Rock Cycle Game Vanderbilt Student Volunteers for Science Summer 2005 Training Presentation

Important!!! Please use this resource to reinforce your understanding of the lesson! Make sure you have read and understand the entire lesson prior to picking up the kit! We recommend that you work through the kit with your team prior to going into the classroom. This presentation does not contain the entire lesson—only selected experiments that may be difficult to visualize and/or understand.

I. Introduction (p.2) This activity illustrates the general scheme of the rock cycle. Students move between geologic states depending on the action directed by a word cube at a geologic station. –Each cube has different possible processes that the particular state can undergo. Students should record movements as they progress through the game. No time limit and no winner. The teacher should end the game after each student has gone through several states in the cycle.

II. Procedure (p.2) Place stations around a large table (or around the room) with an example of each state and the specific word cube at the appropriate station. Students choose a starting point in the cycle and take turns rolling the word cube to receive directions. Students mark their observation sheets with a colored pencil. –Color appropriate arrow if states are changed. –Underline the appropriate state if they remain in that state.

III. The rock cycle game as a model (p.2) This game works to predict outcomes based on a set of assumptions. This model proposes the following: –The rock cycle does not progress in an orderly way; there is a large element of chance in change of state –The rock cycle is not totally random. Rocks in a specific state can change to some other states but not to all other states.

III. The rock cycle game as a model (cont.) It is possible to determine the probability that a rock in a specific state will change to another state. The probabilities are listed in the table to the right.

IV. Testing the model/Discussion (p.4) The model describes fairly well what is seen in the mountains of East Tennessee. The model does not describe middle Tennessee rocks well at all. –The full rock cycle generally occurs only on plate boundaries. –Areas in the craton (the center of stable plates) have a very shortened rock cycle.