Student Learning in a Text-Enhanced Inquiry Unit on Rocks (also known as Integrating Reading….) NSF HRD

Earth Materials  Four investigations –Rock properties, rocks are made of minerals –Mineral properties, scratch test (hardness) –Rock properties, acid test –Granite composition, properties of minerals that are found in granite

FOSS Earth Materials  Main objective of the unit: rock and mineral properties  Variety of tests used such as scratch test, vinegar test  How can text enhance student learning?

Your rock descriptions

Children’s Descriptions 18 of 23 children used color descriptors CompositionDots/spots6 Sparkles6 Fossils3 Little flat pieces of gold 1

Children’s descriptions Patterns Lines/Stripes6 Luster4 Hardness4 Texture17 Holes/bubbles2 Breaks1OtherSound2 Size1 Shape8 Smell8 Weight/Mass5

How do geologists identify rocks and minerals?  They attend to relevant properties  They ignore idiosyncratic features of a given sample  They know the exceptions to the rules  Not every feature is a clue to the type of rock or mineral  Identification of rocks is different from minerals, as different properties are relevant

What’s relevant and what isn’t?  Rocks - relevant –Mineral composition (which is sometimes indicated by color) –Grain size –Patterns  Rocks – irrelevant –Shape –Size –Feel –Dirt marks, pits, scratches, weathering

What’s relevant and what isn’t?  Minerals - relevant –Luster –Color (sometimes) –Structural features  Crystal form  Breakage patterns –Hardness  Minerals – irrelevant –Size –Dirt marks, pits, scratches –Smell

How do we help children learn to observe & identify like geologists?  Observing in science draws on conventions of the discipline –Need to know what to look for –Need to have the words to describe what you see  What tools assist learners with this task? –Common sample description activity –Texts as models of scientific observation –Texts as tools to assist in identification

How samples are the same

How samples are different

Models of scientific and artistic description  Scientist and artist described same rock (rock that children also studied)  Children use their written descriptions to learn about –What counts as a scientific description –What counts as an artistic description –Where they do and don’t overlap

Scientist: Dr. John Madsen, Geologist. This is a light-colored rock with interlocking crystals (minerals). The minerals can be seen using your eyes without the need of a hand lens. Geologists would call this coarse- grained. The individual minerals that can be seen include -a pinkish/orangish or whitish mineral called feldspar, -a shiny clear to gray-colored mineral called quartz, -a clear to brownish mineral that appears as small flat sheets called mica, -a small, dark-appearing nearly circular mineral called amphibole. Based on the overall color of the rock, the interlocking crystals, the coarse-grained appearance and the minerals present in this rock, I would name this rock granite.

Artist: Dr. Leni Salkind, Ceramicist. This rock is triangular in shape with rough edges and an uneven peak at the top. There is a penny to the right side of the rock. The shiny surface of the rock is covered with blotches of muted, natural gray, beige, and pink colors evenly spread across the slightly rough surface of the rock. Even though the rock is a three dimensional object it appears to be very flat with a slight vertical ridge up the center of the triangle. The rock reminds me of a mountain one might see in Chinese landscape paintings.

Text additions  Everybody Needs a Rock read aloud  Introduce unit, engage children  Artist and Scientist descriptions  Introduce scientifically appropriate description  Field Guide  Tool to assist in identification  Let’s Go Rock Collecting  Introduce Moh’s Scale  Pebble in My Pocket  Extend ideas about rocks to formation, history

Using a field guide in rock and mineral identification  Authentic geologist tool  Extends sample pool  Helps children focus on identification properties  Task: after practice with a known set, use a field guide to identify unknowns

Wonderings…  Are our expectations reasonable for third graders?  What should we make of identifications that are close but not right?  What is your assessment of the field guide and how it was used by kids and teachers?  What features must written texts have to be useful? Which are negotiable?