by Brent Howell, Philo T. Farnsworth

This webquest is designed to help fourth grade students to identify the three types of rocks. They will be able to identify ways of classifying rocks.

Teacher Introduction

Teacher Information

This WebQuest was developed as part of a unit of study on the three types of rocks. Students will use an inquiry approach to investigate the three types of rocks in order to determine the category that their rock should be placed. They will use the knowledge gained to create a Microsoft Publisher brochure and presentation.

                         Learners

This webquest is designed for use in fourth grade classrooms in the areas of science and communication arts. However, it is easily adaptable for other grade levels. Because of the inquiry approach of this webquest, prior knowledge on rocks is not necessary.

                        Standards


Utah 4th Grade Science Standards addressed in this webquest are:

Science Benchmark
Earth materials include rocks, soils, water, and gases. Rock is composed of minerals. Earth materials change over time from one form to another. These changes require energy. Erosion is the movement of materials and weathering is the breakage of bedrock and larger rocks into smaller rocks and soil materials. Soil is continually being formed from weathered rock and plant remains. Soil contains many living organisms. Plants generally get water and minerals from soil.

Standard 3
Students will understand the basic properties of rocks, the processes involved in the formation of soils, and the needs of plants provided by soil.

Objective 1 Identify basic properties of minerals and rocks.

  1. Sort rocks by appearance according to the three basic types: sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic (e.g., sedimentary–rounded-appearing mineral and rock particles that are cemented together, often in layers; igneous–with or without observable crystals that are not in layers or with or without air holes or glasslike; metamorphic –crystals/minerals, often in layers).
  2. Classify common rocks found in Utah as sedimentary (i.e., sandstone, conglomerate, shale), igneous (i.e., basalt, granite, obsidian, pumice) and metamorphic (i.e., marble, gneiss, schist).

Students will also work in:

    observation and categorization

    teamwork

    creative production 

    inference-making

 

 

 

 

Additional Materials Needed

The teacher will need to determine the number of groups and rocks needed for their classroom. Currently I have 24 students, so I have 8 groups of 3 students. I used 8 plastic baggies that each contained one rock and a short description. 

The rock should be of a quality that makes its classification relatively easy. The description should give minor hints to its classification and should fit well with the information in the sites.