Learning+Experience+8+Describing+Minerals

Learning Experience 8: Describing Mystery Minerals
Learning targets:
 * I can describe a mineral using what I learn from mineral tests.
 * I can explain my scientific thinking in writing so that someone else can understand it.

Materials:


 * Mineral testing materials (for all the mineral tests)
 * Recording sheet for all mineral tests [|mineraltests.doc]
 * Template for describing your mineral, 3 versions [|mystery mineral template.doc]
 * mystery mineral writing example [|mystery mineral teacher example.doc]
 * Mineral data sheet (small copies of the class mineral chart)

> When your writing is done, you will get to guess other students' mystery minerals.
 * 1) Look at learning targets. How do students think they are doing at mineral tests?
 * 2) Scientists explain what they have learned in ways so that other people can understand it. Give examples from a science journal or article from the paper. Review the learning target about writing.
 * 3) "You are going to try to challenge your classmates with a mystery mineral! You will describe a mystery mineral in writing, using ALL the mineral tests you have learned how to do. You must write it very clearly so the other kids can read it, and try to guess what your mystery mineral is.
 * 1) Model how to choose a mineral you haven't tested yet, and do all the mineral tests on it. Demonstrate how to fill out the recording sheet. Ask students where they can look if they can't remember what the words on the worksheet mean.
 * 2) Once you have done the mineral tests, you are ready to write the clues for your partner. Why do you have to learn to write so that someone else can understand it? Here are some [|examples of science notebook pages] done by an older student. You will need to be able to write like this, for projects and for tests in school. When you go to high school and college, you will have to write like this, but even more grown-up things. When you grow up, in your job, you will also need to be able to write clearly so other people can understand. So we are practicing for all of those things!
 * 3) The thing about writing is that __**writing is talking**__! If it seems tricky to figure out how to say clearly in writing what you want to say about your mineral, try saying it out loud to a partner first!
 * 4) For example, (choose a student to model). If I ask you, "what is the observable color of your mystery mineral?" what would you say?
 * 5) Scribe what the student says (on the computer with the projector if possible.) "It's pink." Okay, there's our first idea. Now, let's think about a stranger who doesn't know what we're doing. If a stranger didn't hear me ask the question, how would you have to tell them the observable color of your mineral? Right, you would have to say something like, "The observable color of my mystery mineral is pink." Take some other suggestions, like: "My mystery mineral is pink."
 * 6) Alright, so you have your plan of what you need to write in front of you -- it's your mineral test sheet. After observable color, what comes next? Right, streak color comes next. Okay, so what would you say if you wanted to TELL someone the streak color of your mineral? "My mystery mineral's streak color is white." etc. As kids suggest changes, change them on the computer or chart paper and encourage them with excitement to make them clearer.
 * 7) "Ooh! When we're done, we're going to get a stranger in here, maybe Ms. Sadowski or someone who doesn't know what we're doing, and we're going to read this to them and see if it makes sense." Let's keep going.
 * 8) Remember, when you want to say something,
 * 9) THINK IT
 * 10) SAY IT
 * 11) WRITE IT
 * 12) Then you can always go back and add and change to make it even better.
 * 13) At the end, you can show them how you don't have to keep saying "my mystery mineral" over and over again. If you said it at the beginning, you can just say "it" instead.
 * 14) Then ask students to try it. There are three versions of the template: more structured to less structured. Use the more structured one to model it, and then introduce the other 2. Let students choose which version they would like. Encourage them to challenge themselves!
 * 15) Remind them to say each sentence to their partner first. Sit them with partners, and tell everyone to look at their "plan," and then tell their partner the first thing they are going to write. If they use the template with "hints," remind them that the hints are there for them. They must imagine that the person reading their clues can't see the hints at all!
 * 16) The template is made so that the paper can be folded in half with the clues on the front and the answer on the inside.
 * 17) Model how when you are done writing, you find a partner to read it. They use the class mineral chart (small version) to guess your mystery mineral). They write their answer on the back, then check inside the see if they are right. They also tell you if there are parts they couldn't understand or words you need to fix.
 * 18) Students work on the tests and the writing.
 * 19) Encourage students who finish to do another one, but to do a less structured version.

FOLLOW-UP LESSON


 * 1) Discussion: Why do you think geologists do mineral tests? When do you think they use these tests?
 * 2) Look at a few exemplars and talk about what they did well: their own voice shows (exclamation points, questions, word choice), they made it an exciting mystery by reminding you to guess or asking you a question, they explained how they did the hardness test and what happened and what it means.
 * 3) Demonstrate this, then have students do it with a partner: (THINK IT, SAY IT, WRITE IT)
 * 4) Partner, how did you test the hardness of your mineral?
 * 5) Partner, what happened when you tested the hardness of your mineral?
 * 6) Partner, what did you learn about how hard your mineral is?
 * 7) Extension: for students who are done and are reading to move on: they can have partners guess their mystery mineral using a class chart. [|Data about our minerals.doc]
 * 8) Here are more questions they can do with a partner: [|hardness test science notebook.doc]
 * 9) How did you test the luster?
 * 10) What is luster?
 * 11) What does (dull, glassy, or metallic) mean?
 * 12) How did you test the transparency?
 * 13) What is transparency?
 * 14) What does (transparent, translucent, or opaque) mean?