Let's search for gold!

'Gold prospectors; panning for ‘gold’ in river sediment'.

 

This ELI investigates how prospectors use the property of density to search for gold in river sediments.The technique is still actively used across the world where minerals are exploited, on a wide range of scales.

The activity is aimed at ages 5 and upwards but if you are searching for science ideas for younger children, you could explore 'ELI Early years'.
 

More mineral identification

The new ELI today is the second in our Picturing minerals activity, 'Picturing Minerals -2; visualise and draw minerals from a verbal description'.

This could form a useful revision activity, once pupils have studied minerals. Pupils are required to describe what they see accurately so their partner can draw and, hopefully, identify the mineral. It is not always very easy!

Click here for many more ELIs about Minerals.

Modelling plate margins with a Mars (TM) Bar – apart, together and side by side

Have you tried 'Mars (TM) margins – diverged, converged and transformed; modelling plate margins with a Mars (TM) Bar – apart, together and side by side'?

This is a popular activity with pupils for obvious reasons! It demonstrates the three types of plate margins, their stress fields and characteristics.

Lots more ELIs related to plate tectonics can be found here.
 

Know your minerals

The new ELI today is another in our popular 'picturing' series: 'Picturing Minerals-1; visualise and draw minerals from a verbal description'.

 

This activity enhances pupils’ skills of description and interpretation using photographs of minerals. It could form a useful revision activity - and it is fun!

More ELIs about Minerals can be found in the Earth Materials category.