Berkshire Museum
Backyard Rocks
You don't have to travel far to learn about rocks, just step outside, pick up a stone, and begin investigating. After taking a class walk around the school grounds collecting rocks, young scientists practice their skills of observation...
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Earth Rocks!
Students study the basic elements of the Earth's crust: rocks, soils and minerals. They categorize rocks, soils and minerals and how they are literally the foundation for our civilization. They also explore how engineers use rock soils...
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Mineral Matters
Students work in a team to use the ProScope Digital USB Microscope and a computer to collect microscopic images from a variety of mineral specimens. They compare specimens and determine how they are alike and different by comparing their...
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Sediment Sleuths
Are you looking for a good, solid lesson on sedimentary rocks? This one, produced by the Illinois State Museum, is just such a lesson. Middle schoolers identify common rocks and minerals by analyzing sediments from local water sources....
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Rock Hounds
Young scholars receive a basis for understanding the three main classifications of rock: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. They engage in a hands-on activity designed to give them an appreciation for rocks and minerals.
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Rocks and weathered rocks
Students connect rock and mineral formation with the changes rocks and minerals undergo at the earth's surface. They observe changes produced by weathering and relating these observations to chemical processes such as oxidation,...
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Sampling Rocks
Young scholars collect and sort rocks based on visible characteristics. In this statistics lesson, students determine adequate sample size and categorize rocks based on characteristics. The book Everybody Needs a Rock is read to...
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4.2: Exploring Rocks
Students collect and look at rocks and write down information about them in science notebooks. They make comparisons and sort the rocks according to their properties, and then discuss their findings with their classmates and put them on...
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Moh's Hardness Test
Young geologists utilize Moh's hardness scale to help them correctly sort and classify different types of rocks. This lesson has everything you need, including an excellent example of the Mohs' Hardness Test, to successfully implement...
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Mystery Minerals
Students minerals and how they form. They investigate the classification of minerals according to physical properties. Students watch a video about mineral characteristics. In groups, students participate in hands-on activities and...
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This is Your Rock, This is My Rock
Young scholars study the identity of rocks and minerals that can be found in Utah. They examine the characteristics that identify the rocks and minerals by using a hand lens and write them down on an index card. They role play as...
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Minerals and the Products of Mining
Students plot where minerals come from and have an awareness of how mineral use makes the world interdependent. They examine how to identify some sort of mineral products they use each day.
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Rocks Lesson Plan
Students become familiar with the characteristics of rocks and use them to sort. In this rocks lesson, students view a video, then try to identify various rock samples.
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Exploring Rocks
Students collect and examine rocks. They record information about the rocks they have collected in their notebooks. They compare and contrast different rocks and complete a class chart at the end of the lesson.
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Minerals and Rocks
Students identify and interpret various minerals and discover how to identify and classify them. They identify and discuss how people describe objects and how scientists describe objects. From there, students look at a set of common...
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Rocks, Minerals, and Fossils
Fourth graders do 5 different lab stations to explore rocks, minerals, and fossils.
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This is Your Rock, This is My Rock
Fourth graders review the types of rocks and minerals they see in photographs. Individually, they are shown a sample of rocks or minerals and classify them based on their characteristics. They give their observations to another...
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Sediment Sleuths
Students classify sediments based on their physical characteristics, such as size, shape and color. They identify and describe rocks and minerals that are common to their region of the state.
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Renewable and Non-Renewable Resources: Mining in B.C.
Learners explore energy by categorizing rocks. In this British Columbia geology lesson plan, students define many different vocabulary terms associated with mining such as sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. Learners utilize sample...
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Earth Structure and Processes
Students classify different rocks according to their types. In this earth science lesson, students explain how plate tectonics created Earth's landforms. They explain the continental drift theory and sea floor spreading in their own words.
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Mohs Hardness Test
Fifth graders listen as they are told about another way to classify rocks; by their hardness. They observe the Mohs Hardness Test overhead, discover how the test works, and then use materials such as pennies, butter knives, nails, and...
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Specific Gravity of Nevada Minerals
Students determine the specific gravity of Nevada minerals by testing them three separate times. They follow specific directions listed in the lesson plan as how to measure the minerals.
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This Mine of Mine
Students explore natural resources by conducting a geology experiment in class. In this mineral mining lesson, students discuss the types of geological material that can be found when mining and the uses for these resources such as coal....
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Amazing metals: Nevada quarter reverse
Nevada's nickname is "The Silver State" and metal is what this lesson is all about. Pupils will make a T-chart to discuss the differences between metals and minerals, then write and explain the properties of metal. They will get into...