Mining Makes Life Possible
Activity Source: Minerals Education Coalition
Background
Think of items you use on a daily basis. Mining is necessary to obtain materials for transportation, lighting, heating/cooling and housing, as well as for food, clothing, health, and safety. Mining removes materials such as rocks, minerals, and metals from the Earth to make products we need in our everyday lives.
Materials
- Paper/pencil or computer (with internet access)
- Crayons/markers
- Graphic Organizer
Procedure
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For each of the categories in the diagram, list your favorite thing or things that you use regularly. Example: Favorite clothing, medicines you take or healthy foods you eat, safety gear like bike helmets and smoke detectors, and more.
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When you have completed the list, put your name in the middle circle, because the categories are all about YOU and your life.
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What industry or business goes in the middle circle with your name? What industry makes it possible for you to live your life the way you do?
a. Industries are businesses that produce goods and/or services. There is only ONE industry that can be linked to every aspect of your life. Do you know what it is?
Analysis
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Go back through your examples and underline the ones that require mining in blue and ones that don’t require mining in red.
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Add additional examples to your diagram that do not require mining. For example: many foods come from plants that grow in nature that can be consumed raw.
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Consider how these additional examples are still connected to rocks and minerals even if not through mining.
Further Steps
Write a story about what a day in your life would be like if you could NOT use any of the items you underlined in blue above. Is there anything missing that is important to you? If you use electronics, machines, paved roads, manufactured items, or almost anything else in our modern world, you depend on mining!
For more ideas on this activity as well as additional activities such as the “It All Starts with Mining” unit. Use the teacher search tool to find detailed correlations to national and state standards for these activities.
NGSS Connections
- SEP: Asking Questions and Defining Problems
- DCI: Earth’s Materials; ESS3.B: Natural Resources
- CCC: Influence of Science, Engineering, and Technology on Society and the Natural World