Bryce Canyon National Park - Rocks & Minerals (U.S. National Park Service)

Master Leopold Bigbugh and Scanner the Cycad investigating a cross-section of a rock.

This unit introduces students to
rocks and minerals, their uses, properties
and the rock cycle.

UNIT GOALS:

Understand the difference between rocks and minerals.
Know the three different rock types.
Recognize some uses of different rocks and minerals.
Have a basic understanding of the rock cycle.

UNIT ACTIVITIES:

1. Earth Rocks!: Introduction to the three types of rock.

2. Everywhere, Rocks and Minerals: Explore rocks and minerals you have around you everyday.

3. In or Out? Igneous Rocks: One of three main rock types, igneous rocks form from molten rock. This game allows students to be molecules of rock minerals that solidify to form various igneous rocks.

4. Limestone, Sandstone and Shale, Oh My!: Allows students to perform experiments to differentiate between sedimentary rock types.

5. Extension: Depositional Environments: Uses what was learned in the main sedimentary rock activity and allows students to discover the rock's history.

6. All Stressed Out!: Teaches about the stresses that make metamorphic rocks.

7. The Sweet Taste of a Sugar Rock Cycle: Teaches students the various interactions between the three main rock categories.

8. Testing the Physical Properties of Minerals: Teaches students different tests that can be used to identify an unknown rock or mineral.

9. Building a Rock and Mineral House: Allows students to use the information they learned about the properties of rocks and minerals to determine their possible uses in the past by Native Americans and in modern life by all of us today.

GEODETECTIVE Home - Rocks & Minerals Discovery Chest - Rocks & Minerals Kids Page

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