Quick growing crystals wow the crowd

Catherine Ackerman had her college credit plus geology students at Twin Valley South High School take a close look at crystals with some help from OOGEEP.

Ackerman used the Quick Growing Crystals activity to introduce lessons on minerals. The students observed that the crystals that formed from the rapid cooling of the solution were small in size. As the solution was allowed to sit out and evaporate over time, larger crystals formed.

Ackerman used the Flinn Growing Crystals in a Gel lab as a supplement to this lesson. "It is a great lab to really get discussion going around crystal shapes and what happens when when different substances are used. It was a fun extension to show the various crystalline structures and that it takes time to form complex or large crystals," Howard said.

This extension provided students with experience in measuring and mixing solutions. Exposure to the chemical reactions helped show that as substances interact with each other, new substances will form. Minerals can precipitate out of a solution to produce solid crystalline structures that are the building blocks of rocks.

"The workshop was a fantastic experience to become familiar with the curriculum and to collaborate with other teachers. I really enjoyed the two field trips to Orton Hall and the State House fossils as well as the fossil dig at Caesar Creek. The hands-on experiences allowed me to expand my knowledge and comfort level with the curriculum and provided me with ways to extend my students' experiences outside of the classroom," Howard said.