Virginia Department of Education
Metals, Nonmetals, and Metalloids
How can one easily classify metals, nonmetals, and metalloids? Pupils answer this question as they experiment with unknown substances and perform tests on conductivity, brittleness, and malleability to determine which unknown belongs in...
Curated OER
Minerals
A must-have for your geology library of resources, this PowerPoint walks viewers through the characteristics of minerals and each test used to help identify them. As you present this collection of slides, stop to demonstrate each quality...
PBS
Sink or Swim?
What's with all the numbers on plastic products? Learners complete an in-depth analysis of the physical properties of the different plastic types. They connect the properties of the plastics to uses and test their observation skills by...
Science Friday
Mineral Madness
Science does not need to be as hard as a rock. Pupils test 10 different minerals to determine their properties. The learners observe luster, streak, hardness, and fluorescence for each specimen. Afterwards, they compare and contrast the...
CK-12 Foundation
Mineral Identification: Mineral Scratch Test
How can mineralogists tell a diamond in the rough from a chunk of table salt? Science scholars find out through an interactive that demonstrates the characteristics of minerals used for identification purposes. Topics include hardness,...
Curated OER
Rocks and Minerals
Learners investigate the properties and uses of rocks and minerals. They build towers using only one material from a pile of stones, tiles, wood, etc. provided by the teacher. Students test the hardness of rocks by scratching them with...
Curated OER
Rocks and Minerals
Take young geologists on an exploration of the collection of rocks and minerals that we call Earth with an upper-elementary science instructional activity. Through a series of class discussion and hands-on investigations, students learn...
Curated OER
Minerals Prime
For this minerals worksheet, students answer fifteen multiple choice questions about mineral formation, volcano and mountain formation, mineral tests and properties of minerals.
Curated OER
Rock and Mineral IQ
Students observe rock and mineral compositions. In this identification lesson, students read The Story of Rocks. Students identify rock and mineral samples by testing for hardness, color, luster, weight and appearance.
Curated OER
Mineral Identification
In this mineral identification lesson plan, students analyze 14 minerals and test their physical properties. They test the color, luster, streak, hardness and breakage of each mineral. Students answer 5 questions about the physical...
Curated OER
Mineral Identification
In this mineral identification worksheet, students match 10 terms to their definitions. Terms include types of minerals, tests and characteristics of minerals. They write down the tests used to identify an unknown mineral and they fill...
Curated OER
Uses of Minerals
In this minerals worksheet, learners read an excerpt about gold and then respond to the questions that follow. They explain how the weight of gold affected the history of some western states and why gold is expensive.
Curated OER
Minerals and Rocks
Students identify and interpret various minerals and discover how to identify and classify them. They identify and discuss how people describe objects and how scientists describe objects. From there, students look at a set of common...