I LOVE hands-on learning! It often causes my wallet and/or bank account to drop considerably, but it is worth it when I see the kiddos enjoying an activity rather than just doing worksheets!
Here they are... (aren't they cute!)
I love that they were so into it that I could get pics without them really knowing!
In this activity students get a chocolate chip cookie. I try to get the ones that are a bit soft. They are easier to "mine." (I found this experiment on many different sites and I took a little from each one to make my experiment.)
Students are instructed to mine out the chocolate chips without harming the "land" around the chips (as best as possible). They weren't able to pick up the cookie in any way. Most were able to do this. It was a great activity to show how humans are altering our world for the resources that are in the ground. Students realized that the ones that did break up the "land" had more chips than those that were conservative.
We then used the price of gold and coal to see what the chips would be worth if they were real. Each child stuffed their chips into a straw. We then measured the amount in inches to see how many inches they had. We then multiplied that amount by the current price of gold. We then repeated the process with the price of coal.
I'm happy to report that they really did learn a lot about resources and protecting our environment with this lesson. Hands-on activities RULE!
See you next time. Blessings!
