by Ranger Carolyn.
Some of my favorite moments at Mountain School happen
because students ask fascinating questions. My trail group from Happy Valley
Elementary School had questions about everything we saw, whether abiotic or
biotic. While we were hiking, some students noticed interesting rocks near the
trail. We each picked one up to see if we could figure out how it was formed.
One of the questions they asked was “What is inside this rock?” Some of the
students remembered that their teacher, Mr. D’hondt, has special rocks in his
classroom. “They’re the kind with crystals inside,” was how one person
described geodes. So, we decided to save some of our rocks to see if we could
find out what they had inside.
The next morning I borrowed a rock hammer, one of the tools
the geologists use when they’re learning about where rocks come from. Ms. Bean,
another teacher from Happy Valley who had past experience breaking rocks open,
did us the honor of smashing our samples to see what was inside. We all
protected our eyes with funny looking blue goggles and stood far away so we
wouldn’t get hit with flying pieces of rock. Each time Ms. Bean shattered a
rock, we all ran up to see what had happened.
We didn’t find any geodes, but what a great experience we
had! Not only did we get to use a rock hammer, but we also used another new
tool – a hand lens – to look closely at our rocks. We saw different types of
crystals that show up really well when a rock is freshly cracked. We noticed
that some rocks are harder to break than others. We also learned that some
rocks look the same color on the outside, but are actually a different color on
the inside.
As a trail leader at Mountain School, I usually make a plan
for what activities my group will do, but this one wasn’t in the plan. If it
hadn’t been for these inquisitive students from Happy Valley, we never would
have had this exciting experience with our rocks. Thanks to all of the Mountain
Schoolers, past and future, who are interested enough in their ecosystem to ask
thoughtful questions.
Leading photo by Rick Allen.
No comments:
Post a Comment