Environmental impact of mining in Southeast Alaska
This lesson is designed for 8th grade science classroom. Duration of class: 60 min.
I would start my lesson by asking the students to take 3 minutes and think about what they know on mining and its effects. Then using www.kahoot.it!, I would test their background knowledge with 5 questions about: mining- definition, mining- extraction methods ( images).
The next part of the lesson would be for them to do a 15 minutes research and answer:
- When did gold mining started in Southeast Alaska?
- Where do we find the gold?
- What other minerals can we find in Southeast Alaska?
I would use an activity of matching names of minerals with the image of minerals. On IBook I thought to have a short description of the mineral when they get the right answer. (10 minutes)
For the environmental impact of mining I would use an activity called: Mining for Blueberries (20 minutes)
For this activity students will work in groups of 3 or 4.
Mining Challenge
Question: Can you successfully mine for blueberries while not destroying the earth?
Research:
Hypothesis: What are some techniques you are planning to use?
Materials Needed: blueberry muffin, paper towel, toothpick, knife, other mining materials?
Experiment: You will be given a muffin. The muffin represents a land area and the blueberries are valuable deposits. Your goal is to remove as many mineral deposits (blueberries) with the least amount of damage to the land.
Inspect the land area for surface deposits and made predictions about underground deposits.
- Record findings and predictions.
- Record the number of mineral deposits successfully removed.
- As a group, compare and average your data.
Record Data:
number of surface deposits | ||
predicted number of underground deposits | ||
number of mineral deposits successfully removed | ||
number of failed or abandoned attempts |
Analyze Data:
- Was your mining effort successful? How did you determine your level of success?
- How did the land areas change as a result of your mining?
Conclusion:
Can you successfully mine for blueberries while not destroying the earth? Explain.
I would appreciate any feedback. 🙂