Bring Hands-On Mining Into Your Classroom
The Nevada Mining Association has partnered with the American Geosciences Institute to update select lessons, aligning them with state standards and connecting them to real-world examples. Topics include careers, rocks and minerals, the mining process, sustainability, map reading, and plate tectonics.
If you have any questions regarding these activities, please contact us or call us at (775) 829-2121.
We also host annual teacher workshops in Northern and Southern Nevada for K-12 educators. More information is available here.
Join the Earth Science Teacher Workshop Google Classroom with supplemental and elective class material here.
Lessons Overview
- Grade-Level Specific – Each topic has different versions for students in grades 3-5, middle school, and high school, ensuring age-appropriate content and activities. Most topics also have lessons for students in grades K-2.
- Aligned with NVACSS and the Employability Skills for Career Readiness standards – Each lesson is aligned with Nevada Earth Science and Career state standards that integrates science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas, with mining topics as context for learning earth science concepts.
- Real-World Applications – Students engage with Nevada-specific samples and maps to explore Earth processes, resource formation, and human-environment interactions within the state’s unique landscape.
- Interactive Resources – Lessons incorporate digital mapping tools, hands-on modeling activities, and interactive investigations to enhance student learning.
- Teacher Support – Each lesson includes detailed preparation steps, discussion questions, and instructional guidance to make implementation easy.
While these lessons are aligned with Nevada-specific standards and feature Nevada-specific maps, samples, data, and examples, they can be adapted for use in any location. The Nevada Academic Content Standards for Science (NVACSS) are aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
Visit our full Google Classroom here for additional resources.
Careers
These lessons introduce students to a variety of careers within the mining industry and the skills they need to carry out their roles. Through interactive activities, students will learn about how mining relies on many careers working together to locate and extract mineral resources, while considering the environmental and economic impacts of mining operations. Students can evaluate the costs and benefits as they simulate mining techniques and the roles of many careers involved in mineral exploration.
Browse the teacher guide below for your grade level!
- Grades 3-5 lesson
- Middle school lesson
- High school lesson
- PowerPoint (All ages. Select file and then download to get the full presentation)
Engineering
These lessons introduce students to engineering design through mining- and community-focused challenges. Through hands-on build–test–improve activities, students identify problems, define criteria and constraints, prototype solutions, and iterate based on data. Depending on grade level, students may design simple tools or structures, test materials and models, evaluate trade-offs for safety and sustainability, or optimize solutions to real-world scenarios related to mining and local infrastructure.
Browse the teacher guide below for your grade level!
Geologic Time
These lessons build understanding of Earth’s deep time and how we read the rock record. Through hands-on activities, students create and compare timelines, correlate stratigraphic columns, and connect major biological and geologic events—including Nevada case studies—to landscape change and resources. Depending on grade level, students may build personal and geologic timelines, analyze outcrops, apply relative and absolute dating, and annotate one-page visuals that show the scale of geologic time.
Browse the teacher guide below for your grade level!
Minerals and Rocks
These lessons explore the properties, identification, and formation of rocks and minerals, with activities tailored to different grade levels. Depending on the lesson, students may conduct hands-on tests, analyze geological data, explore the rock cycle, or investigate critical minerals. Some focus on local geology and real-world applications, while others emphasize scientific testing and classification.
Browse the teacher guide below for your grade level!
- Grades 3-5 lesson
- Middle school lesson
- High school lesson
- PowerPoint (All ages. Select file and then download to get the full presentation)
The Mining Process
These lessons introduce students to the mining process and its environmental implications through hands-on activities and real-world examples. Depending on the lesson, students may analyze mineral and rock waste, model the mining process, assess the costs and benefits of mining, or explore land reclamation efforts. Some lessons emphasize the impact of mining on landscapes, while others focus on resource extraction.
Browse the teacher guide below for your grade level!
- Grades K-2 lesson
- Grades 3-5 lesson
- Middle school lesson
- High school lesson
- PowerPoint (All ages. Select file and then download to get the full presentation)
Sustainability and Mining
These lessons examine how mining relates to sustainability and environmental impact through hands-on activities, models, and real-world examples. Students explore mineral use, site changes, and the balance between resource extraction and environmental responsibility, with some lessons highlighting the UN Sustainable Development Goals and mine reclamation efforts.
Browse the teacher guide below for your grade level!
- Grades K-2 lesson
- Grades 3-5 lesson
- Middle school lesson
- High school lesson
- PowerPoint (All ages. Select file and then download to get the full presentation)
Map Reading
These lessons build map-reading skills and explore the connections between Earth’s processes and human activity. Depending on the lesson, students may analyze topographic and/or geologic maps, create models, examine how topographic maps have changed over time, or investigate resource distribution. Some focus on local geography, while others emphasize mapping techniques and landscape analysis.
Browse the teacher guide below for your grade level!
Plate Tectonics
These lessons connect plate tectonics, fault movement, and mineral formation, helping students explore how geologic processes shape landscapes and resource distribution. Depending on the lesson, students may model fault movement, analyze maps of Nevada’s landforms and mineral deposits, or investigate how tectonic forces influence resource formation. Some lessons focus on earthquake activity and land changes, while others examine mineral deposits linked to geologic history.
Browse the teacher guide below for your grade level!
- Grades 3-5 lesson
- Middle school lesson
- High school lesson
- PowerPoint (All ages. Select file and then download to get the full presentation)