Monday, 28 February 2011

100th ELI! Simulating the formation and growth of crystal lattices

Our hundredth ELI activity is 'Crystallisation in a pudding dish'. This is a teacher-led demonstration of the formation of regular patterns with spherical objects, akin to the way in which crystal lattices may be produced in nature. The regular pattern formed by the sweets represents the arrangement of atoms in a crystal. The longer the time available for the spheres to form such a lattice, the bigger and better formed the crystal will be, as shown by the quartz crystals and regular arrangement of the sweets in the photo above. The volcanic glass shown has no crystalline structure at all; the sweets have had no time to form a regular lattice. One of the great advantages of this activity is that you can eat the chocolates at the end!
This is one of several activities about crystallisation - see the related activities listed on our home page.
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20 comments:

  1. Anonymous28 February 2011 at 23:23

    Congratulations on 100 activities!

    It is so wonderful to have this building resource for Earth science teachers around the globe.

    Well done all involved!

    Gary Lewis
    Director, Education & Outreach
    Geological Society of America
    Pst chair, IUGS Commission on Geoscience Education

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  2. Mary from New Mexico1 March 2011 at 00:00

    Congratulations on the 100th ELI! I am trying to incorporate more active learning in my university class for students who will probably never take any more geology. The ELI's are great for finding activities for the students to do themselves or for me to do as a demonstration. The follow-ups and questions can easily be changed up to questions the students discuss among themselves and then write out their answers. I don't always do the ELI exactly as written - but they have provided the basis for many good ideas. My deepest gratitude to the ELI team for their help in improving my classes.

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  3. Susan, ESEU1 March 2011 at 15:14

    100 ELIs - what a fantastic achievement. Have just had a quick look at the website again; it is attractive and easy to use. The ELI team must be very pleased.

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  4. Eileen, University of Victoria, Canada1 March 2011 at 15:19

    Congratulations to the ELI team - impressive!

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  5. Roberto, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia1 March 2011 at 15:29

    Thank you very much for letting us know of this important landmark.
    I have just added a post on my blog,
    http://prevedereilpassato.linxedizioni.it/2011/03/01/100%C2%B0-earth-learning-idea-auguri/
    I have also put a post on IESO2011 facebook page:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ieso2011/165345666825167I
    Thank you for this precious source of brilliant ideas!

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  6. Celso, State University of Campinas, Brazil1 March 2011 at 15:39

    This is an international effort towards a better understanding of this big planet upon which we live. One hundred experiments is a landmark to be celebrated!
    Um brinde! Saúde a todos!(Cheers! Good health!)

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  7. Penny, Wiltshire, UK1 March 2011 at 15:46

    Wow! Many congratulations on the 100th ELI activity. I have been so excited waiting for this and it did not disappoint. Well done to all of you.

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  8. Jurassic Mike1 March 2011 at 15:48

    Congratulations on your 100th ELI! Amazing feat for the ELI team! Kudos Chris, Peter, Elizabeth and others involved.

    My students in the College of Education have found your resources useful and doable, especially those who eventually graduated and became teachers themselves. Thanks for being instrumental in equipping them to be better teachers through ELI.

    Wish you zillion of ideas more!

    Prof Mike Cano
    Bicol University

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  9. Anonymous1 March 2011 at 17:40

    Chris, Peter and Elizabeth - Warmest congratulations on your wealth of excellent activities. We make it a point of promoting these with all of our teacher workshops in the U.S. and they are always very well received.

    Ann Benbow, Education and Outreach Director, American Geological Institute

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  10. Ian Clark2 March 2011 at 03:19

    Congratulations all

    ELIs are a valuable resource and I have used many of them in class and referred my students them.

    I hope the next 100 are as good as the last 100.

    Best wishes

    Ian Clark

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  11. Dirk, University of Hanover, Germany, said2 March 2011 at 08:16

    Congratulations on the ELI team!

    These ideas are really creative and inspiring for teaching earth science issues.

    Thank you very much for your efforts!

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  12. Mike, Earth2Class Workshops, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, USA2 March 2011 at 17:47

    Congratulations on your 100th Earthlearningidea activity! You've created an impressive "opus"!
    Keep up the good work!

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  13. Sadaf2 March 2011 at 19:38

    It's really nice to know about this event. I sincerely appreciate your effort for the Earthlearningideas.

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  14. Jothi, Associate Professor, Arul Anandar College, India3 March 2011 at 12:51

    Greetings of Peace.
    Congratulations to you on your century and the hard work you have put in to make others happy through practical demonstrations like ‘Crystallisation’ in a pudding dish; simulating the formation and growth of crystal lattices
    As an admirer and a translator I do join your joy in celebrating the wonderful achievement. My greetings and best wishes to translators from different countries.

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  15. Shankar, Mangalore University. India3 March 2011 at 12:52

    Wow!! 100 episodes of ELI........ That's a tremendous job done. I must congratulate you guys and all others associated with this activity for your dedication and perseverance. Go for the 200th!

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  16. Adrian, Wiltshire, UK4 March 2011 at 09:25

    Congratulations on your 100th ELI! I have just spent an hour or so looking at some of the activities and found them to be fascinating. I think that the fact that the activities can be performed without any sophisticated equipment makes the exercises so much more valuable in that they are accessible to all.

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  17. Gbenga, Nigeria4 March 2011 at 09:31

    Congrats on this landmark achievement; there is no doubt that you have made understanding of basic concepts of geosciences very accessible in simple clear terms.
    I celebrate with you and your colleagues on this laudable achievement.

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  18. Nikki, UK4 March 2011 at 09:32

    Huge congratulations to you all.

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  19. Nazwanul, Geological Survey, Bangladesh7 March 2011 at 20:28

    I think this effort shows the new path of learning.

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  20. Anonymous11 March 2011 at 08:51

    Many congratulations on getting 100 activities online. A rael achievement.

    Dee

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