Earth Science Education – summer in-service for teachers 2007 – Register through Granite or Jordan School Districts. For university credit, register through Granite District.

 

 

TITLE:            Rocks and Minerals of Salt Lake County

OBJECTIVE: Teachers gain confidence and competence to use rocks and minerals to encourage observation and inquiry about Earth processes, specifically the rock cycle.

 

DESCRIPTION:

Content: properties of rocks; processes of weathering, erosion and deposition; the rock cycle. Distinguish observation from interpretation. Teach stories of rocks and minerals as literacy.  

Skills: recognize sediments, sedimentary bedrock, metamorphic bedrock, and igneous bedrock. Tell the story of a rock. Respond to “what is this rock” in ways that encourage observation and inquiry.

 

This class is taught outside in 5 sessions, each of which includes a local field experience. 

 

REQUIREMENTS / DESCRIPTION OF EVALUATION COMPONENT:

Attend all five classes (offered in the morning and afternoon and it is okay to mix). Class assumes about an hour of homework for every class contact hour. Homework leads to a classroom literacy project.

 

INSTRUCTOR: Genevieve Atwood, Ph.D., former State Geologist of Utah; and, presently, Chief Education Officer, Earth Science Education

 

TARGET AUDIENCE: K-12 especially 4th (basic properties of rocks; erosion and weathering), 3rd (characteristics of non-living things), K-4 (literacy).

 

DATES, TIMES AND LOCATIONS:

DATE:

TIME

PLACE

ADDRESS

Monday,

July 7

8:30 – 11:30 am OR

4:30 – 7:30 PM

Wite Cemetery

3475 West 9000 South

Tuesday,

July 8

8:30 – 11:30 am OR

4:30 – 7:30 PM

Temple Quarry park

Mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon

Wednesday,

July 9

8:30 am – noon  OR

4:30 – 8:00 PM

FIELD TRIP to Bingham Copper Mine leaves from Copper Hills High School

bus leaves from

5445 New Bingham Highway (7800 South)

Thursday,

July 10

8:30 – 11:30  OR

4:30 – 7:30 PM

Warm Springs Park northwest of the (old) Children’s Museum

840 North 300 West

 

Friday,

July 11

8:30 – 11:30 am OR

4:30 – 7:30 PM

Mt. Olympus Hills Park

3131 East 4500 South

 

NUMBER OF CLOCK HOURS OF CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION: 15.5 hours = 1 credit hour.

UNIVERSITY CREDIT AVAILABLE THROUGH SUU. Register through Granite District.

 

CLASS LIMIT: 30

SPECIAL SUPPORT from Kennecott Utah Copper:  Participants receive approximately $50 of text materials and classroom supplies. Teachers who complete the course receive a high-powered hand lens from Earth Science Education and the Wheeler Foundation.

 

Rocks and Minerals of Salt Lake County

OUTLINE OF ALL CLASSES / SYLLABUS

Session 1:

·         Distinguish bedrock from unconsolidated materials

·         Describe the homogeneous nature of minerals and the heterogeneous nature of rocks

·         Observe and classify sediments versus bedrock and the 3 major bedrock types

·         Use a cemetery as an outdoor classroom

 

Session 2:

  • Recognize bedrock and sediments in the field

Sediments of Little Cottonwood Canyon

Igneous bedrock of Little Cottonwood Canyon

Metamorphic bedrock of Little Cottonwood Canyon

  • Weathering, erosion, and transport processes
  • The rock cycle, a systems approach

           

Session 3 FIELD TRIP:

·         Visit Bingham Copper Mine. Quantify relationships. Think spatially.

Read and hear the modern and historic importance of mining and minerals

Discuss how and why mining affects the environment

Discuss the relevance of rocks and minerals to our daily lives

·         Discuss natural resources, specifically rocks and minerals, of Salt Lake County

·         Fossil locations in Salt Lake County… predict where fossils should not be found

·         Discuss the interdependence of science, technology and society

·         Discuss careers and hobbies in earth science

 

Session 4:

·         Practice how to tell the stories rocks tell us

·         Model ways to teach intended learning outcomes of scientific inquiry

 

Session 5:

·         Tie rocks and minerals to literacy

·         Discuss stories appropriate to grade

·         Share information about books that describe rocks, minerals, soil, and processes of erosion and deposition such as Robinson Crusoe and Everyone Needs a Rock

·         Model ways to teach intended learning outcomes using the rock cycle

 

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES INCLUDE:

            Collaborative learning (e.g. cemetery exercise); Writing to learn (homework literacy project); Progressive development of skills (from observation and description to process-oriented classifications); Role modeling inquiry (e.g. session of “why” questions); Assessment (e.g. participant evaluation of their own understanding); Learner centered, knowledge centered, and assessment centered exercises.

            Based on research including but not limited to: National Research Council, 2000. How People Learn, Chapter 6, The design of learning environments; National Research Council, 2000. Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards; Center for Earth and Space Science Education, 2002. Revolution in Earth and Space Science Education, blueprint for change; and Harris, M.T. 2002. Developing geoscience student-learning centered courses, vol 50, Journal of Geoscience Education, p 515-523.