Geology Science Circus, Student Card
Activity #1
Title: The Big C
Directions:
1. Organize the rocks into two different categories that you come up with as a
group.
2. Take each category and divide the rocks in that category into different groups
based on another characteristic. Draw and complete a dichotomous key in your
science spiral.
3. Now sort the rocks in as many different ways as you can.
Discuss these questions as a group:
1. Why do you think it's important to sort rocks?
2. What do you think the best way to sort rocks is and why?
WRITE ABOUT IT: Why do you think rocks come in different shapes and
sizes?
Geology Science Circus, Student Card
Activity #5
Title: The Rock Cycle
Directions:
1. Pick a partner and go to the website
http://www.learner.org/interactives/rockcycle/index.html.
2. Look through “Introduction”, “Types of Rocks”, “How Rocks Change”, and
“The Rock Cycle Diagram”.
3. If you are feeling brave, “Test Your Skills” and see how you do!
WRITE ABOUT IT: What graphic feature or animation was most helpful to
you?
Geology Science Circus, Student Card
Activity #2
Title: Boulders to Bits
Directions:
1. Blow onto the pile of dry sand with a straw to create "wind".
2. Wet the sand (not too wet! the sand should just be damp) and build a mountain on
one side of the pan. Put a textbook under the mountain side of the pan to tilt it.
3. Stick the popsicle sticks in a variety of places on the sand "mountain" so that only
the top color (red) of each popsicle stick is showing.
4. Pour water GENTLY over the sand so that the water falls straight down onto the
mountain.
5. Rebuild the mountain and make the water fall quickly and then more slowly and
in different positions around the mountain (for example, you could pour the water
farther away from the mountain or closer to the mountain, or on different sides of
it).
6. Rebuild the mountain again and lay the rocks along the sand. Pour the water onto
the mountain again.
Discuss these questions as a group:
1. What happened when you blew on the sand?
2. How did the way you poured the water affect how the shape of the mountain
changed?
3. How were the results different when you poured the water on the mountain with
rocks and without rocks? Why do you think that happened?
WRITE ABOUT IT: Based on your observations, what effect does water
have on rocks and soil?
Geology Science Circus, Student Card
Activity #3
Title: Simply Sediments
Directions:
1. At your station there is a bag of soil, a bag of sand, and a bag of rocks of different
sizes. Carefully empty each bag into the bottle, one at a time. It does not matter
what order you put them in.
2. Fill the bottle up to the line with water.
3. GENTLY shake the jar, then put it down and observe.
Discuss these questions as a group:
1. What do you notice about the inside of the jar?
WRITE ABOUT IT: What are the differences between the materials on the
inside of the bottle and why do you think they settled in the order they did?
Geology Science Circus, Student Card
Activity #4
Title: Destructive Forces
Directions:
1. Drop the tablet into the cup labeled "water-1" and observe.
2. Pour the crushed pieces of the tablet into the second cup labeled "water-2" and
observe.
3. Drop a piece of chalk into the cup labeled "vinegar" and observe.
4. Drop a piece of chalk into the third cup labeled "water-3" and observe.
Discuss these questions as a group:
1. What happened differently when you added the crushed tablet to the water instead
of the whole tablet?
2. What happened differently when you added the chalk to the vinegar instead of the
water?
How does what you observed relate to rocks?
WRITE ABOUT IT: How does what you observed relate to rocks?