Holes are helpful! Learning about rocks in landscaping

Porosity and permeability affect the movement and storage of fluids in rocks and sediments. Bridget Schaub of Woodsfield Elementary learned about this at the OOGEEP STEM workshop and used the information with her 6th grade science class.

After learning about different types of rocks and completing some landscaping projects around the school, Schaub's students completed the Baking Rocks activity, part of the Migration and Trapping lessons, to determine the porosity of the rocks and to see if they'd used the correct type of rock in landscaping from the previous year. Students were given three types of rocks to identify using knowledge gained earlier in the year.

Next, students weighed the rocks with a pan balance, placed them into a cup of water for an hour, then weighed each of the rocks again to determine how much water each type of rock held. When all students were done weighing their rocks, Schaub led a class discussion on whether or not the correct type of rock had been used for the landscaping completed the previous year. The students decided that it was the correct type of rock, as the rock held just enough water to keep the soil moist and allow plants to grow.

"My students loved this lesson and all students were engaged," Schaub said. "They had wonderful discussions on how to determine the type of rock that they had in their hands and some were giving great reasoning behind why the rock was the type they said it was."

Schaub said, "The workshop was very beneficial, and I plan to attend more. Oil and gas is big in our area right now, and as my students start studying rocks and soil types I can include more about the oil and gas and make my content more relevant to their learning."