Introduction

What do you think of when someone says “natural resources”? Perhaps forest products, agriculture, and water resources? What about ores, rocks and minerals? These don't seem to get the spotlight in classroom discussions of natural resources the way other resources do, even though the world economy, community infrastructure and health technologies, to name only a few, rely on the availability of all kinds of naturally occurring ores, rocks and minerals.

Did you know chromium forms the ore chromite, from which most manganese steel and stainless steel castings are made? These are important components of the multibillion-dollar automobile industry. What single mineral is used for such diverse purposes as water purification, optical lens grinding, semiconductor preparation, and sand blasting? Give up? Garnet. And you thought it was just a pretty, red gem! It's not always red, by the way. The list is almost endless. So how do we give our students an understanding of these important substances' scientific aspects as well as the related technologies that capitalize on the scientific knowledge of rocks, ores, and minerals?

The National Science Education Standards for grades 5-8 encourages a holistic approach to study of the four earth system components — geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and the biosphere. A study of ores and minerals provides an appropriate context. Obviously these compounds are formed in and are part of the geosphere. In addition, their formation depends on the action of water, on atmospheric phenomena, and on biotic phenomena.

This publication is designed to assist you in going beyond the traditional "identify the rocks" unit. If your students already have knowledge of the geochemical cycles, use that as a bridge. An analogy can be seen in the way the geochemical cycles explain how naturally occurring elements from the earth enter the biosphere and the way ores, rocks and minerals enter man-made constructions, in the sense there are some intervening activities that accomplish the transition from "within" the earth in a raw form to "outside" the earth in a changed form.

Pedagogically speaking, consider beginning with an exploration phase by exposing students to a few minerals by way of: (1) physical specimens for which students can record physical and chemical properties and generate hypotheses regarding origin, content, and usefulness; and (2) exposure to processes, such as water purification, that use particular minerals or result in the extraction of the purified mineral. Students can speculate on how the process is accomplished, what is necessary, and why does it work? Such exercises serve as pre-assessments as well as prior knowledge activators, paving the way for subsequent student learning.

Together these two strategies touch on, first, the science, and, second, the technology of mining and using ores and minerals. An inductive approach of starting with acquiring knowledge of minerals enables understanding of rock origins and types. For example, the minerals quartz and feldspar combine to form granite; similar by way of analogy to elements combining to form compounds.

In the next section of this publication, Background Information for Teachers you can review (a) your knowledge of basic minerals, (b) the rock cycle, (c) the roles of water and living things in mineral formation, and (d) technologies related to minerals.

In other sections of the publication we highlight resources featuring animations, simulations, articles, lessons and activities you can use with your students to facilitate their conceptual understanding of minerals and rocks and their properties which confer usefulness in a variety of technological contexts. In addition we present some resources designed to raise awareness of how these minerals are mined and the environmental impacts of mining.

Finally, we suggest how the study of ores, rocks, and minerals is aligned with the content standards of the National Science Education Standards for grades 5-8.

---

by Mary LeFever

Mary LeFever is a resource specialist for the Middle School Portal, and a doctoral candidate in science education at Ohio State University. She has taught middle school and high school science and is an adjunct instructor of biology and natural sciences at Columbus State Community College. Please email any comments to msp@msteacher.org

There’s More! You’ll know when new science publications are posted on NSDL Middle School Portal by requesting free email notices at http://msteacher.org/registration.aspx. Don’t forget to browse the Science Pathway every once in a while to find a wealth of resources for your teaching.

Blog with Us. Every week, we connect what’s making the news to the national science content standards…so you can too! Read and share your ideas on our blog Connecting the News to National Science Education Standards at http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/connectingnews/.

---

 Back to top

Copyright April 2008 — The Ohio State University. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0424671. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.