Category Archives: Special Studies

Special Study – Minerals

Natural bodies are divided into three kingdomes of nature: viz. the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms. Minerals grow, Plants grow and live, Animals grow, live, and have feeling. — Carolus Linnaeus, (1735)

Where to look for books in your library: J 552 primarily

Books:
True Book of Rocks and Minerals by Illa Podendorf (48 p.)
Rocks and Minerals by Lou Williams Page (32 p.)
The Story of Salt by Mark Kurlansky (IP, PB, gr. 3-6, 48 p.)
Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky (IP, gr. 9+, 496 p.)
Salt by Augusta Goldin (LRFO)

Field Guide:
A Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals by Frederick H. Pough

Teacher background: HoNS*
Rocks and Minerals, p. 743-744
Minerals, p. 750-759

Object Lessons, choose from the following:

Grow [LARGE]Alum crystals over the whole term. (Here’s how we did it.)
HoNS

Lesson 211, Crystal Growth, p. 752
Lesson 212, Salt, p. 753
Lesson 213, Quarts, p. 755
Lesson 214, Feldspar, p. 758
Lesson 215, Mica, p. 758

Janice VanCleave’s Earth Science for Every Kid by Janice VanCleave (chapter 2 only.) The following specific lessons would be good:

Lesson 8. Salty, p. 24: To determine how salt beds are formed.
Lesson 9. Needles, p. 26: To demonstrate how crystals form.
Lesson 10. Deposits, p. 28: To demonstrate the formation of caliche deposits
Lesson 11. Dripper, p. 30: To demonstrate the formation of stalagmites and stalactites.
Lesson 12. Bubbles, p. 32: To demonstrate a positive test for limestone.
Lesson 13. Spoon Pen, p. 34: To demonstrate a mineral streak test.
Lesson 14. Crunch, p. 36: To demonstrate the formation of metamorphic rocks.

Mineral Investigation Labs (for MS or HS)
Adventures with Rocks and Minerals: Geology experiments for young people by Lloyd Barrow
Break Your Own Geode *Is a geode a rock or a mineral?
Make your own rock candy
Place a small drop of various mineral solutions on microscope slides, then look at them through a microscope when they have crystalized. (see pictures below)

Other Resources:
Mindat.org – the world’s largest public database of mineral information with an army of worldwide volunteers adding and verifying new information daily. (Click on Advanced Search and then enter your state or county to search your “locality”.)

Rock and Mineral Playing Cards

*Note: HoNS = Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Comstock

**Note: When you are studying “earth science” you will encounter more explanations of the evolutionary theory than when you are studying botany or elephants, for example. Older books have less inclusion of this perspective usually. My guiding line is that they not mock or attack the young earth view point. We can have a conversation about “millions of years”.

The following resources might be useful:

Creation.com – Engineer Goes Back to School: Don Batten chats with geologist Dr Tas Walker (Flood model solves geological puzzles)
Answers In Genesis – Radioactive and Radiocarbon Dating (video)
Dr. Ron Carlson – Origins (video, covers carbon dating)
Dinosaurs, Flood Pt 1
Dinosaurs, Flood Pt 2

Related:
Natural History Rotation
Natural History: Implementing Special Studies (full explanation)
Implementing Special Studies – An Outline

Grow [LARGE] Alum Crystals

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A quick search on the internet provided me with several sets of instructions for growing alum crystals, but none of them worked the way we had hoped. We kept ending up with big clusters of crystals, but not a single big crystal. After a little trial and error, however, we figured out how to grow some big ones!

What You Need:
alum (from the spice isle of your grocery store)
water
2 jars

What You Do:
DAY 1

Pour 1/2 cup of hot tap water into a clean jar.
Slowly stir in 2 1/2 tablespoons of alum, a little at a time, until it stops dissolving. You likely won’t need the whole amount – just enough to saturate the water.
Loosely cover the jar with a coffee filter or paper towel to keep dust out.
Allow the jar to sit undisturbed overnight, or even for a couple days.

DAY 2

The next day (or a couple days later,) pour off the alum solution from the first jar into another clean jar. (Do not pour the tiny crystals in with the liquid, yet.)
You will see several small alum crystals at the bottom of the jar and along the sides. These are the ‘seed’ crystals which you will use to grow big crystals.
Pick 1-3 of the largest ‘seed’ crystals and place them in the bottom of your fresh jar of alum solution.

EVERY FEW DAYS

Repeat part 2, moving your growing seed crystals to the fresh jar.
Pick off any tiny crystal that have affixed themselves to your big crystal.
If the alum water gets too low, make more solution and add it to the jar. (Wait until it cools.)
Don’t be concerned if it seems like your crystal is not growing properly on one side – just turn it over and it will repair itself.

When it is the size you want, store it in an airtight container.

You can see the size difference between our tiny seed crystal (left), and our finished crystal (right).

These crystals have gotten cloudy due to being exposed to the air for a couple months.

I hope you try this out and let me know how it worked!

Special Study – Rocks

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Every stone detective needs these things to work with:

A knife or a steel file for scratching the stones,
A piece of glass to make scratches on – get a piece with smooth edges so that you won’t cut your fingers,
A magnifying glass or hand lens for examining the stones closely,
An ordinary copper penny,
A piece of white tile – the kind that is used on bathroom walls or the kind that is put under hot dishes on the table,
A small bottle of plain fizzy soda water (or ginger ale or any soda pop will do)
A hammer for breaking your rocks open – possibly one with a flat end and a sharp end,
A rock chisel – not a wood chisel,
A sample of minerals and/or rocks

-From The First Book of Stones by M. B. Cormack

Where to look for books in your library: J 552 primarily

Books:
Rocks and Soil: Real Size Science by Rebecca Rissman (IP, PB, gr. P-1, 24 p.)
How a Rock Came to be in a Fence on a Road Near a Town by Hy Ruchlis (28 p.)
Rocks in His Head by Carol Otis Hurst (IP, PB, gr. P-3, 32 p.)
Let’s Go Rock Collecting by Roma Gans (IP, LRFO 2)
If You Find a Rock by Peggy Christian (IP, PB, gr. P-4, 32 p.) *love it
A Rock Is Lively by Dianna Hutts Aston (IP, PB, gr. K-5, 40 p.)
The Big Rock by Bruce Hiscock (IP, PB, gr. 4-6, 32 p.)
Quartz by Zim (gr. upper elem, MS & HS)
A First Look at Rocks by Millicent Selsam (32 p.)
True Book of Rocks and Minerals by Illa Podendorf (48 p.)
The Story of Rocks by Dorothy Edwards Shuttlesworth (56 p.)
The Rock Book by Carroll Lane Fenton (432 p.)

Field Guide:
Rocks, Fossils & Arrowheads (Take Along Guides) by Laura Evert (IP, PB, gr. 4-7, 48 p.) *Nice introductory field guide for young children.
A Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals by Frederick H. Pough

Teacher background: HoNS*
Rocks and Minerals: p. 743-744
Rocks: p. 744-750

Object Lessons, choose from the following:
First Book of Stones by Maribelle Cormack (with activities)
Science Book of Rocks by George Ten Broeck (with activities)
HoNS Lesson 209, Igneous Rocks: Granite, p. 747
HoNS Lesson 210, Calcite, Limestone, and Marble, p. 749
Break Your Own Geode *Is a geode a rock or a mineral?
Rock and Mineral Playing Cards
1) look for rocks 2) identify them 3) diagram and describe them in your nature journal 4) collect them

SPECIFIC STATE BOOKS

Under Ohio: The Story of Ohio’s Rocks and Fossils by Charles Ferguson Barker (IP, PB, gr. 4+, 56 p.)
Under Michigan: The Story of Michigan’s Rocks and Fossils by Charles Ferguson Barker (IP, PB, gr. 3+, 56 p.)
Under New England: The Story of New England’s Rocks and Fossils by Charles Ferguson Barker (IP, PB, gr. 2+, 72 p.)