Download “5-Minute Prep” For Earth`s Features Earth Materials > Minerals

DE Science Elementary
“5-Minute Prep” For
Earth’s Features
Earth Materials > Minerals
Minerals – The Big Ideas
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A mineral is a solid inorganic substance found in
nature.
Minerals include metals and non metals.
Minerals have the physical properties of luster,
hardness, streak, and color.
Scientists use physical properties to identify a
mineral.
All minerals are made of special crystal patterns.
Minerals of the same kind break in the same way.
Minerals – Prior Knowledge
Students will probably not have much
background knowledge about minerals, with the
exception of salt, gold, silver, and perhaps the
diamond. It will help students to use the Fundamental to review rocks and minerals. It will
also help if they have:
• Seen different types of rocks or minerals.
• Seen or touched jewelry with certain stones,
rocks, and minerals.
• Learned about the different types of rocks.
Minerals – Common Misconceptions
• Minerals are the same as rocks but they are
“precious”.
– Reality: Minerals are solid pure substances that are
found in the Earth that combine to form rocks.
• All minerals are shiny and crystal-like.
– Reality: Minerals have different amounts of shine,
called luster.
• All minerals are hard.
– Reality: Some minerals are hard and some are soft
(such as talc), and can be scratched by all other
minerals.
Minerals – Using DE Science Content
When you close this presentation, you can review the
following recommended resources for Minerals.
• Video: What Are Minerals?
• Video: Identifying Minerals: Color, Hardness, Luster,
Density (and more!)
• E Book: Minerals at Home
• Reading Passage: The Mineral Museum
Use the PowerPoint version of this presentation for
hyperlinks to these resources or you can get to them
through the browser or search feature.
Minerals – Instructional Ideas
• Use the Videos with the whole class to give
students the opportunity to see different types of
minerals, and to see how scientists use physical
properties to classify minerals. After students
watch the first video, have them discuss how
the minerals they saw in the video were
different from one another.
• Use the reading passages to teach the
concepts of minerals in small reading groups.
Minerals – Instructional Ideas
• Allow students to test and sort certain minerals
based on their hardness, luster, color, and
density.
• Make the experience of minerals more real for
the students by showing examples of minerals
that are common to the area in which they live,
those that can be found in their home and at
school. In addition, students can use a map to
identify minerals common to certain parts of their
state or country.
State standards:
If you wish to review your state standards
regarding Minerals, click here to get to the
curriculum standards search feature of DES.
http://discoveryeducation.com/forward/curriculum.cfm
You can click on any standard to see what
resources are available to teach it.
Additional Information:
For additional content, check the Extend section
within the concept.