• Students will become familiar with the following properties for the identification of minerals;

• Colour

• Lustre

• Streak

• Hardness

• Relative Density

• Students will use the Website listed below as an introduction to the identification properties of minerals. Through visible representation and a brief summary of each property, students will be able to recognize what each property entails. This allows students to be prepared before they examine some hand specimens in the laboratory.

1. Prepare a lesson to introduce the topic and discussion after the viewing of the Website. The introduction should briefly overview the topic by announcing that minerals have certain properties that are used in their identification. The discussion should help by making a list of these properties and explaining each. Misconceptions can also be clarified here.
2. Activity Procedure:
3. Give a brief introduction to the students.
4. Give the URL of the Website and allow the students to begin investigating the site.
5. Allow adequate time for the review of the Website. This should take approximately 20 minutes.
6. Get students to complete the quiz at the end of the investigation.
7. Begin a classroom discussion by asking students what they have discovered about the identification properties of minerals.
8. Indicate to the class that they will only be using the properties listed above for the identification of some hand samples.
9. Clarify any misconceptions or elaborate on any topic that you feel the students might need.
10. Give a list of examples so the students can see how the properties can actually be used to identify certain minerals.

Tools

• Internet Connection

Websites

• http://www.cobweb.net/~bug2/rock4.htm

(This Site gives details on all of the properties for the identification of minerals. It gives a brief explanation of each property and includes a quiz at the end for the students to evaluate their level comprehension)

• The assessment should be carried out in the discussion session. Seek out the information that the students have gathered and make clarification or elaboration on any topic they may need.

• Students can also do a self-evaluation by doing the quiz that is on the Site. It gives instant results and the key for the correct answers.

• This activity does not only provide readiness for the laboratory it can also be beneficial to use it as an enhancement activity. Students are eager to learn things on their own, they enjoy taking control over their own learning process.