While some students are inherently interested in rocks and minerals (I always get a rock hound or two) most middle schoolers find the topic boring. To start the unit on rocks and minerals, I've designed a whole lesson on mineral relevance so students can see the enormous role they play in our lives.
In this lesson, students experience real minerals through centers, a reading jigsaw, an online interactive and more, and will begin to see that some of the products they use the most (like their ce