class discussion and write on the chart tablet each group’s list
of minerals in the order they determined. How many were correct in their
prediction? (Quartz is the hardest, then fluorite, then calcite, then
gypsum.) How many groups had correctly predicted quartz as the hardest
mineral?
- Visit the ISM Geology Online GeoGallery Web site. Have the students
work in pairs. Assign or let each pair choose one mineral from the Web
site. They should collect information to create an oral presentation
on that mineral. They will report to the class the mineral’s name,
description, and use. Their presentation should use visual aids, such
as pictures (drawn or printed) and maps. NOTE: You could have the students
work in small groups of 3 to 4 if time is a premium. Students with a
home computer could research some part of the site and report back to
the group. Have some books available to aid with identification. Two
good ones are:
• Mottant, A., R. Crispi, and G. Liborio. 1978. Simon
& Schuster's Guide to Rocks & Minerals. New York: Simon
& Schuster, Inc.
• Pough, F. 1996. Peterson Field Guide Series: A Field
Guide to Rocks and Minerals. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Questions:
Have the students answer this question in their Science notebooks:
- How can knowing how hard a mineral is make a difference in how that
mineral is used?
Extensions:
- Special needs students may draw the minerals and/or verbally describe
them to other students who can scribe for them.
- Some students may want to use the Mohs scale to test other minerals
from the classroom collection and report their findings to the class.
- Students could also look at other Illinois minerals on the ISM Geology
Online GeoGallery Web site, matching them with ones in the classroom
collection from the Illinois State Geological Survey (if the classroom
has one).
- The McGraw Hill Web site at http://www.mhln.com/
has an informative mineral identification Web movie for viewing.
Assessment:
- Student Hardness Rating Sheets: Is information accurate and complete?
- Science notebook: Do descriptions cover properties of color, texture,
and luster?
- Observation Check List during collaborative group work. (Appendix
4)
- Oral Presentations Rubric. (Appendix 3)
Resources:
Lesson Specifics:
- Skills: Predicting, exploring, observing, recording, analyzing, communicating.
- Duration: Two class periods for activities, one or two class periods
for oral presentations.
- Group size: Any.
- Setting: Classroom.
Illinois State Board of Education Goals and Standards:
- 11A: Know and apply the concept, principles, and processes
of scientific inquiry.
- 12 E: Know and apply concepts that describe features and processes
of the Earth and its resources.
- 13A: Know and apply the accepted practices of science.
Additional Online Resources:
Appendices:
Appendices for this lesson are available in the downloadable PDF. Click
here to download. |
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