Rock Cycle Plate and Rock & Mineral Workshops for Educators and Future Educators

Need Seed Money to help keep these projects alive

Rock Cycle Plate:
Materials - Heavy Duty paper plates, glue, pen/pencil, rocks (sedimentary, metamorphic, igneous).
Rocks are glued on plate by student and then lines/arrows and drawings showing effects of environment are drawn between the various rocks to show how each rock is formed and the transformations that take place. (Ages 5 and above).
Rocks and Minerals:
Materials - Box (9x12x1), 22 rocks and minerals (all the minerals from the Mohs scale, except the diamond, and assortment of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks), glue.
Box is prepared with labels for each rock and mineral and separated into various categories. Rocks and boxes are supplied to students for them to glue in place while each rock/mineral is described by instructor and discussed in detail. When box is complete students now have a full set of rocks and minerals depicting the Mohs Hardness Scale (expect diamond) and representatives of the various rock types (igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary) that can be used in their classrooms (if they become teachers) and future reference as needed. (ages 14 and up – typically used for educators/teachers).

The idea of these two in-class, hands-on projects of sorting and learning about the rocks and minerals is that it is something teachers can duplicate in their own classrooms. Also, students having the opportunity to see and touch the rocks tends to keep them interested and engaged in the learning about these rocks and minerals and often helps these students to see science in a new light where they can no longer look at their surroundings without thinking about the many rocks and minerals that make up the very Earth upon which they stand.

I teach future teachers at CSU San Marcos and both these workshops are port of my Earth Science classes that I teach there. I have used past grant/seed money to purchase the material in bulk for these two workshops so as to keep the prices to the students low (about $14/per student). The materials purchased separately would run as high as $60 and the boxed set of Rocks and Minerals typically sells for around $100 (completed).

Although the cost of $15 to the student sounds reasonable, I have a number of students who claim the cost is too high. Also, since I'm not charging for the Rock Cycle plates and rocks, my original Seed Money for that project is running dry. Plus, when I do workshops at Science Fairs there is no charge for materials and thus my seed money is running out. With a subsidy form STEM I can offer the boxes for a more reasonable fee of around $10 while I also plug STEM philosophy in my classroom. I believe that if these future teachers see that STEM money can be obtained for these types of projects, they too will pursue such funds when they are teaching and thus would be more likely to do these projects in their classrooms.
I plan on placing my order for the supplies mid August to cover about 220 students for the year. I anticipate spending about $1500.00 for the rocks and minerals (ordered from Burminco) and $130 for the boxes (order from U-line). Any assistance in covering these costs would be greatly appreciated and would help me to continue these projects for many years to come.