This activity can be used as the introduction for a unit on mineral or crystal structure. It requires the students to create shapes cooperatively and put them together. This is analogous to individual crystals forming or to minerals forming. They will understand that minerals are made up of structures in certain patterns, and that these structures determine some of the properties of the minerals. Full description.

This Classroom Connectors lesson plan discusses rock formation. This includes igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks and the process of the rock cycle. The site provides goals, objectives, an outline, time required, materials, activities, and closure ideas for the lesson. The Classroom Connectors address content with an activity approach while incorporating themes necessary to raise the activity ... Full description.

In this activity, students create their own toothpaste out of minerals, such as calcium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. Each group then develops an ad campaign for their product. Full description.

This collection of lessons and activities emphasizes the significance of our natural resources. Included are both student and teacher pages, background sheets, and video and reading lists. The activities are suitable for individual, group or full class presentations. Full description.

This reference database contains information for over 4,000 individual mineral species. Introductory material includes an overview of 'what is a mineral', definitions of what constitutes a mineral taken from several different sources and arranged by year, and a 'what's new' page listing additions to the site. Mineral data for individual species are arranged in tables by crystallography, crystal structure, ... Full description.

This database contains worldwide information on minerals, mineral localities and other mineralogical information. In part supported by advertising, it stores data on 25,000 different minerals, varieties and synonyms listed with over 4,000 valid mineral and mineraloid names. The database is searchable by name, properties, chemistry and locality. Many photographs and some maps are provided. Information ... Full description.

Plants and animals are usually organized by their family tree (origin) and by their physical and genetic characteristics. This activity helps to demonstrate to students that geologists do the same with rocks, which are usually organized by their origin and by their physical and chemical characteristics. To have a better understanding of nature and as one of the initial steps of scientific understanding, ... Full description.

These resources on rock deformation are designed to help educators meet the new national science standards. The Rock Deformation Gallery displays illustrations from the Hall of Planet Earth, which has two informative overviews: Deformed Rocks; and Deforming Rocks in the Laboratory: Deformed Marble Cylinders. Also available is Deformed Conglomerate in the Hall of Planet Earth, which has three annotated ... Full description.

This comic strip is part of OLogy, where students can collect virtual trading cards and create projects with them. In this interactive comic strip, they learn about the geologic origins of four common objects: the sand in a drinking glass; the zinc, copper, nickel, and other metals in coins; the bauxite in a sheet of aluminum foil; and the oil in a plastic ball. Full description.

This atlas provides over 400 full colour photomicrographs of the major ore-forming mineral associations and opaque minerals in non-mineralized rocks. It describes typical examples of each mineral from many classical localities throughout the world. For each association there is a listing of the major (and important minor) primary ore minerals, alteration products and gangue, typical textures, a brief ... Full description.