Types of Rocks
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http://www.rocksforkids.com/
Name: Rocks
for Kids This site has lots of information on rocks and minerals. The information is presented very cleanly and in an ordered manner. It begins with information on how rocks and minerals are formed, and then proceeds to discuss how to identify rocks and minerals, and finally discusses how rocks and minerals are used. There’s even a colourful section showing different arts and crafts that can be made with rocks. The information on this site is good quality and easy for students to understand, but the site lacks pictures. Students may get bored easily with this site, but teachers will like it for its wealth of information. Teachers will also appreciate the Teacher’s Corner section, which contains many ideas for hands-on activities and lessons. There are also plenty of links to other sites dealing specifically with rocks and minerals. Despite its lack of pictures, this is a good site for quick and precise definitions for both teachers and all students. |
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http://library.thinkquest.org/3639/
Name: Rocks
and Minerals for Kids This site contains excellent beginner information on rocks and minerals.
What’s interesting is that this site was designed by a group
of young high school students for a project; therefore it’s
very easy for other young students to relate to its language. It has
very easy to understand definitions of rocks and minerals, igneous
rocks, sedimentary rocks, and metamorphic rocks. There is also a very
nice and informative section on birthstones. |
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http://www.canadianrockhound.ca/junior/index.html
Name: Canadian
Rockhound This site contains excellent information on rocks and minerals. The information is presented very cleanly and in an ordered manner. It begins with definitions of rocks and minerals and what they are used for, then it proceeds to discuss how to identify rocks and minerals, and then it discusses rock classification leading into igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks. The last section brings all the concepts together when it discusses the rock formation cycle. There are excellent suggestions for activities including constructing a mineral identifier and starting/organizing a rock & mineral collection. The text on this site is easy to understand and important concepts are bolded. It contains lots of nice pictures of different rocks and minerals. At the end of every section, there is a glossary to recap the important concepts. Everything on the site is nicely laid out and nobody will have trouble navigating it. This is an excellent site for both teachers and all students. |
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Name:
DiscoverySchool.com This site contains complete lesson plans for studying Earth Sciences at any level from K-12, including objectives and suggestions for evaluation in each lesson plan. Teachers can look forward to lesson plans on Earth’s surface, geological phenomena, oceans, weather, and tectonic plates, but this is by no means a complete list of lesson plans that can be found on this site. If that wasn’t good enough, many of the lesson plans even contain suggestions for adapting the lesson for different grade levels. This is hands-down one of the best resources for all teachers, and not just Science teachers. The site is colourful and well laid out. All sections of the site are accessible from the always-present menu. Some of the important concepts even have sound files attached to them so that you can listen to its pronunciation. This site is mainly geared towards teachers. |
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Name:
The
Geological Society of America This site contains complete lesson plans for studying Earth Sciences at any level from K-12, including any required worksheets. Lesson plans are organized by specific topics in Earth Sciences. The section on rocks and minerals is impressive on its own. Lessons for each topic are also further subdivided by grade level. Most lessons appear to be lab-based and very hands-on. Finally, there are literally tons of links to other educational resources within each topic. This is another amazing resource for teachers, but definitely geared towards Science teachers only. The site is colourful and well laid out. There are so many lesson plans and resources that are listed that the site even provides a handy function to sort by topic or age group. If that wasn’t enough, the site also provides suggestions for readings and class discussions of critical issues. This site is mainly geared towards teachers. |