2013 NSTA Conference in Denver, Colorado
December 12-14, 2013
MINERALS ARE LIFE!
Minerals Education Coalition (MEC) Exhibit
MEC Subsection of the Colorado Section of SME
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PREFACE
Welcome to MEC’s world of rocks and minerals. We love our rocks and
minerals so much that sometimes we eat them. That’s right! We eat them.
That’s what our exhibit was all about. This flash drive is a compilation of the
things you learned at our exhibit. It reminds you about the rocks and
minerals we eat, the ones used to grow our foods, and the ones that are
essential to our body’s health.
The largest item you got from us was a box containing eight separate
minerals.
Potash
Fuller’s earth
Titanium minerals
Limestone
Gypsum
Salt
Iron
Trona
A diagram in the rock box tells what each mineral is called and its source.
More detailed background information is included on this flash drive about
the minerals in the box and their benefits as a food and for our health. That
information can be found on this flash drive in File #2, “Minerals in the Box”.
The box has a compartment to contain some tools for identifying minerals.
Magnifying glass (called a loupe) with 10x magnification
Two streak plates (one white and one black) to determine the real
color of a mineral.
Several objects of varying hardness (penny, nail, glass plate.)
Use these for comparison with your minerals to determine
their hardness.
The tools in the mineral box are helpful for identifying minerals. They help
to determine crystal shape, hardness, and streak color. The naked eye
determines the surface color and luster of the minerals, but surface color
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and streak color may not be the same. Mineral identification can be
complex. File #3, “Mineral Identification” shows many of the identifying
characteristics of minerals. How to use the tools in the box is also explained.
There were three demonstrations at the exhibit. All of them can be
performed in the classroom. These demonstrations are described in File # 4,
“Demonstrations at NSTA,” on this flash drive. One of them described the
use of the tools in the mineral box for identifying minerals. A second
demonstrated that iron particles actually exist in our cereals and they can be
removed with a magnet. The third demonstrated that carbon dioxide (CO2)
is produced from baking powder. When a tiny submarine is filled with
baking powder, it sinks; when the baking powder gets wet, CO2 bubbles are
formed and the submarine rises. A comparison with baking soda will help
explain the difference in the two similar baking products.
The Women In Mining members made toothpaste in a separate workshop.
Reference to this activity can be found in File #5, “Toothpaste Activity.” This
demonstration supports many teaching standards and can easily be
performed in the classroom. The benefit? The students learn about the
ingredients in toothpaste.
MEC would be remiss if we didn’t alert you to the fact that the minerals
business needs hundreds of different kinds of expertise from scientists to
equipment operators and from accountants to professors. Alert your
students about these opportunities. Our booklets explaining some career
options are included in File #6, “Careers in Mining”, on this flash drive.
The MEC Subsection of the Colorado Section of SME has a cadre of speakers
who are experienced classroom presenters. File #7, “Speakers Bureau,” on
this flash drive tells how you can request a speaker from us.
Giving you websites that we have reviewed for good content saves you time
and minimizes frustration. File #8, “Web Sites,” of this flash drive gives
websites that have been reviewed for their content about the
minerals/elements in foods, in agriculture, and in our bodies. We believe
you will find them useful.
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Acknowledgements
Many organizations and people contributed the knowledge you gained at the
MEC exhibit. The unsung presence behind nearly all of these contributors is
SME (Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, Inc.). It is the technical
society whose purpose is to be THE resource and advocate for the mining
community. MEC (Minerals Education Coalition) is the public outreach arm
of SME. The MEC organization responsible for the ‘Minerals Are Life!’ exhibit
at the Denver conference you attended is the MEC Subsection of the
Colorado Section of SME. Listed are the organizations and people that made
the exhibit possible.
MEC Subsection members
MEC Staff
Colorado School of Mines student chapter of SME
Colorado Section of SME
Women In Mining
Harrison Western
Intrepid Potash
Active Minerals International, LLC
Cliff Natural Resources
DuPont Titanium Technologies
U. S. Department of Energy
Underground Salt Museum
FMC Corporation
American Gypsum
Pioneer Sand Company, Inc.
Hazen Research, Inc.
Daltile
Tim O’Neil
Rocky Coal Mining Institute
Caterpillar
Wyoming Analytical Laboratories, Inc.
Florida Geological Survey
Gibbs Associates
The world of minerals is an exciting one. Pass on the excitement by teaching
your students about the minerals highlighted at this “Minerals Are Life!”
exhibit.
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