Composition Of The Earth Lesson
Classifying And Identifying Rocks And Minerals Lesson
M&Ms And The Scientific Method - Experiment
Rock and Minerals
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Introduce chapter on Rocks and Minerals.
Composition of the Earth
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Background:
Say: Each layer is made up of different kinds of matter.
Notes:
Elements are main building blocks of matter.
Rocks and Minerals of the Earth's Crust
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Notes:
Almost half of the Earth's crust is made up of the element oxygen.
Compounds are made up of to or more elements that are combined according to a specific formula.
For example, water is a compound and it consists of what?
Notes:
Earth scientists have decided that four characteristics must be present in a material for it to be called a mineral. They are:
1. Minerals are solid compounds that occur naturally in the Earth's crust.
Notes:
Earth scientists have decided that three characteristics must be present in a material for it to be called a rock. They are:
1. Rocks occur naturally in the Earth's crust.
Close your note books please:
Ask:
What is an element?
Classifying and Identifying Rocks and Minerals
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� Properties that can be used to identify minerals are:
Crystal formation
There are three main groups of rocks:IGNEOUS, SEDIMENTARY, and METAMORPHIC.
IGNEOUS:
SEDIMENTARY:
METAMORPHIC:
Tiny Treasures
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Introduction:
Consider how different minerals have different lusters.
Directions:
Put about a spoonful of sand into a pie tin.
Chart Categories Include:
Specime/Sample # 1/Sample # 2/Sample # 3/Sample # 4
Claasification Categories:
CHUNKY
CHUNKY
FLAT
SHINY
On a separate sheet:
1. Minerals cleave (break evenly) to form flat, smooth surfaces. Describe sand grains you see that have cleaved.
The Big Squeeze
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Investigation:
To investigate changes to rock caused by the action of extreme heat and pressure. You can make a model for metamorphic rock formation using two different colours of play dough!
Method:
1. In your groups, use 1 colour play dough to form a flat strip about 1 cm thick and 10 cm wide x 10 cm long.
Inquiry:
1. Sketch the cut surfaces. (5 marks)
M&M's And The Scientific Method
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Materials Required: M&M's
Activity Time: 30-40 minutes
Concepts Taught: Applying the scientific method to a problem.
1. Have each student bring in a bag of M&M's.
Use this information to devise a T table and then analyze the data by having students graph their results.
Future Weather Station/forecasting
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Previous Knowledge:
Some knowledge of modern weather forecasting and research skills.
Approx. Time:
6-8 hours
Group Size:
4-5 students per group
OBJECTIVE(s):
Students will be able to:
Demonstrate skill of 3-D art by creating a diorama
MATERIALS:
1 medium size box per group;
ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
Activity I
A. Students research modern day weather stations, forecasters, forecasting equipment
Activity II
A. Completed dioramas are presented to whole class.
Activity III
A. During diorama presentation and/or written form, students will discuss pros and cons of controlling the weather.
WEATHER FORCASTING
GRADE LEVEL:
Appropriate for grades 6-8.
OVERVIEW:
The students will be able to forecast the weather up to 48 hours.
PURPOSE:
By gaining an understanding of how to forecast weather, the students will be able use weather reports for their personal benefit.
OBJECTIVE(s):
STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO:
1. Tell what weather is.
RESOURCES/MATERIALS:
You will need the following materials:
1. thermometer
Make sure students have had experience labeling weather maps before starting this activity.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Students will need to have covered basic weather topics such as fronts, high and low pressure areas, use of meteorological instruments, etc. before beginning this activity.
ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
Each day, for two or three weeks have students use a thermometer, barometer, wind vane, anemometer, and hygrometer to take measurements of the current weather conditions.
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Earth Science is the study of the earth and all the materials below its surface.
What is earth covered with?
Earth is covered water and vegetation.
But trying to study the inside of the earth is like trying to describe the inside of an apple without cutting it in half.
You certainly can't cut the earth in half to see what is inside.
What could we do?
Drill?
But drilling wouldn't help much since so far the deepest holes go only 12 km and the earth's center is almost 6300 km down.
So direct observation is not an option. Nobody actually has seen the layers that make up the earth.
Scientists use indirect observation.
They use seismographs which record the different ways waves move through the earth during an earthquake.
Put up pictures of earth's crust and layers from crust to core on overhead.
Assign Title Page.
For example, air is matter, water is matter, and the crust of the Earth itself is made up of 1000's of different kinds of matter.
Earth is composed of about 90 elements.
Include: nickel, iron, hydrogen, and oxygen.
Earth's atmosphere consists mainly of two elements? Any guesses?
Nitrogen and oxygen.
Did this surprise you? Why? Why not?
In its pure form, oxgen is really a gas.
For example, the oxygen gas found in the air is a pure element.
The oxygen in the Earth's crust is combined with other elements.
Most of the other elements in the earth's crust are also in a combined form.
These combinations are called compounds.
The elements of hydrogen and oxygen. Two parts hydrogen to every one part oxygen H2O.
So you know that hydrogen and oxygen are gases.
The compound that is formed when they combine is a liquid.
So the compound water is a new material with properties, or features, that are different from the original elements.
All compounds are like this, including the Earth's crust.
New materials with characteristics that are different from the original elements from which they formed.
Minerals are solid compounds that occur naturally in the Earth's crust.
Some are made up of only one element such as gold, silver and copper.
Most are compounds. They are made up of two or more elements.
Ex. Quartz is a compound of the elements of oxygen and silicon.
Oxygen and silicon make up almost 75% of all the elements in the earth's crust.
Do you think quartz is common then?
2. Minerals are considered inorganic.
This means that they did not come from living things.
3. Many minerals have a uniform composition.
This means that each mineral contains the same elements, has the same formula, and has the same properties. Some consist of closely related compounds and these can differ in color and other properties.
4. Many minerals have a definite crystal form. A mineral crystal is a solid with a geometric shape.
Ex. Perfect quartz crystals are always hexigonal. When they cluster side by side they have six rectangular faces arranged in a honeycomb pattern. Perfect crystals have smooth faces, but the ones found in nature are often imperfect.
Mineral crystals are often found as parts of rocks.
Most rocks are made up of one or more different minerals.
Ex. Much of the Earth's crust is made up of a rock known as granite.
Granite is usually made up of the minerals quartz, feldspar, and mica.
2. Rocks are considered inorganic.
3. Rocks are composed of one or more minerals.
What is a compound?
What is a mineral?
What is a rock?
Lustre
Colour
Streak
Hardness
Cleavage
Fracture
Magnitism
(formed by fire)
These rocks are formed from hardened magma or lava.
These are two types:
Intrusive (plutonic) magma that hardens below the earth's surface. It is coarsely grained.
Extrusive (volcanic) magma that hardens above the Earth's surface. It is finely grained, glassy or porous.
Rock that is formed from solid materials called sediments. Iit forms in three stage:
� Deposition: Sediments form layers in valleys, in the mouths of rivers, in the bottom of a lake or the oceans.
� Compression: Sediments are pressed together by the pressure of overlying layers.
� Cementation: the sediments are cemented together.
Rock that is formed from existing igneous or sedimentary rock by the action of heat or pressure or both.
There are two groups: Foliated (bands or layers) and Non-foliated.
Distinguish between a translucent mineral that allows the passage of light, and an opaque mineral that blocks the passage of light, and a shiny mineral that reflects light.
Use the magnifying glass to inspect the tiny grains.
Pick out different shapes, lusters, and colours with a moistened tip of you pencil.
Record your results in chart form.
Collect grain samples, describe them, then tape them in the chart.
TRANSLUCENT
Quartz
OPAQUE
Quartz or Feldspar
Mica
2. Minerals fracture (break unevenly) to form irregular, rough surfaces. Describe sand grains you see that have fractured.
2. Make ten small rounded pellets about 1 cm round using a different colour play dough.
3. Place the pellets on different areas of the strip.
4. Roll it up.
5. Place a piece of paper on the roll then place a book on top of the paper and press firmly but gently.
6. Carefully remove the book, and cut the compressed clay in half with the edge of a ruler.
7. Observe.
2. Describe what happened to the rounded pellets. (3 marks)
3. Describe what happened to the strip. (3 marks)
4. What component of your model represents mineral crystals? (2 marks)
5. What force or action was responsible for what happened to the model's "crystals"? (2 marks)
2. Give each student a copy of the scientific method.
3. First students will need to come up a problem.
4. Tell students that the school is conducting a study on the colors of M&M's.
5. The problem is that you want to know the most dominant color of M&M.
6. Next have students make a prediction. What color M&M is the most dominant?
7. Allow students to group their M&M's according to color and write down this information.
Make sure they give their graph a title and label the X & Y axis.
Last...come to a conclusion. They either accept or reject their hypothesis.
Now it's time to eat!!
Demonstrate knowledge of weather forecasting by describing their future weather stations and how they work
Demonstrate their knowledge of cause and effect by answering the base question in this unit, "How can weather forecasting change our lives?"
Assorted craft materials, ie. tin foil, empty paper rolls, pipe cleaners, construction paper, etc., glue, scissors, stapler
B. Students divide into groups, choose craft materials to build future weather stations.
Reinforce realism, creativity, and base question.
Students should refer to base question and explain diorama details.
Example: "We've built a machine to stop tornadoes because____________________________."
2. Read barometer, anemometer, wind vane, hygrometer, (psychrometer) and thermometer.
3. Understand basic cloud formations relationship to weather.
4. Forecast the weather for two days.
2. barometer (recording barometer would be the best type)
3. weather vane
4. anemometer
5. weather charts
6. hygrometer
7. paper and pencil for notes.
You can do this by having students watch TV or newspaper or National Weather Service weather reports daily. Using this information along with the demonstration reading from the instruments in your school the students can make weather charts of cold and warm fronts,
high and low pressure systems, etc. Also you need to cover the cloud types with pictures and actual viewing.
MAKE SURE STUDENTS KNOW HOW TO USE EACH OF THE WEATHER GATHERING INSTRUMENTS.
Because of the lack of instruments, you may have to rotate the weather report assignment so each student has an opportunity to participate.
Use these measurements to make a current weather map each day.
Using their weather maps and view of clouds, have students forecast the weather for the next two days.
Have students do this for one week and check their own accuracy.
Discuss how knowing what the weather will be doing can save lives and/or make people more comfortable.
