My 8th Grade Homeroom's First Tumble
Oct 15, 2016 6:02:13 GMT -5
captbob, paulshiroma, and 5 more like this
Post by osuguy0301 on Oct 15, 2016 6:02:13 GMT -5
Hello everyone,
It's been a little while since I have posted. Got busy over the summer but I was still constantly tumbling. Anyhow, I teach 8th grade science at a local middle school and one of the areas I cover is Earth Science. In particular, I cover constructive and destructive processes and i thought what would be a better way to model erosion than to take in my tumbler and have the kids tumble some rocks. I teach 4 separate science classes a day so each class will get their shot at it before the end of the school year. This might be a little bit long of a post but I think its worth it.
I started with my homeroom class because I have them the 1st period of the day for a study hall type period. I sorted out all the rocks at home before taking them into school to make sure they were all of similar hardness. I had previously spoken to the class about what we were going to be doing so when they came in on 9-6-16 and saw a pile of rocks on the back counter and my rock tumbler they knew what was going on. I told them about how the process worked, what grits we were going to use, the hardness of the rocks, what rocks we were working with, etc.
I wasn't really sure how well this was going to work, 8th grade students are strange creatures. Previous to starting this I had brought in various rough rocks and some of the stones I had already polished so they could see what they start out as and how they finish. Some students had already told me they collected rocks and were instantly interested, other students acted like they could care less, and some were totally indifferent.
On 9-6-16 we started this project. I let the students pick out of couple stones a piece and throw them in the tumbler. I had expressed we needed a nice mix of sizes in order for this to work correctly but it must have been lost in translation. After the students had put the rocks in the tumbler they all looked the same size, the biggest ones in the pile. So I finished off the batch by selecting some medium and small sized rocks. This batch was a mix of all different rocks. I had some unakite left that Jugglerguy gave me, arizona pet wood i got from broseph82, some montanas i got from ~~BigSky~~, various jaspers from a mixed bag I bought, amethyst, milky quartz, etc. Of course, the students threw in every piece of amethyst in the batch because it was "pretty." Once the batch was selected I put in some 60/90 grit and we started.
I wanted to clean this out on Fridays so I let it tumble for 10 days before checking it. So on 9-16-16 we cracked it open to check our progress. I had gone to the local walmart and bought 30 or so cheap toothbrushes and brought in some clear solo cups so that the students could clean the rocks. I expressed the importance of cleaning the rocks well so that we didn't have any contamination. While they were cleaning the rocks I would clean the tumbler. After they were done we checked all the rocks and decided to let them stay in 60/90 for another 7 days. We added a few more rocks to bring the level back up and started it again.
On 9-23-16 we checked it again. The students cleaned the rocks and after pitching a couple to the side we decided that we liked the shape and moved on to 120/220 grit. A number of students remarked about how much they had changed already from the beginning to now.
On 9-30-16 we checked the progress of the 120/220. I had some tumbles in my basement that had gone through the 120/220 stage and I brought them in to add some more volume to the barrel. The students cleaned the rocks and we laid them out and I showed them how they weren't as dull as they were from the 60/90 stage. We added a few more rocks and then I added beads and 500 grit. I explained to them we no longed wanted them to shape but we wanted them to start polishing so thats why the beads were added. The remarked how quiet the tumbler was after we added the beads.
On 10-7-16 we checked the progress of the 500 grit. The students were amazed at how shiny they were when they were wet. I really hammered home how they had to clean them well before we added them to the polish. Through out this process the students were doing a really good job cleaning the rocks. I couple times I had to tell them to stop cleaning because they were trying to remove what they though was grit but was actually a piece of the rock. I brought in my polish barrel and told them why we use a separate barrel. We added the rocks and the polish to the barrel and we were headed down the home stretch.
On 10-14-16 we had finally reached the finish line. We opened the barrel and the students cleaned the rocks for the last time. I was really impressed with what came out. The majority of the rocks looked really, really good. A couple of the quartz were bruised and I threw them in a batch to go back to 60/90 with another class. As the students finished cleaning I had them put the rocks on a towel so everyone could see them. They sat there and looked at all of them, trying to figure out which one was the best, prettiest, most unique looking.
Students that were already into rocks loved what came out. Some kids who weren't interested in the beginning had become all-in by the end. The students that were indifferent, I don't think they were as indifferent when they saw the final product. By having them choose the rocks, clean them, and see the progress of the rocks, many of them started to take an ownership in what was going on. They didn't want to see all this time we took working on this, be a waste.
Monday I will be starting another tumble with my 2nd period science class. Many of these students are really excited for this as they have been seeing that tumbler going for 6 weeks and they know their turn is next. I will be spending some time today breaking some rocks into more manageable sizes for the next batch. Even though I have a fair amount of rocks in my basement, I have already realized that I will probably have to order some more because I am running out of variety. I asked my principal if he thought the district would allow me to requisition an order of rocks for this project and he told me flat out "no." It looks like I will be on the hook for all the costs of this project. I don't mind spending my own money though if it gets students interested in the natural world around them.
Here are some quick pictures that I took after they were all cleaned up. I left them out on Friday for the other students to see and on Monday the students in my homeroom will be allowed to take a couple stones home with them as a reminder of their work put in. I hope you enjoy the photos and sorry for the long post.
It's been a little while since I have posted. Got busy over the summer but I was still constantly tumbling. Anyhow, I teach 8th grade science at a local middle school and one of the areas I cover is Earth Science. In particular, I cover constructive and destructive processes and i thought what would be a better way to model erosion than to take in my tumbler and have the kids tumble some rocks. I teach 4 separate science classes a day so each class will get their shot at it before the end of the school year. This might be a little bit long of a post but I think its worth it.
I started with my homeroom class because I have them the 1st period of the day for a study hall type period. I sorted out all the rocks at home before taking them into school to make sure they were all of similar hardness. I had previously spoken to the class about what we were going to be doing so when they came in on 9-6-16 and saw a pile of rocks on the back counter and my rock tumbler they knew what was going on. I told them about how the process worked, what grits we were going to use, the hardness of the rocks, what rocks we were working with, etc.
I wasn't really sure how well this was going to work, 8th grade students are strange creatures. Previous to starting this I had brought in various rough rocks and some of the stones I had already polished so they could see what they start out as and how they finish. Some students had already told me they collected rocks and were instantly interested, other students acted like they could care less, and some were totally indifferent.
On 9-6-16 we started this project. I let the students pick out of couple stones a piece and throw them in the tumbler. I had expressed we needed a nice mix of sizes in order for this to work correctly but it must have been lost in translation. After the students had put the rocks in the tumbler they all looked the same size, the biggest ones in the pile. So I finished off the batch by selecting some medium and small sized rocks. This batch was a mix of all different rocks. I had some unakite left that Jugglerguy gave me, arizona pet wood i got from broseph82, some montanas i got from ~~BigSky~~, various jaspers from a mixed bag I bought, amethyst, milky quartz, etc. Of course, the students threw in every piece of amethyst in the batch because it was "pretty." Once the batch was selected I put in some 60/90 grit and we started.
I wanted to clean this out on Fridays so I let it tumble for 10 days before checking it. So on 9-16-16 we cracked it open to check our progress. I had gone to the local walmart and bought 30 or so cheap toothbrushes and brought in some clear solo cups so that the students could clean the rocks. I expressed the importance of cleaning the rocks well so that we didn't have any contamination. While they were cleaning the rocks I would clean the tumbler. After they were done we checked all the rocks and decided to let them stay in 60/90 for another 7 days. We added a few more rocks to bring the level back up and started it again.
On 9-23-16 we checked it again. The students cleaned the rocks and after pitching a couple to the side we decided that we liked the shape and moved on to 120/220 grit. A number of students remarked about how much they had changed already from the beginning to now.
On 9-30-16 we checked the progress of the 120/220. I had some tumbles in my basement that had gone through the 120/220 stage and I brought them in to add some more volume to the barrel. The students cleaned the rocks and we laid them out and I showed them how they weren't as dull as they were from the 60/90 stage. We added a few more rocks and then I added beads and 500 grit. I explained to them we no longed wanted them to shape but we wanted them to start polishing so thats why the beads were added. The remarked how quiet the tumbler was after we added the beads.
On 10-7-16 we checked the progress of the 500 grit. The students were amazed at how shiny they were when they were wet. I really hammered home how they had to clean them well before we added them to the polish. Through out this process the students were doing a really good job cleaning the rocks. I couple times I had to tell them to stop cleaning because they were trying to remove what they though was grit but was actually a piece of the rock. I brought in my polish barrel and told them why we use a separate barrel. We added the rocks and the polish to the barrel and we were headed down the home stretch.
On 10-14-16 we had finally reached the finish line. We opened the barrel and the students cleaned the rocks for the last time. I was really impressed with what came out. The majority of the rocks looked really, really good. A couple of the quartz were bruised and I threw them in a batch to go back to 60/90 with another class. As the students finished cleaning I had them put the rocks on a towel so everyone could see them. They sat there and looked at all of them, trying to figure out which one was the best, prettiest, most unique looking.
Students that were already into rocks loved what came out. Some kids who weren't interested in the beginning had become all-in by the end. The students that were indifferent, I don't think they were as indifferent when they saw the final product. By having them choose the rocks, clean them, and see the progress of the rocks, many of them started to take an ownership in what was going on. They didn't want to see all this time we took working on this, be a waste.
Monday I will be starting another tumble with my 2nd period science class. Many of these students are really excited for this as they have been seeing that tumbler going for 6 weeks and they know their turn is next. I will be spending some time today breaking some rocks into more manageable sizes for the next batch. Even though I have a fair amount of rocks in my basement, I have already realized that I will probably have to order some more because I am running out of variety. I asked my principal if he thought the district would allow me to requisition an order of rocks for this project and he told me flat out "no." It looks like I will be on the hook for all the costs of this project. I don't mind spending my own money though if it gets students interested in the natural world around them.
Here are some quick pictures that I took after they were all cleaned up. I left them out on Friday for the other students to see and on Monday the students in my homeroom will be allowed to take a couple stones home with them as a reminder of their work put in. I hope you enjoy the photos and sorry for the long post.