MINERAL BREAK LESSON
“Don’t Break That”
TN Standard: SPI0707.7.1 GLE0707.Inq.2 GLE0707.7.1
This lab design allows students to practice common techniques and properties that are used to identify
minerals.
Lab Duration: 1 class period 50 minutes
Total number of students: 134 divided into 5 class periods approximately 27 in each class
Prep: One hour – Use page two Roane State Community College mineral box lab sheet.
Prepare instruction sheet, student worksheet
Materials: minerals - MUSCOVITE, FELDSPAR, HALITE, CALCITE, safety goggles, magnifying glass,
hammer or wood block. (optional: CONCHOIDAL, MICA)
Prior knowledge vocabulary understanding:
Identify physical properties of minerals. (nonliving (inorganic) – solid – crystalline structure –
formed in nature)
Fracture – a minerals tendency to break unevenly along curved or irregular surfaces.
Cleavage – a minerals tendency to break along smooth, flat surfaces.
Fracture and cleavage have a definite link to the internal arrangement of atoms.
Minerals break in different ways that is determined by the arrangement of the atoms or molecules. A
crystal is a solid, geometric form of mineral that has a repeated pattern of atoms or molecules. The
shape is determined by the arrangement of the atoms or molecules and by the kind of minerals that
make up the atoms and molecules. Based on how the crystal forms the minerals can be grouped into
crystal classes.
Prior knowledge questions:
Mineral are an important natural resource. There are many common uses for minerals, can you
name a few? (List: copper (electrical wire, coins) halite (nutrition, highway de-icer, water softener)
What are some tools ancient people fashioned due to their knowledge of conchoidal fracturewith
materials like obsidian, chert, and flint. (show an arrow head)
Hook/Opening:
Teacher will review the vocabulary with the students. Using a bright light source and rotating a
mineral, show the students how to check for cleavage. Students will look for flashes of light that will
reflect off cleavage surfaces.
If you could break or split the specimens to the smallest unit possible, each unit would be a single
molecule of the mineral.
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/geology/grocha/mineral/cleavage.html (Roane State Community
College Box)
Lesson:
1.
The student will select a mineral from each of the specimens provided. Make a sketch of
each mineral on your lab sheet. Differentiate between cleavage and fractured minerals.
Describe the cleavage in terms of direction, planes or weakness.
2. If you have extra minerals, break or split the minerals into smaller pieces.
a. What is the common characteristic of the new surfaces you exposed?
b. If you were to continue to break the fragments, how small could they be and still
keep their characteristic shape?
3. Compare the fractured specimen to the cleavage specimens.
a. How do you know the mineral has good cleavage? (you can see lines of breakage
that are orientated in the same direction)
Assessment:
Students will turn in the lab sheet with the minerals drawn and questions addressed using
appropriate vocabulary.
Closure:
Students will show their knowledge of how Identify physical properties of minerals. The
student will use proper vocabulary to explain the difference between fracture and cleavage. The
student will have an understanding of how fracture and cleavage broken minerals have a definite link to
the internal arrangement of atoms.
MINERAL BREAK LESSON “Don’t Break That”
Name________________________Period___
TN Standard: SPI0707.7.1 GLE0707.Inq.2 GLE0707.7.1
This lab is to help the students understand common techniques and properties that are used to identify
minerals.
Identify three ways that minerals can be used
Define fracture
Define cleavage
#1. Label and sketch each mineral, describe the cleavage in terms of direction.
#2. Break or split the mineral into a smaller piece.
What is the common characteristic of the new surfaces you exposed?
If you were to continue to break the fragments, how small could they be and still keep their
characteristic shape?
How do you know the mineral has good cleavage?