Lesson 8: Shining a Light on the Minerals!

This week's lesson was GREAT. Our students are doing a fantastic job with their observations and are understanding so much! L and I were so pleased when Ms. B reported that every student got a 100% on their rock cycle test last week! We were so pleased!

This week the students' attention and comprehension manifested in a variety of wonderful and challenging questions. It demonstrated that they were very engaged (even through my slightly verbose and complex explanation of some of the technological applications of some of their minerals!).

Here's how this week's lesson played out:

Went over the agenda as per usual. Shared science question: How much light does each mineral specimen transmit?

Goal: Light field test on each of 12 minerals, record observations. Then sort minerals according to ability to transmit light. Discuss findings, similarities, differences between specimens.
Overall, very smooth lesson.

Began lesson by sharing key pieces of information on 2 specific minerals that relate to the streak field tests they conducted. Both of these minearls also have important industiral applications today.
Hematite: streaks a reddish-brown or brownish/gray. Used hundreds of years ago by indigineous people as a pigment. Still used as a pigment today. Foudn all over the world, often is blackish/brownish in color and bumpy. Iron is often made from hemattie and iron is major ingredient in steel. Iron age began 3000 years ago with egyptians....ability to do metal work woudl forever shape history!

Graphite: streaks with a gray/black. NAme comes from 'graphos' greek to write, used for last 400 years to write with. Originally not encased in wood, so ppl got dirty using it. Now graphite used as industrial lubricant. You can tell it may work well as a lubricant because it feels slippery. For example, when graphite is ground it can be used with a lock/key as a dry lubricant. Graphite also has many other industrial applications because it conducts electricity and can withstand very high tempratures. Electrodes are made from graphite. Electordes conduct electricity from one place to anohter. (these last 2 remarks led to some extremely interesting questions, such as "Is an electrode similar to an electron?" I proceeded to try and differentiate the two and used another $10 vocabulary word: sub atomic particle. But I think the student that asked the question was able to understand! whew!

LD used wax paper, cardboard and transparent plastic to introduce the concepts of opacity, translucence and transparency...helped students describe these characteristics in their own words.

The observations conducted by each student pair went really well. The field test was relatively simple--it was to shine a light on each mineral and record how much light it was able to transmit. The class was super enthusiastic, as per usual. I was a bit surprised when Ms. B told her class it was too loud. I felt like the loudness was a reflection of their enthusiasm and they were working with partners, right? I felt like this took a bit of the momentum out the lesson and I know that I want my style to be more of a facilitator than a presenter. I don't want to be a dominator, but I want my class to have order too. Definitely thinking about the "middleway" of classroom managment!

One group noticed that mineral A, feldspar, was slightly translucent on thin edges....also had a very bright pen light. GREAT OBSERVATION!

This was a quick field test, so we had time to do a very good conclusion discusssion. Nearly every student was anxious to share their findings...again I LOVE their enthusiasm for learning and participating...a wonderful lesson indeed!