Earth forces: Rock Cycle

The rock cycle shapes the Earth. The rock cycle may be a concept that is difficult for third to sixth grade students to understand, because it is not an observable process. Students must construct a mental model of how the rock cycle works.

Activity # 4

How can we help students construct a mental model that includes the differences between a rock and a mineral and how the three types of rocks are formed by the rock cycle?

• How to identify minerals

Activity # 5

Middle Tennessee is a riddle of geologic development. What are the major events in unraveling the geologic history of this area? Find rock and mineral examples in Tennessee. Where might you find igneous metamorphic rocks? Keep records describing the types of rocks and minerals and where you found your examples. How do you think your rock samples arrived where you found them? What are the major types of rocks and minerals found in Tennessee? At what stage in the rock cycle are the majority of Tennessee's rocks?

• The rock cycle: Wheeling Jesuit University/NASA Classroom of the Future
• For pictures of a beautiful collection of minerals and fossils see Kato's collections