Earth and Atmosphere: the rock cycle and the formation of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks
It can be hard to find exciting practical ideas on this topic yet planetary science is engaging and fascinating for most students. Many of the resources in this collection look rather dated on first aquaintance, but persevere; there's some good stuff here.
Visit the practical work page to access all resources and lists focussing on practical work in secondary science: www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/sciencepracticals
Rock Formation and Deformation
Don't be put off by the aged front cover of this booklet; it was written by experts and contains a good number of ideas for practical work on rocks. Although it was written with keystage four students in mind and for a now defunct version of the national curriculum the experiments are easily accessible by keystage three students.
Topic R2, on page 36 and 37 (note the two page spread) gives details of how students can explore the conditions under which sedimentary rocks formed. Teachers may prefer to demonstrate the first two activities to ensure that students notice the ripple marks left in the sand. The third activity, producing a graded bed, could be set up by students at the beginning of the lesson; coming back after the teacher demonstrations when it had settled.
Activity R5, on pages 16 and 17 suggests ideas for investigating igneous rock formation. Again the first activity works very well as a teacher led demonstration in a large beaker. To get a good layer of wax at the bottom melt it and then cover with sand when it has solidified again. Make sure your candle wax is red so that it looks like magma and keep the Bunsen burner still, this is one time you do want hot spots. You should get a lovely plume of "magma" that bursts through the sand and then solidifies when it hits the cold water - a lovley analogue of a vent pipe in a volcano.
It is unlikely that teachers will want to use the worksheets as they stand in the booklet but the experimental details given can easily be explained by teachers or turned into a new worksheet. Teachers will appreciate the detailed background information given and the suggestions provided for further development.
How the Earth Works
Lessons 3, 4 and 5 are recommended from this Geological Society resource booklet and each contains enough material to fill 60-80 minutes. Although it refers to an old version of the National Curriculum, this suite of lessons covers the processes vital for the rock cycle to function namely weathering, erosion and the compression of rocks.
Each lesson starts with guidance and information for teachers along with an equipment list. There then follows an instruction sheet with follow up questions for students to use. Teachers will be interested to note that each lesson concludes with two sheets of follow up work that students could complete for homework, including a useful data analysis exercise at the end of lesson 3.
Whilst using all of the material suggested here would probably take up rather a lot of curriculum time, the lesson on erosion, lesson 4, provides a good opportunity for students to plan and carry out their own investigations and thus justifies its inclusion.
Earth Science for Secondary Teachers: an INSET Handbook
This booklet for teachers was published when geology was first introduced into the science National Curriculum and it includes some of the same experiments and demos highlighted in other resources in this list.
Here we focus on activity 4 where students are bound to enjoy this lovely practical examining the effect of pressure on metamorphic rocks. Pupils first use shells (or similar) to make impressions in modelling clay and then apply pressure to the clay to distort the imprint. They will then love pouring plaster into the mould to create “fossils”. The next lesson, when the plaster has set, students can examine each other’s fossils and are challenged to decide the direction of the forces that acted on the clay.
Warn students to take care when mixing up the plaster, they can always add more water to make the mixture runnier, but they cannot take water out again if they get it too runny! You will need to wait until the next lesson before the plaster has set and the fossils can be examined. If you use different colours of clay, students will find it easier to recognise their own fossil the next lesson.
Notes for technicians can be found at the back of the booklet.
The chocolate rock cycle
What a great idea, who could resist using chocolate to model the three types of rocks and how to turn one type into another? This resource is clear and straightforward to use though teachers will want to ensure that students are clear about the instructions before letting them start work. Make sure students know not to eat the chocolate or alternatively carry out this activity in a kitchen so that it can be eaten at the end of the lesson.
Teachers might like to write their own accompanying worksheets or card sorts that challenge students to link the activities they have carried out with chocolate to the processes that act on rocks.
Angel cake layers
There’s a bit of work required to turn this into a good teaching resource since the link to the education page seems not to exist, but the idea of using food to model planet Earth is great fun and one that students will warm to.
Investigating geological processes
This resource for teachers from the BBC was designed to accompany the Bang Goes the Theory TV programme. Starting on page 73 of the booklet (page 74 of the pdf document) you will find the Investigating Geological Processes activity where students use two different chemicals to find out about how rate of cooling affects the size of the crystals formed.
This experiment is also one of the activities given in section R5 of the Rock Formation and Deformation resource listed above. This version has been produced much more recently and contains instruction sheets for students that can be used without much adaptation
It’s also worth browsing the whole booklet as it’s full of practical classroom activities.