|
| |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
Science topics ages 7 - 8
Rocks and soils
Curriculum relevance |
Online lesson plan
Offline lesson plan
| Worksheet |
Activity |
Quiz
Online lesson plan
Objectives
Compare the properties of rocks and relate these properties to their use
Describe and group rocks on the basis of their characteristics
|
|
|
| |
National Curriculum
England: Key Stage 2, Science, Sc3 1a, 1d
Wales: Key Stage 2, Materials and their properties, 1.1, 1.4
Northern Ireland: Key Stage 2, Materials, Properties, a, c
Scotland: 5-14 Guidelines, Science, Materials from Earth, Level B, Level D
|
|
|
| |
Resources required
Online activity from Science Clips website: Rocks and soils
Copies of the Rocks and soils worksheet printed from the Science Clips
website
|
|
|
| |
Teaching activities
Introduction
Take a short walk around the school grounds, pointing out and asking the
children to identify objects made of rocky materials, e.g. brick wall, concrete
path. What materials are these structures made of? What properties do they
have? What do all these materials have in common? Point out hardness, strength,
and inflexibility. Back in class, make a list of all the rocky materials the
class has spotted and ask the children if they can think of any more to add to
the list.
Activities
On an interactive whiteboard, bring up the online activity. Explain to
children that they are going to carry out a virtual experiment to investigate
the properties of rocks. Show children how to click and drag a rock into the
tester, and how to perform the four different tests on it: Does it wear well?
Does it split? Is it permeable? Does it float? Before clicking on each of the
tests, ask children to predict how the rock will fare. Were they right?
Divide children into groups with a computer for each group. Ask the groups to
perform all four tests on each of the rocks. Walk around the groups, asking
questions and encouraging the children to click on the magnifying glasses to
find out more information about each rock.
Plenary
Make a table on the whiteboard with rocks down one side and properties
(including visual properties such as shape and colour) across the top. Ask
different children to fill in the table with their observations from the
activity, and to suggest uses for each rock. Discuss the properties of each
rock in order to decide as a class if each suggestion is feasible.
|
|
|
| |
Extension
Devise a poster to show the dangers of selecting the wrong rocky material for
a particular purpose, e.g. a statue made of chalk!
|
|
|
| |
Suggested homework
Hand out copies of the Rocks and soils worksheet. Ask children to use it to
record rocky materials they see in their local environment or at home. Point
out the distinction between the object and what it is made of. Children could
use this research to compose scientific sentences, such as “The roof is
made of slate because slate is impermeable and will keep the contents
dry”.
|
|
 |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
