Understanding Mineral Cleavage via Gestures
Barb Dutrow (Louisiana State University), Kinnari Atit (Temple University) and Carol Ormand (SERC at Carleton College)
This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Reviewed Teaching Collection
This activity has received positive reviews in a peer review process involving five review categories. The five categories included in the process are
- Scientific Accuracy
- Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
- Pedagogic Effectiveness
- Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
- Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page
For more information about the peer review process itself, please see https://serc.carleton.edu/teachearth/activity_review.html.
Initial Publication Date: May 12, 2015 | Reviewed: July 11, 2017
- First Publication: May 12, 2015
- Reviewed: July 11, 2017 -- Reviewed by the On the Cutting Edge Activity Review Process
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Cite thisSummary
Photo of fluorite sample. Image by Eurico Zimbres (FGEL/UERJ) and Tom Epaminondas (mineral collector). Available via Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fluorita_green.jpeg
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Provenance: Image by Eurico Zimbres (FGEL/UERJ) and Tom Epaminondas (mineral collector). Available via Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fluorita_green.jpeg
Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.
In this exercise, students use gesture to convey information about mineral cleavage and the relationship between crystal structures and cleavage planes.
Learning Goals
After successfully completing this exercise, students will be able to use gesture to convey information about mineral cleavage and the relationship between crystal structures and cleavage planes.
Context for Use
This exercise is intended for use when students are introduced to or are reviewing mineral cleavage and how cleavage depends on bond strengths within the mineral structure.
Description and Teaching Materials
Students gesture the orientations of cleavage planes for samples of a number of common minerals. They then do the same for a ball-and-stick model of a silicate mineral of their choice. Each pair (or group) of students needs samples of mica, pyroxene, amphibole, galena or halite, and calcite or gypsum, all of which show good cleavage.
Mineral cleavage exercise (Microsoft Word 41kB May12 15)
Assessment
The instructor walks around the room and verbally quizzes students as they are doing the exercise to assess their understanding.
References and Resources
Goldin-Meadow, Susan (2011). Learning Through Gesture. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, v. 2, n. 6, pp. 595–607.
Using Gesture to Support Spatial Thinking highlights the value of gesture in communicating spatial information. It consists of two short exercises, and can be used in preparation for any other exercise in which students will be asked to use gesture to communicate spatial information.
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