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Grade 3 Science · World 1: Rock Hounds · Level 7
Rock Detective
Use test results in a table to identify a mystery rock or mineral.
Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.
What children learn in Level 7
- Time to be a rock detective! Scientists use a guide that lists each mineral's properties.
- Pyrite and galena both have metallic luster. But pyrite is gold, and galena is silver-gray. Color helps here!
- Quartz, calcite, gypsum, and talc are all white and nonmetallic. Hardness tells them apart: only quartz can scratch glass.
- So test, record, and compare with the guide. Each clue rules out more minerals until only one is left.
Georgia Standards of Excellence in Science:
- S3E1.a — Ask questions and analyze data to classify rocks by their physical attributes (color, texture, luster, and hardness) using simple tests. (Clarification statement: Mohs scale should be studied at this level. Cleavage, streak and the classification of rocks as sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic are studied in sixth grade.)