Tellus Museum

100 Tellus Drive

Cartersville, GA 30120

Dear Lovinggood Earth Scientists,July 30, 2016

We have been very busy rock and mineral hunting this summer and have found several samples of some different rocks and minerals. However, we cannot figure out which are rocks and which are minerals. We were looking over the Georgia Standards and saw that in sixth grade earth science, you have to investigate the contribution of minerals to rock composition. We think you would be the perfect group to investigate our samples and provide us with a chart which will tell us which numbered samples are rocks and which numbered samples are minerals. We would also like a sentence for each sample explaining how you determined it was a rock or a mineral.

We have a group of students set to visit the museum and our new samples next week, so we need your presentations ready by Friday.

Thank you for helping us out and providing the information we need to assist in the learning of Georgia students who visit Tellus Museum.

Sincerely,

The Tellus Museum Curator

Step 1:What does the museum need you to do?

Step 2:What do you need to know?

In the table below, I have given you the first guiding question. Find the answerto the question and write it down in the box. Then, use the answer to lead you to other concepts you might need to know. For example, do you know what inorganic means? If not, make that your next question and find the answer. Also, go back to the TellUs problem to see what else you need to know to solve the problem. Good luck!

1.What is a mineral?
2.
3.
4.
5.

*If you have more than 5 things you need to know, continue researching using a sheet of notebook paper.

Step 3:Use your research to classify the five objects.

Step 4:Create your chart. Be sure to research in your textbook or on the website what a chart is and how it looks.

Step: 5: Present your information to the class.

TellUs Museum:Rocks vs. Minerals

Rubric

Name: Date: Class:

5 / 3 / 1 / 0
Chart / Table /
  • Neat, easy to read
  • Ruler Used
  • Title of Chart
  • Title for each column and/or row
/
  • Missing two componenets
/
  • Missing four components
/
  • No chart

Minerals Identified Correctly /
  • All minerals were identified correctly
/
  • Some minerals were identified correctly
/
  • N/A
/
  • No minerals were identified correctly

Rocks
Identified Correctly /
  • All rocks were identified correctly
/
  • Some rocks were identified correctly
/
  • N/A
/
  • No rocks were identified correctly

Mineral Identification Explanations / All explanations use
  • Complete sentences
  • Correct punctuation and grammar.
  • Scientific evidence to support identificaiton
/ Some explanations use
  • Complete sentences
  • Correct punctuation and grammar.
  • Scientific evidence to support identificaiton
/
  • N/A
/
  • No mineral explanations included

Rock Identification Explanations / All explanations use
  • Complete sentences
  • Correct punctuation and grammar.
  • Scientific evidence to support identificaiton
/ Some explanations use
  • Complete sentences
  • Correct punctuation and grammar.
  • Scientific evidence to support identificaiton
/
  • N/A
/
  • No rock explanations included

Grade:
Comments:

TellUs Museum:Rocks vs. Minerals

Rubric

Name: Date: Class:

5 / 3 / 1 / 0
Chart / Table /
  • Neat, easy to read
  • Ruler Used
  • Title of Chart
  • Title for each column and/or row
/
  • Missing two componenets
/
  • Missing four components
/
  • No chart

Minerals Identified Correctly /
  • All minerals were identified correctly
/
  • Some minerals were identified correctly
/
  • N/A
/
  • No minerals were identified correctly

Rocks
Identified Correctly /
  • All rocks were identified correctly
/
  • Some rocks were identified correctly
/
  • N/A
/
  • No rocks were identified correctly

Mineral Identification Explanations / All explanations use
  • Complete sentences
  • Correct punctuation and grammar.
  • Scientific evidence to support identificaiton
/ Some explanations use
  • Complete sentences
  • Correct punctuation and grammar.
  • Scientific evidence to support identificaiton
/
  • N/A
/
  • No mineral explanations included

Rock Identification Explanations / All explanations use
  • Complete sentences
  • Correct punctuation and grammar.
  • Scientific evidence to support identificaiton
/ Some explanations use
  • Complete sentences
  • Correct punctuation and grammar.
  • Scientific evidence to support identificaiton
/
  • N/A
/
  • No rock explanations included

Grade:
Comments:
Sample A / Sample B / Sample C
Sample D / Sample E

Teacher information:

Materials:

Ruler (make chart) / Magnifying glass / Streak plate / Conglomerate (mixture) / Limestone (fossil print)
Pyrite (crystals) / Galena (crystals)

What students need to do:

  • Define Mineral
  • Define rock
  • Possibly define composition, investigation, classification, contribution
  • Differentiate organic and inorganic
  • Learn about crystal structure
  • Learn what a mixture is
  • Use appendix on minerals
  • Use textbook for description of mineral and rock