Secondary Science - Rocks
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Contents |
'Rocks Chapter 14:
Most prior knowledge of rocks come from studies from New Zealand. This fact affected their responses related to volcanoes. Student apply the word "rock" and "mineral" inter-changeably. Also confused which was a natural rock or not. For example a brick vs rock.
Minerals
Student confused minerals with vitamin, or mineral resources like god and such.
Sedimentary Rocks
Few student understood the processes.
Igneous Rocks
Most students did not have knowledge of igneous rocks.
Metamorphic.
Most students associated metamorphic rocks with metamorphsis
Size of Fragments
Most students were not aware of specific scientific meaning of different fragment sizes
• 'boulder': children usually saw a boulder as a larger, rounded piece
of material which has rolled down a hillside;
• 'gravel': this word was usually used only to describe the loose material at the sides of roads;
• 'sand': children associated sand with beaches or desert;
• 'clay': this was thought of as sticky, orange stuff found underground.
Mountains and Volcanoes
Mountains were described as "high rocks" Volcanoes: some students implied that volcanoes occurred at fault lines.
Weathering
Water expanding when frozen was a difficult concept for the students
Soil
Most students said dirt was soil. Most were unaware of organism in the soil. Some said soil had more "goodness" in it. Age of soil garnered different responses. Most thought that soil was a precursor of rock.
