Rocks and more: student activities

Before beginning these activities, create a folder on your hard drive

called "Rocks"; this is where you will be storing your documents.

• Activity #1: Be a rock hound!
• Activity #2: Mining for minerals and crystals
• Activity #3: Let's get dirt-y
• Activity #4: The changing land
• Activity #5: Lava land
• Activity #6: Let's go caving

Activity #1: Be a rock hound!

Did you know the whole world is made of rock? There is rock under the soil. There is rock under the ocean. There is rock all the way down to the center of the earth.

Open a new document in Appleworks or Word, then complete the following activities.

Scientists divide rocks into three groups.

1. Igneous rocks are made from hot liquid rock that cools and hardens.
2. Metamorphic rocks are formed by pressure or heat. Strong chemicals can also change rocks into metamorphic rocks.
3. Sedimentary rocks are made from things that collect for millions of years like dirt, sand and bits of rock that are stacked into layers.

Go to "Rock Hounds" to see some cool animations and more information.

People that study rocks are called geologists. Find out why scientists study rocks at "He's Nothing But a Rock Hound, A Diggin' All The Time".

• What are the different kinds of geologists?
• Read an interview with a real geologist at "He's Nothing But a Rock Hound, A Diggin' All The Time: I Want to Be A Geologist".

Read the story at "He's Nothing But a Rock Hound, A Diggin' All The Time: Legend of the Apache Tear".

• Write and illustrate your own story of how a rock was formed.

Go to "Collecting Rocks". Scroll down to "Where can you look for rocks?" Be sure to read the pointers about rock hunting.

• Go on your own rock hunt.
• Create a rock and gem catalog describing each rock in your collection.
• Suggest uses for your rocks.

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Activity #2: Mining for minerals and crystals

Open a new document in Appleworks or Word, then complete the following activities.

Just what is a mineral? How is it different from a rock?

• Using a magnifying glass, examine a salt crystal, a quartz crystal and a piece of granite (if you have access to these). How are they different?

Salt and quartz are minerals. Granite is a rock. Minerals are the building blocks that make up a rock. Rocks are almost always made up of a mixture of minerals. The amount of minerals in each rock can vary.

One way minerals are classified is by their hardness. The hardness is measured in numbers from one to ten. Read "Rockhounds: The Hardness of Minerals and Rocks".

• Do a hardness test with metals and glass. Scratch a nail with a penny. The nail should make a mark on the penny. The penny's hardness is three and the nail's hardness is four. A mineral will scratch anything of the same or less hardness than itself. Now scratch a steel file with the nail, then scratch the nail with the file. The file will scratch the nail, because its hardness is about six. Which objects scratch glass? The hardness of glass is about five. Which objects scratch sandpaper? The hardness of sandpaper is about seven.

Another way minerals are classified is by doing a streak test. The streak of a mineral is the color of its fine powder. To read about streak testing, go to "Rockhounds: Streaking Minerals - Streak Testing".

• Do a streak test on a mineral. Carefully scratch a mark across the unglazed side of a piece of ceramic tile with a piece of quartz. The streak of quartz will be white, but sometimes the color of the streak will be very different from the color of the unpowdered mineral.

A crystal is a rock with flat faces. Often crystals look like they have been cut and polished right when they are pulled from the ground. Most of the time, crystals grow that way.

What makes the surfaces on a crystal flat? The atoms in crystals are neatly stacked to make the faces flat. (Atoms are the very small pieces from which everything is made.) Crystals get larger and larger as the right atoms are added. The word "crystal" comes from the Greek word "krystallos," which means "ice." In ancient times, people thought crystals were pieces of ice frozen so hard they would never melt.

Visit "Smithsonian Gem & Mineral Collection".

• Read about and view five pieces. Which is your favorite? Why?

Bonus activity: See close-ups of all your favorite gems and minerals. Go to "Mineral Image Gallery" or "Gemstone Gallery".

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Activity #3A: Let's get dirt-y

Open a new document in Appleworks or Word, then complete the following activities.

Did you know that there is a lot more under our feet than the dirt we are standing on? There are mainly four layers of the earth beneath us.

Find out about the layers of the earth at "Earth's Layers Visual: Tremors".

• Using the Appleworks Paint program, make a diagram of the Earth's layers, labelling each layer.

Now go to "VolcanoWorld: The Four Layers".

• Study the pictures and diagrams of the layers of the earth.
• Click "Next" at the bottom of each page to see more.
• Answer the questions about the Earth's layers at the end of the section. Review previous pages to find the answers to the questions if needed.

How did scientists form ideas of the four layers of earth? Find the answer at "VolcanoWorld: The Earth's Layers".

Answer the two questions at the bottom of the page.

Activity #3B:

Soil, of course, makes up the very top of the Earth's crust. Read more about soil at "The Soil That We Classify, and Buried Soils".

• Dig up a sample of soil and place it in a pie tin.
• With a magnifying glass, examine everything that makes up the soil such as roots, leaves, rocks, insects and grass.
• Using the Appleworks Draw or Paint program, or the Drawing Tools in Word,draw a picture of what you saw and record your observations .

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Activity #4: The changing land

Open a new document in Appleworks or Word, then complete the following activities.

How are mountains formed? What about valleys? And what about the beach where you build your sand castles?

The land around us is always changing. It doesn't look the same today as it did a long time ago. The things that change land are water, wind and living things.

Many changes happen slowly, like the formation of canyons. The Grand Canyon was carved by the Colorado River. Read about it at "Grand Canyon National Park: Quick Look".

• See images of the Grand Canyon at "National Geographic Society at the Grand Canyon".

Glaciers are frozen water mixed with rocks, sand and dirt. Over the years, glaciers have greatly changed the shape of land. Find the answers to these questions at "Glaciers and the Glacial Ages":

• What are glaciers?
• What are the physical effects of glaciers?
• How frequently do Ice Ages occur?
• When did the last glacial age end?

• See how a glacier changes the land. Mix sand with water in a styrofoam cup. Put it in the freezer overnight. Peel the cup away from the ice and sand mixture. Rub the mixture over a piece of wood. What happens to the wood? Why did this happen? How is this like a glacier changing land?

Changes can happen very quickly to land from other things as well like storms, earthquakes and volcanoes. Read about them at "Natural Disasters". Two students created this Web site to share information they learned about natural disasters.

• What natural disasters do they discuss?
• How does each disaster affect the land?

Erosion is the wearing away of the earth. It is mainly caused by wind and water. See some photographs of wind and water erosion.

• To see how soil erodes, fill several roasting pans with soil. Put rocks in one of the pans, and in another put some grass. Using boards for support, tilt them at various angles. Slowly pour the same amount of water down the soil. How does the angle of the pan affect erosion? How do plants and rocks affect erosion?

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Activity #5: Lava land

Open a new document in Appleworks or Word, then complete the following activities.

Ancient Romans believed that the Roman god of fire, Vulcan, caused volcanoes to erupt. They thought when Vulcan was angry, he would make a volcano erupt. The word "volcano" comes from the name Vulcan.

While the Ancient Romans knew a lot, they were wrong about the cause of volcanoes. Now scientists know more about volcanoes.

Volcanoes come in different shapes and sizes. Shield volcanoes form wide gently sloping mountains and islands. They have mild eruptions where thin runny lava oozes out of vents or cracks. They look like huge overturned shields. Sometimes shield volcanoes erupt under the ocean, and then they are built higher and higher until they form islands.

• To see a shield volcano, go to "VolcanoWorld: Mauna Loa".

Cinder cones look like lamp shades. During their fiery outbursts, lava and ash go miles into sky through a crater, a bowl-shaped crack.

• To see a cinder cone, go to "VolcanoWorld: Sunset Crater, Arizona".

The third kind of volcanoes are called volcanic domes. They are a combination of a shield volcano and a cinder cone. First they erupt quietly with thin runny lava, then they erupt violently with lava, cinder and dust. Volcanic domes form towering mountains like upside down ice cream cones.

• To see a volcanic dome, go to "Unzen: Decade Volcano".

Mount St. Helens in the state of Washington is a volcanic dome. It exploded in 1980 and was the worst eruption ever in the United States. To see pictures of the volcano before, during and after the eruption, go to "VolcanoWorld: Mount St. Helens".

• What kind of changes did the volcano cause? Describe them.

See images of several volcanoes by going to "VolcanoWorld Virtual Field Trips".

• Select a trip to explore.
• Write a story pretending that you live in one of the areas of these volcanoes. What is your life like? What if the volcano exploded?
• Using the Appleworks Paint or Draw program,illustrate your story.

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Activity #6A: Let's go caving

Open a new document in Appleworks or Word, then complete the following activities.

What are caves? And just how are they formed? Find out the answers to these questions and more at "Kentucky Caverns: The Formation of Caves".

• Describe how caves are formed.
• List the ingredients for forming a cave.

Take a virtual tour of Hidden River Cave in Kentucky. Go to "American Cave Conservation Association Inc.: Hidden River Cave Tours".

• What did you notice about your tour through the cave?

Find the definitions to the following cave terms at "Kentucky Caverns: Cave Glossary and Tips":

• cave formations, soda straws, stalactites, stalagmites, columns, cave coral, draperies, flowstone, show caves, wild caves

Stalactites and stalagmites are often found in caves. They look kind of like popsicles, except they are made of rocks instead of ice.

• Read about and see pictures of them at "The Virtual Cave". Click on "Stalagmites" and "Stalactites." Stalactites are rocks that hang from cave ceilings while stalagmites rise up from the cave floor.
• See how stalactites and stalagmites are formed by gathering these materials: two glass jars, hot water, baking soda, a measuring spoon, a plate, a two-foot piece of woolen yarn, two paper clips. Fill each jar with hot tap water. Add eight tablespoons of baking soda into each jar. Place the plate between the two jars. Tie each end of the yarn to a paper clip. Put each paper clip in one of the jars so that the yarn stretches over the plate. The yarn should hang a few inches above the plate. Leave the jars undisturbed for three days.
• Illustrate what you see happening in the jars each day. What forms on the string? What forms on the plate? How do you think these things happened?

When you go caving, safety is very important. Read some rules to follow when caving at "Kentucky Caverns: Cave Glossary and Tips".

• What are some of the caving safety tips you learned?

Activity #6B:

In ancient times, people used to live in caves. They decorated their walls with paintings that often told stories. To see some cave paintings, go to "An Extraordinary Archaeological Find: A Decorated Paleolithic Cave in the Ardeche Region of France".

Open a new Appleworks Paint or Draw document, or use the Drawing Tools in Word, and do the following activity:

• Create your own cave painting, following the style of those you saw at the previous Web site.

Bonus activity: We all know that pollution hurts our earth. Did you know that pollution causes great danger even for caves? Read about it at "Kentucky Caverns: Cave Ecology".

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