Candy bar layers show Earth's movement

Milky Way candy bars provided a great activity for William Rutherford's 8th grade science students in New Albany Middle School. Rutherford presented a lesson that he'd seen at the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program's Geology workshop last summer. Layers of the candy bar were related to layers of the earth. Students manipulated the broken-open candy bar to demonstrate divergent, convergent, and transform boundary movement.

Rutherford said his students always enjoy working with their hands, and they were happy to not be taking notes or listening to a lecture. He said having the visual of the the convergent and divergent boundaries was a helpful learning tool, and something which will be easily remembered when they review topics later in the year prior to state testing. These activities fit quite well with 8th grade objectives.

Rutherford said, "Without question, science is my weakest subject as a teacher, so getting a visual of the topics at the workshop which I am teaching for the first time was quite helpful. I thought the presentations, presenters, lesson plans, rock/mineral samples, and field trip were great. Concepts were well-explained so they could easily be translated to a variety of learners and classrooms. For me to be able to tell my students that I have seen some of the geology we are discussing is helpful, because it allows me to make the topic more real and close to home."

And after completing the lesson, the students were able to enjoy the candy bars!