1. Kathleen Spencer Science 335 April 24, 2009 My Pet Rock This article was all about a class, their pet rocks, and their explorations they did with their pet rocks in conjunction with their geology unit. The students were first in charge for finding themselves a pet rock. Once they all had their pet rocks, the students first task was to examine their rock and make different observations about it. The students were given any tools necessary for them to make their description of their rock as detail and in depth as they could possibly make it. The teachers didn’t give them any lead on what they wanted the students to find or observe, they let the students do anything they wanted with their rock and let them grow off of what they were wondering. The students put all of this into a log where they could keep any results they found or looked for. The students then had to think about what minerals were in their rock. The teachers weren’t as concerned about them finding the exact names of the minerals but to make sure the students knew there were different minerals in each rock and more than one. The students then wrote their findings in their logs. The students then worked on the hardness of their rocks. The teachers didn’t tell them about Mohs hardness scale at first, but asked them the questions of, “How hard do you think your rock is?” The teachers gave the students different materials (a penny, nail, etc.) to try to figure out their rocks hardness. Once the students started to figure which rock is the hardest and which are more soft, students began discussing and stating whose rocks were the hardest and discussed why that might be. The students never told the students to stop their thinking. If a student had an idea or wanted to see if the rock could do something (change color in water) they allowed their students to see what would happen. For their assessment the teachers had their students write a small essay about the observation of their rocks. They were given a rubric so they could see what the teachers were looking for. Once they did their own rock they looked at another classmates and did the same for theirs, thinking back to how they made observations for their own rock and wrote it out. The teachers weren’t too concerned about just how neat or correct in terms of grammar the students’ essays were. They just wanted the students to focus more on what they saw and what they learned. I would use this lesson in my classroom with grades three through six. I think it’s a great connection with a geology unit and I think the students would like to have a lesson where the teacher isn’t telling them what to do every step of the way, rather just letting them explore and make their own observations. I love the lessons where I can let the students just wonder and do things on their own. I feel that they feel more sense of accomplishment when they are the ones who are more in charge, not the teacher. I think this lesson definitely allowed the students to take the reins and figure things out stuff on their own.
