Teaching about the rock cycle can prove difficult with a group of students who enjoy moving around. To spice up your teaching, try using a fun activity to teach about or review the rock cycle. These activities can get your students moving and thinking in a hands-on way, which will help them to learn more interactively.
The Stations Game
It is important for students to understand that the rock cycle is not literally a "cycle," in that it does not follow a set path. Put three desks (stations) around the room to represent the three stages of the rock cycle, and divide students into three groups. Have each group take a station and make a list of several things that could happen to the rocks at that station to make them move to a different station. Have them write each action on a card, and place the stack of cards on the desk. Then have one student take a turn being a rock and bouncing around from station to station. Each time the student reaches a station, he should pick one of the cards, read it aloud and go to the station indicated
Baking Fun
Have students brainstorm different ways that they can use recipes to mimic the same processes that create the different types of rocks in the rock cycle. For example, Rice Krispy treats are made with a similar process to sedimentary rocks, chocolate chip cookies are similar to metamorphic rocks (the chips change shape but don't completely melt or combine with other material in the cookie) and most other baked goods (including the dough part of the chocolate chip cookie) bake through a process similar to igneous rocks. If time allows, have students bake some of their "rock cycle treats."
Fun With Crayons
Show students sharpen some crayons with a crayon sharpener to produce shavings. Tell students that these shavings are sediments. Have them put a large pile of shavings on a piece of heavy duty foil and fold over so that no shavings can escape. Then put the foil between two wooden boards and use a hammer to bang on the top board while the students watch. Take out the "sedimentary rock" and show it to students so that they can describe and discuss it. Then rewrap the rock and add even greater pressure while pounding it between the two boards to create a "metamorphic rock." To create an "igneous rock," heat the foil for several minutes over a burner (or place it in an oven, if you have access to one). Have your students identify each type of rock and explain the process that created it.
Tags: rock cycle, chocolate chip, Have them, rock cycle, station make
