Background+Information


 * I****s It a Rock? (Version 1) (Angela)**
 * < **Purpose:** To help students understand that rocks come in many sizes and shapes.


 * Explanation:** A rock is defined as any solid mass of mineral or mineral-like matter that occurs naturally as part of our planet (Lutgens and Tarbuck 2003). They are described by their size and shape, can range from huge boulders to small grains of sand or rock dust, and they can be jagged or smooth. Rocks can be broken down by the weathering process or by what humans do to them.


 * Misconceptions:** 1) The word rock is used in many different ways not just the geological meaning which makes it confusing for younger children.

2) Children fail to recognize words such as boulder, gravel, sand, and clay as related to the size of rock fragments.

3) Students identify rocks by hardness, jaggedness, weight, and color so they think that if doesn't meet certain requirements, then it is a stone not a rock.

4) Students have difficulty with the idea of rock types being a range of sizes (boulder, gravel, sand, and clay).


 * Works Cited:**

Lutgens, F., and E. Tarbuck. 2003. Essentials of geology. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Keeley, Page. Uncovering student ideas in science / by Page Keeley, Francis Eberle, and Lynn Farrin. v. cm. Earth and Space Science Assessment Probes, Volume 2, Probe 20, Is it a Rock? (Version 1). ||


 * My Rock (Aims book) Mariah Kidwell**

Background : Rocks shape much of our Earth. They form the mountains and hills. We do not see many of the rocks because they are covered with soil and vegetation. pebbles, soil, and sand all have small pieces of eroded rock in them. Rocks consist of one or more minerals. The minerals give color, hardness, and sparkle to rocks.


 * Rock Groups (AIMS book) Mariah Kidwell**

Background: Rocks are fascinating to children and adults alike. They like to pick them up and hold them, feel, rub, and examine them. As rocks are collected, the students will find that they do not all look and feel the same. Some of the rocks are smooth and shiny, while others are rough and dull. Some break along definite planes while others crumble. Rocks vary in hardness, which is a convenient trait to use to identify and classify rocks. Studying rocks can lead to interesting "discoveries" which might include the number and sizes of holes in a rock, the different colors of the minerals in the rock, or different materials making up the rock. The students might find fossils in Sedimentary. Rocks can be found in many places; the crust of the Earth is mostly solid rock called bedrock. However, this rock is often covered by a thick layer of vegetation, sand, soil, gravel, or water. Occasionally, the solid rock is visible through the soil as outcrops. Erosion breaks up the solid rock into smaller ;ieces and eventually into soil.


 * Rocks and More Rocks (AIMS book) Mariah Kidwell**

Background: A Rock is defined by a geologist as a substance that is composed of one or more minerals. Rocks are made up of minerals but rocks themselves are not minerals. Rocks have many properties that can be used to sort them. Some are color, shape, luster, texture, weight, and size. By having young learners classify rocks according to properties that are familiar to them, they are developing their observational skills as well as appreciation for the beauty and variety of rocks in their environment.


 * Ice Breakers (AIMS book) Mariah Kidwell**

Background: Weathering is the set of processes that disintegrates or decomposes rocks at or near the surface of the Earth. It is response to Earth's materials to a changing environment. The two general types of weathering are chemical and mechanicial. They usually occur very slowly and often without notice. Mechanical weathering of rocks do not change the composition of rocks as do chemical weathering of rocks. mechanical weathering changes the size of the material by breaking them into smaller pieces.

works cited: Hoover, E., & Mercier, S. (2006). Primarily earth: activities integrating math and science. (pp. 24,32,38,46). AIMS Education Foundation

Background: Rocks are made of minerals, natural inorganic materials that is formed from Earth's crust. Some minerals are made of one element; others are made out of 2 or more elements. You can observe rocks by testing its color, hardness, luster, crystal structure, and density, and how it splits along a plane, breaks, and reacts to chemicals. Fewer than 100 minerals make up the bulk of the earth's crust.
 * How Rocks are Formed Concepts (Sarah)**

Background: Sediments from eroded rocks are the raw materials for new sedimentary rocks. The sediments are usually moved and deposited by rivers into coastal trenches and basins. Some rivers deposit sediments into large lakes. Some examples of sedimentary materials are sand, clay, silt, pebbles, and stones. These sediments are formed by laying on top of each other compacting each layer to one another. The pressure and the chemicals that are dissolved in the water act to cement the sediments together. Sand particles become sandstone; mud or clay become shale; and pebbles, rocks, and sand combine to form conglomerate. Limestone and chalk are formed on the ocean floor from the compressed skeletons and shells of ocean animals, not eroded materials like other sedimentary rocks.
 * Sedimentary Rocks (Sarah)**

Background: Igneous rocks are formed through the cooling of magma (lava). Igneous means "formed from fire." The rocks are mostly formed in volcanic domes (laccoliths). Magma squeezes under a surface rock layer, slowly cools, and becomes solid. When the surface rocks erode away, it leaves the underlying hardened magma rock. The most common igneous rock is granite. It's large crystals shows that it took a long time to cool. Small crystals are formed when the lava is blown from a volcano or if the lava flows out of cracks in the crust and it cools quickly. An example of this is pumice and obsidian. Pumice is light and spongy and obsidian is black and glassy.
 * Igneous Rocks (Sarah)**

Background: Sedimentary and igneous rocks can be exposed to severe pressure and heat as the earth's crust moves, folds, thrusts deeper under the ground, or are buried under lava flows. This can cause physical and chemical changes in the rock. This makes them metamorphic. Metamorphic means "changed in form." Sedimentary rock such as limestone becomes the metamorphic rocks marble, sandstone becomes quartzite, and shale becomes slate. Igneous rocks like granite changes to gneiss and soft coal changes to hard coal. Metamorphic rocks are harder than the others, usually contain more than one color, and may have small crystals.
 * Metamorphic Rocks (Sarah)**

Background: Fossils are the remains or signs of animals or plants in rocks. Fossils are mostly found in sedimentary rocks. They could be found in the metamorphosed sedimentary rocks but the pressure and heat usually destroys the fossil. Fossils form in many ways. When animals die the sedimentary rocks can cover the remains of the animal. The soft body parts decompose but the teeth and skeletons remain and are preserved by hardened layers of sediment. Sometimes the skeleton even disintegrates. Before that happens mineral-laden water infiltrated into the bones and replaced bone with minerals. This process leaves a perfect cast replica of the skeleton. Fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. These were formed from the remains of plants and animals that died millions of years ago. Mud, silt, and other sediments formed into stony layers. Pressure and heat from immense crustal movements caused physical and chemical changes in the buried organic matter. Some formed into seams of coal trapped between shale and slate. Some deposits changed into thick, black oil and natural gas, usually trapped between layers of folded rock.
 * Fossils (Sarah)**

Background: The three kinds of rocks form when exposed on the earth's surface. The resulting sediments, under pressure, form into rock cemented with water-borne chemicals. When these rocks undergo further pressure, torsion, and heat, they metamorphose. The metamorphic rocks turn into magma when heated. When the magma cools and hardens, it becomes igneous rock. Some of the magma may metamorphose if folded or twisted or heated again. Then the cycle keeps going.
 * Rock Cycle (Sarah)**

Works Cited: Peters, Joseph M., and David L. Stout. "How Rocks Are Formed Concepts." //Science in Elementary Education: Methods, Concepts, and Inquiries//. 11th ed. Boston ; Munich [u.a.: Pearson Education, 2011. 452-54. Print.