On Monday, 2 November 2015, my 6th-grade earth science students explored the geoinquiry, "Mines and Mining". Minerals and mining are topics within the Earth Science curriculum. As a first-time teacher of Earth System and Space Science, this geoinquiry helps me to make the topics interesting and puts the student in the open pit, as they learn through exploring.
One student exclaimed, "A topographic map!" Another shared how he determined the west-east direction for measuring the mine. I directed students to Google images so they could make a comparison between the GIS map and a photograph. Another student was proud of himself for finding a chart which displayed the life span of different metals.
This Geoinquiry is a great "into" activity. The link between the map and the embedded information makes the concepts easily accessible to my incredibly curious 6th-graders.
