After students are back in their seats, ask them to share what characteristics of the rocks were most useful in finding their own rocks.(You might find it useful to collect and spread out the rocks in two sub-groups to help younger children find their rocks more easily.) When they find their rocks, they should sit back down. When you have finished, ask students to bring their record cards up to the row of rocks and find their own rocks. This could be a hallway or space in your room. In a large open space, line the rocks up on the floor. When they finish, collect their rocks in your baggie.Circulate while they work to monitor progress and answer questions.
Tell your students that their job is to really study their rocks, using the hand lenses, and write down and draw their rock observations.Let them know that they will need to wash their hands at the end of the investigation, after handling the rocks. Emphasize that it is NOT SAFE for your students to TASTE the rock.( looking, feeling, smelling and listening – or: sight, touch. Tell your students that they may use four of their senses to investigate their rocks.Rock sample (different one for each student).Provide your students with the following tools for investigation:.( Group learning strategies often call for appointing a group time keeper who keeps the group on track.) Before your students begin, tell them how much time they will have to complete their investigation.If you have not already done so, divide your class into groups of about four students with each group sitting around its table or work area.By the end of the investigation, some of these questions will probably be answered. Start a list called “Questions we have about rocks.” This list will provide further insights into what your students know, and also what they would like to know. Have your students report out their ideas and make a list of them. Here are some initial questions that your students can discuss, in pairs, groups and as a whole class: Design an experiment that could be used to test the investigation question.Īssessing What Your Students Already Know.
Have your students brainstorm ideas about how this investigation question could be investigated. Tell your students that they will be investigating this question and at the end of their investigations they will be able to provide reliable answers. Presenting the Investigation QuestionĪfter the scene is set, introduce your students to the investigation question: “ How are rocks the same and how are they different?” Let students know that they will be working with their own rocks and investigating how rocks are the same as or different from one another. If possible, give them the opportunity to handle the rock samples and describe their relative weights and textures. Ask students to volunteer what they notice about the rocks and write down their observations on the flipchart. To introduce students to rocks, ask students to gather around a collection of rock samples of different types, sizes and shapes of rocks (big chunks of granite, sandstone, limestone, marble, etc.) on a table.
Please also review the investigation for your specific setting, materials, students, and conventional safety precautions. This investigation is considered generally safe to do with students.
They will then use their observations of the rocks to identify a particular rock from a collection. In this first investigation, your students will use their senses to investigate some of the physical properties of different types of rocks. Different rocks have different characteristics because of their minerals, the ways in which the rocks were formed, and the processes that acted on the rocks since they were formed. It is important that your students begin to understand that rocks are made of minerals.
0 kommentar(er)
