Earth Science Grade 7 simulation for surface mining

Digging out chocolate chips with a toothpick

Yes, what a fun engaging way to have 100% participation! Students quickly picked up on the analogies and the application and analysis of this simulation proved to be easy and effective! Recall for the chapter test a week later proved again with effectiveness because no one missed the questions related to this!

Chocolate chips = rocks

Cookie part = soil/Earth's crust

toothpick = mining tool

Students are encouraged to not pick out chips with their fingernails. They are to use their provided tool for their digging. They were asked to draw a circle on their paper towel around each cookie so that at the end they were to reclaim the soil. They were given 2 different manufacturers' product in order to simulate the idea of variances in soil types.

Terms bandied about were surface mining, strip mining, reclamation, equipment, environment, etc. 

Photos are with the 7th grade. To be honest, I used this earlier in the quarter with 6th grade when their environmental science module text (by Holt) discussed fossil fuels of coal's negative impact on the environment. The term reclamation was a key word for their application process, too. 8th grade later on, had a similar section in their Forces-Motion-Energy module text (again by Holt) about fossil fuels, pollution, and impacts on environment.

Here are some photos of several students' hands-on work:

 

This activity is modified from an original I read about 30 years ago from the U. S. Mining office in Colorado (long before internet usage they had an advertisement in a teacher magazine encouraging teachers to write for a resource packet to be sent to them.) The full 'game' they prepared involved economics, business, finance aspects with Monopoly-like money for students to use to buy their 'land' and their 'equipment'. Metal paperclips were $10 each and round or flat toothpicks were $5 each. I forget what the cookie prices were but they encouraged teachers to have 3 different types available: soft, chewy, and a hard. If you have block scheduling this method would be better for the longer time needed. If you have 40-45 minute class periods, the money and purchases would need to be distributed for a day 1 activity period and the actual digging and any subsequent purchasing to occur on day 2. Another aspect for this economic version is for the teacher to act as a coal buyer and to determine pricing for buying back their tiny chips or whole 'nuggets'. This gives them the opportunity to add income. Having a spread sheet or some type of financial worksheet for debits and credits would be helpful for students to easily track their money. 

Teaching and learning in the USA heartland,

Becca S (Mrs. S.) :)

Science Grades 6 to 8 from USA Heartland blog