Ring of Fire rock and mineral kits

by Myrna Martin

Ring of Fire

Five kits are available thus far: Igneous Rock, Sedimentary Rock, Metamorphic Rock, Mineral, and Rock and Mineral ID.

I received for review the first and last kits. The first seems great for even young children while the last seems targeted at older students. Kits are similar in format with a book or CD plus a plastic case with rocks and/or minerals and a pocket microscope. The publisher has created digital textbooks on CD, and purchasing kits with CDs rather than printed textbooks will now save you $5.

The fifth kit includes a magnet, small vinegar bottle, and a few other identification tools. A review of the Igneous Rock kit follows. I would start with that kit, then continue with other kits if this style of learning works well for your children.

According to the author, the first three kits “cover the rock cycle”—all the more reason for using them in order. The intensive vocabulary of the book that comes with the Rock and Mineral ID kit might be overwhelming for young students. Parents might use it as a reference tool, but I would suggest waiting till the teen years so students can try to make their own identifications using the book.

Igneous Rock kit: Pursue a minor unit study on rocks and minerals with this kit that includes a plastic case with rock samples (including ash from Mt. St. Helens) and 20x magnifier plus either a comb-bound book or a CD. Activities range from those simple enough for five-year olds to those suitable for students in the upper elementary grades.

Most activities have to do with visual identifications and comparisons. Using identification guidelines students can also perform scratch/hardness tests, and they estimate specific gravity of the different rocks through experimentation.

Pre- and post-tests are included as well as an answer key. Children do some written work, recording observations and analyses. This is a fun, low-pressure way to introduce children to informally-applied scientific method as well as a hands-on entry-level study of rocks and minerals. (Note: there are no mentions of evolution.)