[Rockhounds] Junior Geology

[Kitty & Bill Heacox]

I give rock & mineral talks and demos at schools;  I think some of 
the following info could be adapted for Pebble Pups, Anita.

For chalk (Larry) I take a sheet of black construction paper with me, 
then I draw on it first with a piece of blackboard or "sidewalk 
drawing" chalk, then with a chunk of natural chalk (from England).

I also take a stack of used (recycled) white paper, and I draw with a 
pencil, then with a piece of graphite.  I hand out paper to all the 
kids and pass around several pieces of graphite so they can write 
their names with a rock.  You could have this set up as a station in 
a sort of treasure hunt game.

Following is a list of notes I use.  It's sort of a lesson plan in 
shorthand, but I think it could be modified for a table with items on 
it, or a game.

Difference between a ROCK and a MINERAL:  A rock is like a cookie, a 
mineral is like the ingredients: flour, sugar, chocolate chips, etc.
WHAT CAN ROCKS AND MINERALS DO?  (Can they move?  Ever seen one walk 
down the street?)
Move:  earthquakes, lava
Bend: palygorskite, itacolumite (flexible sandstone)
Grow: crystals (crystal growing kit)
Make you sick, or kill: arsenic, mercury, uranium
Health: (show ingredients of vitamin/mineral supplement pills), 
chemotherapy, radiation therapy
Pick things up: magnetite (have paper clips, have iron filings for lodestone)
Quartz crystals naturally vibrate so they are the timekeepers in all 
electronics - clocks, radios, TV's
Double refraction (calcite) & fiber optic effect (ulexite)

WHAT ARE ROCKS AND MINERALS USED FOR IN OUR LIVES?
Did you ride in a car today?  Spark plugs have ceramics (clay), 
fossil fuels make gasoline.
Clay = ceramics:  toilets, coffee mugs, insulators
Uranium = atomic bombs & energy plants
Farming (here in Hawaii we put lime in the soil)
Cosmetics = powder, rouge, lipstick, baby powder - show piece of talc 
(even though talc is not used any more)
Value & jewelry = gold, silver, copper, diamond, emerald - show 
natural specimens next to coins, rings
Writing = graphite, chalk (see above)
Glass - windows & mirrors, drinking glasses, eyeglasses (show sand, 
sheets of mica)
Smoothing = sandpaper, emery boards, polishing compounds
Heat & fuel = coal, oil, uranium
Silicon in transistors (cell phones, radios)

FLUORESCENCE (you need a LW lamp for this; a battery operated one can 
be found for around $30)
Some fairly common minerals that can fluoresce LW:  fluorite, ruby 
corundum, meionite (wernerite), hackmanite (sodalite), cluette glass, 
opalite or common opal.  NOTE:  I only use SW under very controlled 
environments because it can damage eyes.  (SW lamps are more expensive, too).
To explain the effect to kids, tell them rocks react differently to 
different kinds of light.  Toss a sponge at a window or piece of 
glass; what happens to the glass? Nothing.  But if you were to toss a 
rock at the glass, it would break.  So the glass responds differently 
to different things.  These rocks react differently to daylight than 
they do to ultraviolet light.
LIGHT:  colors are different kinds of light (rainbow)
Radio & TV, microwave, infrared (remotes), X-rays, cell phones
Ultraviolet: tanning spas, Halloween, poster & disco lights ("black light")

I hope some of this can inspire you!

Aloha, Kitty

At 03:08 AM 8/3/2007, Lawrence Rush wrote:
>Anita: I have had success by asking grade school students to point 
>out objects in the classroom which have been made using minerals as 
>constituents. It is easy to come up with a dozen or more, each 
>pointing out how important minerals are in our everyday lives. 
>(Chalk used to be easy, but lately, I have not been able to find 
>chalk in the classroom! I guess my age is showing! (sigh!))
>
>Larry