Mindful of Minerals

These guys are using scientific processes and scientific tools to do the same types of things geologists do in their field studies.

Wednesday marked the first day of mineral examinations in Room 404.  Students used pen lights to observe reflectivity and luminescence in twelve separate mineral specimens.  They also did tests for hardness and streak color, as well as making observations of the minerals' textures, describing the smells, and their cleavage (For your information, that's the term for the appearance and pattern of the mineral's split from a larger piece.).

Kids are pretty eager to get their hands on these tools and specimens, and the paperwork can easily get overlooked.  I want them to take notes and describe the minerals.  Again, this is the real world, and scientists don't just conduct experiments without recording their results and findings along the way.  This also gets them writing in other areas of the curricula.