Sixth-grade students have been learning about minerals in Mrs. Natalie Hudak’s science class...
Minerals Rock
Sixth-grade students have been learning about minerals in Mrs. Natalie Hudak’s science class. They recently enjoyed getting their hands on some mineral samples to get a close-up look.
They learned that minerals are pure substances with properties that can be used to identify them. Some of the properties are hardness, which they tested by scratching the sample against pennies, glass plates, fingernails and steel nails, and about the way they break, which is called cleavage or fracture. They learned how shiny minerals are and the color streak they leave behind if rubbed on a white tile.
Finding the properties is like discovering clues to a mineral’s true identity. The students enjoyed putting their critical thinking skills to the test to uncover the mystery of each sample.
