What is a mineral?

'Mineral or not? Discussion about what is a mineral and what is not'.

 

This is an activity centred around pictures or samples to enable pupils to distinguish between a mineral in the Earth science sense and other ways in which the term is commonly used.

Many related activities about Minerals can be found in the Earth Materials section of our website.

For the Green revolution, how is a critical mineral different from an essential mineral?

The new ELI is the last in the current series of Essential Minerals for the Green Revolution. It is "Essential mineral – critical mineral: what is the difference?"

This activity defines the purpose of a national critical minerals list for the future needs of the UK’s technology. It could form a summary of the Earthlearningidea series on metal ores which are essential for the “new” technologies as well as for the growth of existing industries.

The full series of 'Essential Minerals for the Green Revolution' can be found in the Minerals section of Earth Materials on our website.

Alligators spotted in London

'Back in time, “Alligators spotted in London” @ELI_Earth - July 1 

Retrieving and communicating information'.

 

 

Pupils obtain information and use it to interpret past environments. The activity could be used in science, geography or environmental studies lessons. Writing the story involves a cross-curricular link with the arts.

 Other related activities may be found in 'Visualising deep time' and in Cross-Curricular ELIs.

Imagining the enormity of geological time

The new ELI today is 'Counting to one million? - trying to imagine the enormity of geological time'.

 

This activity helps young children to understood the meaning of one million and from there hundreds and thousands of millions. Related activities can be found in our 'Visualising deep time' category.

Relating minerals and rocks to everyday objects

'What is it made of? Relate each mineral or rock to the everyday object containing it.'

This activity emphasises the presence of geological resources in many of the things used in our daily lives.

Other related activities can be found in 'Engineering and industrial geology'  in our Earth Materials category.
 

Gold - is it an essential mineral for the Green Revolution or not?

The new ELI today continues the 'Essential minerals' series with 'Essential Minerals for the Green Revolution – 7 Gold: an essential mineral – or is it?'

This activity raises awareness of the main world uses of gold and the frequent abuses of human rights in some of the main gold producing countries.

Other ELIs in the series can be found in our 'Minerals' section of the Earth Materials category.

Who ate the ammonite?

We continue our fossils theme with 'Who ate the ammonite? - a Jurassic food web - from fossil evidence'.

This activity could be included in any lesson which involves discussion about carnivore/herbivore, predator/prey relationships, building food chains/webs, producers/consumers and trophic levels.

Many more ELIs about fossils and dinosaurs can be found in the Evolution of Life category.