Showing posts with label deposition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label deposition. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Cookie Rocks and Mining

2 activities, Science and Economics:


1. Cookie Rocks - This experiment is inspired by Kinderpond's "C is for Cookie." Have all students sit around a large table. Give each kid a cookie. Then, have them destroy it! 

Weathering
First, have them experiment with a toothpick. Next, give them an ice cube to see the effects of ice on a cookie. They'll use the cube to chop at the cookie. Then, hand out an eyedropper to represent rain. Kids squirt water on the cookie. Note: You could even use a spray bottle.

Erosion
Once their finished demolishing their cookie, pass out straws. Have kids blow (wind) their cookie crumbles (rock fragments) toward the center of the table. Then, sweep their crumbs into a pile. 

Deposition
Add a couple drops of water to their crumbs (if needed) and squish them all together.


2. Cookie Mining Economics -  Check out the Museum of Science and Industry's Cookie Mining Project. Kids excavate chocolate chips from a cookie; but, first they have to purchase the materials they need and stay within their price range!

energy resources (renewable vs. non-renewable) - You can also use this activity to explore . Kids get a soft and hard chocolate chip cookie (which represent 2 landsites). Can they dig out coal without harming the landsite? Which site was easier to retrieve the coal? Visit Third Grade Thinkers for instructions!






Sunday, September 9, 2012

Rocks and Weathering

screenshot of BBC Rocks and Weathering
BBC's Rocks and Weathering: cool, interactive, animated site, that I discovered over at one of my favorite EDTech blogs: Free Technology for Teachers. Rocks and weathering lets kids examine sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks up close and personal, teaching them how they form. Click here to check it out!

Monday, April 23, 2012

Cave Pillar Experiment

While studying rocks and minerals and learning about weathering / deposition, build your very own stalactite! Kids see the formation of  "drip stone" in limestone caves caused by "precipitated water solutions" (calcium carbonate / minerals) in just a few days! New formations (stalactites) are created in caves due to mineral deposition. These formations take many, many, many years to form! For the scientific explanation of the diy stalactite in Steve Spangler's video, click here!




Friday, January 20, 2012

Lego Weathering: Erosion / Deposition

Beakers and Bumblebees made up an awesome, active lego relay race that reinforces the weathering process!
1. First, 2 teams build a lego landform
2. Next, a member from each team pulls a piece off of the landform (weathering) and brings it to the other side (erosion) to start building a new landform (deposition)!
3. Kids continue taking turns transporting pieces from one side of the room to the other until their original landform is completely weathered away!