[Rockhounds] rockhound kits and Teaching

Sat Jan 26 08:04:04 PST 2008

Kreigh, is right, Enthusiasm is Valuable!.
 I don't have a neat kit and manual like they have (sounds great, though),
But I have been going into elementary schools for years with my traveling
collection of WOW stones, as I call them. It's a wooden box with 4
compartmented drawers that my Dad made for me to house my First collection
when I was 10 (many, many years ago), that I have filled with rocks,
minerals and fossils that simply look WOW!  And in one 50 minute class
period I briefly tell kids how I got started, even show them some of the
first rocks I ever collected, then briefly show some of the more exciting
stones: nice crystal points, Herkimer diamonds, some stones with neat
inclusions, tease them a little when I show them a large industrial grade,
very rough ruby, explaining that if it were clear like the Quartz Xls I
showed, the ruby would be worth thousands. 
Just little things like that get their minds going and holds their interest.

One of my last talks, I happened to mention that there was a mineral show in
town that coming weekend & wouldn't you know, as I was walking into the
show, I saw one of the students walking out with his dad and a bag full of
stones. After being introduced, the dad thanked me for providing that little
spark of interest and encouragement for his son. 
So I think you're absolutely right,

ENTHUSIASM is contagious!

And as hobbyists, we can provide that much more that their day to day
teachers. (PLEASE, you teachers out there, don't get me wrong, you all do an
excellent job bringing forth such a broad range of knowledge that all of our
children should be exposed to). But, I've talked to many teachers (was one
myself in the past) and I haven't met a teacher yet that would turn down a
guest speaker to come in to their class to broaden the scope of the
particular lesson their on. OH, and have you seen the mineral collections in
some schools. Let's just say I've seen better samples in the driveway!
Putting out $$ for a nice set of teaching minerals is usually not high on
the curriculum budget. SO another great thing to do with some of your cast
offs. Call on your local school and ask them if they would like to have a
few samples, and don't be surprised if they ask you if you care to come to a
class and talk about ROCKS......their Contagious!
It's also a perfect thing to do in the winter, when we can't get out and
collect.

Michael J. Colella

-----Original Message-----
From: rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com
[mailto:rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com] On Behalf Of Kreigh
Tomaszewski
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2008 10:41 PM
To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors
Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] rockhound kits

Tina,

It sounds like they developed the teacher's plan first (aligned with
local curriculum and testing) and then assembled the kit to illustrate
it. I'm not suprised the teacher's manual is copyrighted (and in
demand). 

But I would suggest the combination of lesson plans and illustrated kit
is missing something us rockhounds can add; enthusiasm.

You might want to consider how to get rockhounds into classrooms along
with each kit (and whatever part of their own collection they want to
bring along). 

Enthusiasm is contagious.

Kreigh

tango juli wrote:
> 
> I've chronically behind in my email, but wanted to respond to this
particular thread. I read someone's reference back a few wks ago regarding
the Ventura (CA) club's rock kits. As our SCFM was getting ready to meet
that week, and a few of us had talked about doing something similar, I
called the group mentioned and talked to Donna and Larry, who coordinate the
production of these kits. They agreed to come to the LA Co. Museum where we
met a few weeks ago.
> 
> Folks, I gotta tell you--the kits they make are amazing. Built to last 30
years, and with such care and
thought and engineering-its the kind of thing you'd expect an
established company to be producing for wealthy
ivy type schools (valued at $600-900 a kit). They take a long term
approach to durability and production,
trying to do only 30+ per year, with goal of serving the 250 ventura co.
schools. The high quality,
custom-designed, stackable wooden crates, printed color materials,
laminated in easy to understand formats,
with a teacher's manual that has chapters for each grade that is also
aligned with CA curriculum and testing.
It is pretty awe inspiring to behold. 12 fist-sized samples of each:
igneous/meta/sed. But some of the samples
- its amazing they don't get stolen (beautiful garnets adorned one of
the metam. specs). But the clubs
associated w/ the effort also have a QC system, visiting the kits
(property of school) once a year to make
sure they
>  weren't running short. One story was told of a principal who sighed when
they came to QC the kit--apparently he had to break up a fight over the
kit--between two teachers who both wanted it at the same time.
> I think we all try to do what we can to elicit interest and not bite off
more than we can chew. But this group inspired our entire meeting to a
hundred questions, lots of discussion afterward. They are generous with
their information, shared the plans for the boxes they build and gave us
lovely copied information to take away. (note--teacher's manual is
copyrighted)
> They also told us of how they have more corporate sponsorships to support
production than they know what to do with--how many folks can say that?
Clubs may want to think about this aspect to produce attractive and durable
kits for school systems.
> While we don't know if this is the route we will go down, the bar is high
now, quality- wise in whatever project we will undertake.
> Appreciate list members who mentioned the ventura group and the hook up.
> PS--now we just need to figure a way to ship heavy materials to each other
to provide specimens to places far away like Alabama!
> Best,
> Tina
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2008 20:22:16 -0800 (PST)
> From: Neal Hazen <batsondebelfry at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [Rockhounds] Rock Box help thanks
> To: rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com
> Message-ID: <435993.1846.qm at web30913.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> I received several responses, both on- and off-list, regarding my
>  request for help developing a geology/mineralogy rock I.D.  This kit
shall
>  be used to help young students, and the Junior Rockhounds in our club,
>  become more interested in the geological sciences. I live in
>  southernmost Alabama, so most kids around here don't get much stimulation
to go
>  into the geological sciences. Thanks to all of you who offered me
>  assistance, in whatever way.
> I would like to request sources of photos/visuals that might help these
>  kids better visualize where different rocks and minerals come from.
>  Perhaps you have some photos of you or friends collecting specimens,
>  along with pictures of the specimens collected, and the approximate
>  location of the dig. Students could find these areas on a map, and
research
>  what it would take to make a field trip there.
> Also, does anyone know if there is a department of the Bureau of Land
>  Management, or the Colorado School of Mines, or some of the bigger
>  mining contractors who could provide additional assistance?
> 
> Neal Hazen
> 
> "Some people learn through reading. A few others learn by observation.
>  Most of us have to pee on the electric fence for ourselves."
> Will Rogers
> 
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