Project Description
Rocks & Geology
It is written in the rocks. Read the changing story of Earth and the impact of humans through the pages of rocks. Cast your own fossil, explore and classify rocks and minerals, investigate the characteristics of soil, model the layers of earth, create some explosive lava flows. Everything to enthuse young geologists!
Level: Available for Level 3 to Level 6.
Duration: Available in a 90 minute format only.
Numbers: Each workshop can cater to a maximum of 30 children. However, smaller groups have better access to equipment and the facilitator.
State: VIC
Learning Outcomes
Geology is the study of the Earth, how it was made, what it is made of, and how it has changed over time.
The Earth is about 4.6 billion years old, and a lot has happened in that time. What are the key events in the Earth’s history?
Geologists represent the main stages in geological history with a Geological timeline.
Internal structure of the earth, including crust, mantle, outer core and inner core.
Plate tectonics, and the movement of the crust and mantle.
Characteristics of the three main rock groups of rocks, and how they’re formed – Sedimentary, Metamorphic, and Igneous. The rock cycle.
Properties of specific rock and mineral specimens.
How fossils are formed, where they are found, and what they tell us.
Activities
Students collaborate to order the key events in the Earth’s history.
Demonstration of how the three main rock types are formed: Sedimentary, Metamorphic, and Igneous.
Students classify rock samples into the three rock categories.
Demonstration of the differences between rocks and minerals and the minerals that make up granite.
In pairs, students explore some fun properties of rocks and minerals, including magnetic, glowing, salty, floating and reactive.
Each student casts their own fossil to keep.
Victorian Curriculum Links
Earth’s surface changes over time as a result of natural processes and human activity (VCSSU062)
Participate in guided investigations, including making observations using the senses, to explore and answer questions (VCSIS051)
Communicate ideas and processes using evidence to develop explanations of events and phenomena and to identify simple cause-and-effect relationships (VCSIS088)
NSW Curriculum Links
Investigates regular changes caused by interactions between the Earth and the Sun, and changes to the Earth’s surface (ST2-10ES-S)
Questions, plans and conducts scientific investigations, collects and summarises data and communicates using scientific representations (ST2-1WS-S)
Australian Curriculum Links
Earth’s surface changes over time as a result of natural processes and human activity (ACSSU075)
Participate in guided investigations, including making observations using the senses, to explore and answer questions (ACSIS025)
Communicate ideas, explanations and processes using scientific representations in a variety of ways (ACSIS093)
