Minerals StudyJam

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Subject Area

Science

Grade(s)

5, 6

Overview

Minerals are either elements or compounds with a crystalline structure that makeup rocks or are dissolved in water. They have many properties, including streak, color, luster, hardness, and structure.

The classroom resource provides a slide show that will describe minerals and their properties. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding. This resource can be used to provide background information before students perform their own observations and investigations.

Science (2015) Grade(s): 5

SC15.5.3

Examine matter through observations and measurements to identify materials (e.g., powders, metals, minerals, liquids) based on their properties (e.g., color, hardness, reflectivity, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, response to magnetic forces, solubility, density).

UP:SC15.5.3

Vocabulary

  • color
  • hardness
  • reflectivity
  • electrical conductivity
  • thermal conductivity
  • response to magnetic forces
  • solubility
  • density
  • measurement (quantitative and qualitative)
  • data
  • observable properties
  • standard units
  • conductors
  • nonconductors
  • magnetic
  • nonmagnetic

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Materials have different properties-color, hardness, reflectivity, electrical conductivity thermal conductivity, solubility, and density.
  • Measurements of a variety of properties can be used to identify materials.
  • Measurements should be made in standard units (e.g., grams & liters).

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Identify the phenomenon through observations about materials, including color, hardness, reflectivity, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, response to magnetic forces, and solubility.
  • Identify the evidence and collect data about the observed objects in standard units (e.g., grams, liters).
  • Collaboratively plan the investigation.
  • Identify materials based on their properties.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Standard units are used to measure and describe physical quantities of materials such as weight, time, temperature, and volume. These measurements will assist in the identification of the materials ( e.g. powders, metals, minerals, and liquids).

Scientific and Engineering Practices

Planning and Carrying out Investigations

Crosscutting Concepts

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity
Science (2015) Grade(s): 6

SC15.6.10

Use research-based evidence to propose a scientific explanation regarding how the distribution of Earth’s resources such as minerals, fossil fuels, and groundwater are the result of ongoing geoscience processes (e.g., past volcanic and hydrothermal activity, burial of organic sediments, active weathering of rock).

UP:SC15.6.10

Vocabulary

  • Natural resources
  • Minerals
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Groundwater
  • Geoscience processes
  • Distribution
  • Extraction
  • Depletion
  • Water cycle
  • Rock cycle
  • Plate tectonics

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Humans depend on Earth's land, ocean, atmosphere, and biosphere for many different resources.
  • These resources are distributed unevenly around the planet as a result of past geoscience processes.
  • The water cycle, the rock cycle, and plate tectonics are examples of geoscience processes that distribute Earth's resources.
  • The environment or conditions that formed the resources are specific to certain areas and/or times on Earth, thus identifying why those resources are found only in those specific places/periods.
  • The extraction and use of resources by humans decreases the amounts of these resources available in some locations and changes the overall distribution of these resources on Earth
  • As resources as used, they are depleted from the sources until they can be replenished, mainly through geoscience processes.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Articulate a statement that relates a given phenomenon to a scientific idea, including that ongoing geoscience processes have caused the distribution of the Earth's resources.
  • Identify and use multiple valid and reliable sources of evidence to construct a scientific explanation of the phenomenon.
  • Use reasoning to connect the evidence and support an explanation of the distribution of Earth's resources.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • The Earth's resources are formed as a result of past and ongoing geoscience processes.
  • These resources are distributed unevenly around the planet as a result of past and ongoing geoscience processes.
  • The extraction and use of resources by humans decreases the amounts of these resources available in some locations and changes the overall distribution of these resources on Earth.
  • Because many resources continue to be formed in the same ways that they were in the past, and because the amount of time required to form most of these resources (e.g., minerals, fossil fuels) is much longer than timescales of human lifetimes, these resources are limited to current and near-future generations. Some resources (e.g., groundwater) can be replenished on human timescales and are limited based on distribution.

Scientific and Engineering Practices

Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions

Crosscutting Concepts

Cause and Effect

CR Resource Type

Interactive/Game

Resource Provider

http://studyjams.scholastic.com/

License Type

Custom
https://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/rocks-minerals-landform…

Custom License Type (URL)

http://www.scholastic.com/terms.htm

Comments or Notes

The test may be completed as a whole group or independently on student devices. 

Approved Date

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