Classroom Activities

In this hands-on session, participants will learn the importance of knowing how to identify minerals, their physical properties, and uses. We will review what a mineral is and common properties of minerals (color, streak, transparency, smell) and use these properties to identify a group of minerals.

Everyone loves COOKIES! But when you make these delicious chocolate no-bake cookies you also will learn how asphalt is made and used in paving roads.

Mining is a complex process in which relatively small amounts of valuable or useful minerals or metals (ores) are extracted from very large masses of rock. This activity will illustrate how this “needle in a haystack” process works.

In this activity, soap and Diet Coke bubbles pop gently, like the beautiful “fire fountains” of runny Hawaiian lavas. Balloons pop violently, resembling explosive eruptions of the viscous lavas of Cascade volcanoes and other explosive volcanoes around the world.

Many of the volcanic rocks in Nevada are composed of a type of rock made up of volcanic ash called “ash-flow tuff.” Bits of pumice enclosed in the rock are a good indicator that it is a tuff. Tuffs are usually light colors, gray, yellow, or pink, and often have small included crystals. They were associated with violent eruptions.

What does it cost to run a mine? This class will challenge participants to consider all of the economic factors of mining in Nevada, realizing the true costs of starting and operating a mining operation in Nevada. Course numbers will be based on hard rock, heavy metal operations, yet variables will be applicable and relevant to all types of mining in Nevada. From exploration to reclamation, tally the hundreds of millions of dollars required to mine in Nevada.

This lesson acquaints students with career opportunities in the mining industry.

PURPOSE: To acquaint your students with a quick way of crystal growing. Be sure all students practice good safety habits including wearing goggles and protective (rubber or latex) gloves if handling ammonia.

Try various recipes for the paving stones. Observe the properties to see what recipe would be best for a specific purpose. Water is one of those components, and the amount of water can change the properties, including time to harden.

The purpose of this game is to give the player an introduction to the economics of mining. This is accomplished through the player buying “property,” purchasing the “mining equipment,” paying for the “mining operation,” and finally paying for the “reclamation.” In return the player receives money for the “ore mined.” The objective of the game is to make as much money as possible.

The purpose of this game is to give the player an introduction to the economics of mining. This is accomplished through the player buying “property,” purchasing the “mining equipment,” paying for the “mining operation,” and finally paying for the “reclamation.” In return the player receives money for the “ore mined.” The objective of the game is to make as much money as possible.

This activity will present and discuss issues concerning the global demand and supply of mineral resources, particularly those that are critical for emerging technologies in energy efficiency and renewable energy, including rare earth elements, lithium, copper, and elements that are likely to be key in the development of alternatives to current mainstream power generation.

Students will learn about textures in sedimentary rocks as an aid to recognizing clastic sedimentary rocks. To observe deeply and intelligently, and to be able to articulate their observations. To measure something and record measurements. To use their interest in fossils as a creative topic for a writing assignment.

Rather than digging up vast tracts of land to expose an oil field or to find some coal bearing strata, ore samples can be taken and analyzed to determine the likely composition of the earth=s interior. In this activity, students model core sampling techniques to find out what sort of layers are in a cupcake.

Students will measure and compare the densities of minerals.

Accompanying information for the Density Activity.

A series of maps related to earthquake probability in Nevada.

To understand how pollution can get into groundwater and how pumping can cause a decline in the water table and increased subsidence (sinking) of the land.

These activities can be combined with an activity (“How Much Gold Is There?” or “How Much is Dissolved”) that helps the students understand how big the number one million is, what concentrations in parts per million mean, and what powers of 10 and orders of magnitude mean.

Students will learn to look more closely at rocks. To see the connection between minerals and rocks. To use mineral composition to describe and identify rocks

This activity focuses on faults because these are involved in earthquakes such as the ones that caused the tsunami in Indonesia, and because faults have formed or affected much of the Nevada landscape.

PowerPoint presentation by Jonathan G. Price on identifying road cuts in Reno.

Frehner Construction Company’s operation is located south of Las Vegas on I-15 at Sloan. The mine has operated for many years and produces high-quality magnesium dolomite for the construction industry. Visitors will have the opportunity to see an active mine and processing facility in operation.

Students will learn how to find rock types on a geologic map. To practice identifying rocks. To learn what information is recorded on a geologic map. To connect the geological history of an area with its rocks and to read its portrayal on a geologic map. To learn how to locate rocks for collection. To summarize several weeks’ work on minerals and rocks.

Students will experience the engineering design process and testing through a hands-on and mentally challenging activity. Students will find the coefficient of static friction between four different samples.

Geology, History, and Resources of Nevada PowerPoint presentation from Jonathan G. Price.

The goal of this activity is for students to gain an understanding of the fossil record and learn that the earth, not just life forms, have changed throughout time.

Geologic time scale with major events in Nevada history sheet.

Students will learn about geologic maps and how to identify the information the maps provide.

Article by Jonathan G. Price on the Geology of Nevada.

Geology of Southern Nevada PowerPoint presentation by Jonathan G. Price

A glossary of different rock and mineral terminology.

Field trip itinerary of the Great Unconformity and the Pabco Gypsum Mine in Las Vegas.

To devise classification schemes for rocks based on observations, measurements, and recordation of compositional and textural variations among different rock samples.

Students will test and determine whether a list of objects are or are not minerals.

Students will generate a map using the graphical depiction of different data sets (“exploration reports”), which will act as a predictive model for testing (“drilling”).

To give students a hands-on, realistic experience in the way fossils form in nature. This activity should accompany a discussion of fossils, geologic time, and sedimentary processes. An excellent reference for this is a free download available from the U.S. Geological Survey entitled “Fossils, Rocks and Time” available on the USGS web site.

Students will understand that sedimentary rocks may be composed of pieces of minerals or pieces of other rocks. Consider how a sedimentary rock forms of loose sediments. Observe the size of the sediments. Observe the shape of the sediments. Understand that fossils are a kind of sediment.

Provides needed materials for students to build their own mineral identification kit.

Students will model the metamorphic process that makes layered rocks (i.e., slate, schist, and gneiss).

Student will research and learn information on minerals and construct a paper crystal that will illustrate what he/she has learned.

This group of activities is designed for the elementary grades 3-5 and will help students learn about the properties of minerals mined in Nevada using basic scientific inquiry methods; the locations in Nevada where useful minerals are found; and the uses of minerals in our everyday lives.

Accompanying information for the Mineral Detective Activity.

Accompanying information for the Mineral Detective Activity.

Accompanying information for the Mineral Detective Activity.

Accompanying information for the Mineral Detective Activity.

Students practice close observation of a mineral by drawing it; to learn what products are made from that mineral; to practice use of creative language arts, and drawing.

Students practice close observation of a mineral by drawing it; to learn what products are made from that mineral; to practice use of creative language arts, and drawing.

This class will expand upon what teachers learned about minerals in the mineral identification class. We will explore several hands-on activities that explore mineral properties and uses.

How to identify minerals using various mineral characteristics. The first part of the class is a power point and discussion of different mineral characteristics that can be used to identify a mineral. Each member of the class is given a box of minerals and a sheet with the characteristics of each of the minerals in the box. The minerals are not in the order of the mineral sheet and must be identified using the mineral characteristics discussed during the lecture.

Student objective is to collect 5 minerals from states they are found in. Through mapping their trip across the United States, they will learn that mineral locations are not necessarily where they are most convenient, and will reinforce their knowledge of U. S. Geography.

U.S. Mineral and Geographic map.

We will review some common properties of different minerals (color, streak, hardness, transparency, smell) and explore in detail some other properties (density, crystal structure and form, ductility, malleability) and discuss possible relationships between these properties and the minerals’ chemistry and uses.

In this hands-on session, participants will review common mineral properties including color, streak, hardness, density, luster (shine), and smell. We will test these minerals with tools provided in the test kits, discuss the uses of these minerals in daily life, and look at where these minerals occur throughout Nevada. We will also be incorporating a creative writing assignment as time allows.

The students will be able to describe the major steps that a company must follow from initial discovery of a mineral deposit through consumption of a finished mineral product. The students will also be able to formulate ideas on ways to use waste products generated during mineral processing.

The students will be able to describe the major steps that a company must follow from initial discovery of a mineral deposit through consumption of a finished mineral product. The students will also be able to formulate ideas on ways to use waste products generated during mineral processing.

Participants will learn about various natural disasters, including the basic scientific process of each type, specific effects, how the scientific method is used to study natural disasters, how natural disasters are measured, how natural disasters may be linked to other disasters, how human beings may cause or make a potential disaster worse, and methods for predicting, warning, preparing for, mitigating, and recovering from the effects of natural disasters.

This activity will familiarize students with the locations of some of the mineral resources in Nevada.

Students will learn to detect acids and bases, to classify materials as acids or bases, to investigate the pH scale and relate it to the indicator response, to investigate neutralization of acids or bases.

Students will locate on the periodic table the metals or cations associated with various carbonates and sulfates, as well as propose uses for the minerals.

Students will become acquainted with the names and symbols of the elements and the structure of the periodic table.

Water can be heated through various means by heat contained in the Earth. That hot water can be used to generate electricity, or used directly for heat. This activity models one way the energy contained in the hot water can be used to generate electricity.

To become acquainted with the properties of logarithms as applied to pH.

To understand that the reactions in the autoclave to oxidize the ore and release the gold for processing themselves provide the heat and acid required for the process. These same reactions happen naturally in the mine or geologically and may have environmental consequences.

Students will understand the structure of a heap leach pad and the chemistry involved in leaching and recovering the metal from solution by making a model using copper as the recovered metal.

A printable version of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Periodic Table.

To become acquainted with the names and symbols of the elements and the structure of the periodic table.

Students will visualize phase changes of condensation, freezing, melting, evaporation, and sublimation using Styrofoam balls as a model for the molecules or atoms of a material. The model will be reflected in phase changes of water.

To model the quantity of a million, then apply that concept to the concentrations of materials dissolved in water.

Gold recovered from modern mines is found in concentrations as little as two parts per million. This activity models the concept of million, of which two parts are gold.

To model a substance dissolved in water, a detection method, and calculations of concentration.

Students produce and advertise a “marketable” product used by most people every day that is made from minerals. Fluoride, which coats and strengthens tooth enamel comes from the mineral, fluorite. Both the abrasive and cleansing compounds, calcium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate found in toothpaste, are minerals. The coloring used in white toothpaste may come from the minerals barite or rutile.

In this session, we will discuss plate tectonics and the behavior of the Earth’s crust under different types of stresses. We will review different plate boundaries and model different types of faults using a variety of hands-on activities that teachers can take to their classrooms. If you would like to have a copy of the presentation from this class, please contact Rachel Micander @ rmicander@unr.edu

To learn to recognize geologic structures including flat-lying strata, erosion effects, anticlines, sync-lines, and a variety of faults. To recognize the order in which layers of the earth were deposited, using practical, hands-on modeling techniques. To gain the ability to look at solid materials in three dimensions and to draw maps and cross-sections to scale.

Explore and measure the relative porosity and permeability of materials of different grain size and composition. To develop an understanding of the role of grain size and composition on porosity and permeability of earth materials with relationship to their ability to hold and transmit fluid natural resources such as petroleum or groundwater.

The air blown into the calcium hydroxide solution contains carbon dioxide. That reacts with the water to form carbonate ion. The carbonate ion reacts with the calcium ions in solution to form the white calcium carbonate precipitate. Calcium carbonate is the chemical composition of the mineral calcite that makes up limestone.

This activity is designed to teach your students about the rock cycle and the processes that move rocks through this cycle. They will also come to understand that the rocks and minerals that we mine for items we use in our daily lives did not form everywhere; they formed in particular environments at particular times in the geological past.

Accompanying information for the Ride the Rock Cycle activity.

Using a Nevada state road map, students will go on an adventure across the state, learning about Nevada’s geography and communities within the state.

Using a magnifying glass and an identification table, students will learn how to identify basic types of rocks.

Student objectives : Understand that sedimentary rocks may be composed of pieces of minerals or pieces of other rock. Consider how a sedimentary rock forms of loose sediments. Observe the size of the sediments. Observe the shape of the sediments. Understand that fossils are a kind of sediment. Visualize how sedimentary layers may be distinguished.

Do rocks stay the same FOREVER? How do they change? What makes those rocks change anyway? The following set of labs is designed to allow the teacher to choose different activities for students to experience changes that can be related to rocks.

What is a rock and how to identify it. The class starts with the discussion of the three basic rock types: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic, and how each suite of rocks has basic characteristics describing how rocks can be identified and how they were formed. Each person is issued a box of rocks with a print out of the identifying characteristics of each rock.

This exercise will help students to learn about the diversity of rocks, the various environments they were formed in, and to identify where various rock types are found in nature.

This hands-on session will focus on identification of the three main rock types, where they are found, and how they are formed. We will briefly discuss the rock cycle and how different rocks can change. We will use “The Rock Key” to examine and identify unknown rock types in order to determine what type of rock they might be.

This exercise will help students to learn about the diversity of rocks, the various environments they were formed in, and to identify where various rock types are found in nature.

Using two boxes (one of minerals and one of rocks), students will use methods to identify and discover what the differences between rocks and minerals are.

Participants will investigate rocks and learn how to classify and identify rocks. We will start with a general discussion of rock types and their origins. You will use a rock key to ask and answer questions on unknown rock specimens (provided) in order to find the correct rock identification. The goal of this session is for you to become comfortable with looking at rocks and making an identification based on those observations.

This activity can stand alone as a demonstration for lower primary grades of “What Came First ” incorporating art, science, and math skills, while illustrating the use of mineral products (salt, chalk). For upper elementary through high school classes it can accompany a study unit on rocks and earth science to illustrate the “Law of Superposition” and to illustrate how sedimentary layers are deposited.

Have you ever looked at a cliff or a road cut and noticed layers of sedimentary rocks? Some layers are made up of very fine grains, while others might be made up of big boulders mixed together with sand. This layering of rocks is known as a sedimentary succession. In this activity we will look at what kinds of processes can cause this kind of layering in a fun and edible way.

The purpose of this activity is to investigate both slope stability and landslides. The exercise consists of creating sand and gravel “mountains”, measuring slopes, and testing the effects of water on slope stability. Landslides occur when a rock is not strong enough to resist the force of gravity that pulls it closer to the center of the Earth.

It is important not only to teach about geology of rocks and minerals, but also how we can use that knowledge for personal lives. Soil liquefaction is an important problem for cities built on sand because in earthquakes the soil underlying buildings will liquefy, causing buildings to sink deferentially.

Accompanying worksheet for Soil Liquefaction activity.

This activity will familiarize students with the requirements that a geologist or mining company must comply with in order to gain a land position for exploration and development of a mineral resource. The activity will involve observation, measuring, simple map making, and accurate completion of required forms.

This activity will have students explore how the mineral-resource industries and the geosciences contribute to meeting the 17 sustainable development goals adopted by the United Nations.

Sustainable Development is a concept that can be applied to mining. Engagement is one of the most important aspects of applying it at a mine. It is up to all the communities of interest to make this work, not only the mining company.

Take a journey through the history of planet Earth! Introduce your class to the geologic time scale and with some tape and sidewalk chalk.

This exercise is intended to familiarize students with topographic maps, the symbols used on them, and some basic topographic features. It can be used as an entertaining introduction to topo maps or as an assessment tool to see how well students know maps.

A topographic map is a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional landscape of a specific area. A little study will reveal the meaning of the lines, symbols, and conventions that create this representation.

Each township is divided into 36 sections. The sections are numbered starting right to left and top to bottom in a six by six grid. The numbers seem to form a figure “S” that continues to repeat itself. The sections number is place in the center of the section.

A topographic map is a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional landscape of a specific area. A little study will reveal the meaning of the lines, symbols, and conventions that create this representation.

To introduce students to the basic concepts of underground mining, the safety procedures taken and terminology used.

Powerpoint presentation to go along with Under the Earth activity.

Uses of Rocks & Minerals 

Developed & Taught by

Jonathan G. Price, Nevada State Geologist Emeritus

This activity is designed to stimulate students to discover why certain minerals and rocks are useful in society, either for their physical properties or for the chemical elements they contain.

Objectives: • To learn where some of the important mines and deposits in Nevada are located. • To practice using a map. • To locate oneself on the Nevada map. • To compare the mines location map to other maps to look for trends or related information.