2. History of Rock - Logistics

Time
5 min introduction
15 min make observations and become experts
20-30 min rearrange into new groups, share expertise, and compare rocks

Grouping
Students will begin in teams organized by rock type. They will become specialists on that one type of rock. They will then rearrange into teams with one representative of each rock type and will compare their rocks and tell each other the histories of the rock they studied.

Materials

• Several samples of rock from the field trip site you intend to visit. In my classes, to prepare for the Caldecott Tunnel field trip, I used mudstone, sandstone, conglomerate, granite and basalt. You need one rock per student, and an equal number of rocks of each type – for instance, if you have 25 students in your class and 5 different types of rock, you will need 5 samples of each type of rock for a total of 25 rocks.
• Copy of the Rock History Data Sheet for each student.
• Penny, one for each rock type
• Butter knife or glass slide, one for each rock type
• Optional: steel file, one for each rock type
• Optional: hand lenses

Setting
Classroom