Yesterday students in Mrs. Reagan’s Earth and Environmental Science class participated in a lab that helped them make connections with rocks, mining, and math. For the past several days students have studied the various types of rocks (igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary), their characteristics, and where they can be found. To bring this lesson to life Mrs. Reagan challenged her students to become rock miners.

Students were provided with chocolate cookies and different mining tools. Students had to keep in mind that each of these items had a cost associated with it…more on that in a moment. They first traced their cookie on a piece of graph paper and calculated its area. Now the real challenge started, mining. Student’s were not allowed to touch their cookie with their hands, only their mining tools could be used. Mined chips were assigned a value and would be purchased by the bank for varying amounts.

  • Whole, clean, intact chocolate chips will be purchased by the bank for $500 each
  • “dirty” chocolate chips will be purchased for $200 each
  • partial chocolate chips will be purchased for $100 each (partial chips must be combined to form the amount of ore in one chip).

As you can tell there is definitely a math component to this lab. At the end of the activity students had to total their costs and subtract them from what the bank ‘paid’ them for their rocks.

Students enjoyed this activity as they had fun while they learned.

Official instructions for the challenge…can you mine? This would be a great STEM activity to try together as a family. Keep scrolling for detailed instructions.

Lab Procedure

  1. Get graph paper and cookie.
    • Chips Deluxe     $1200
    • Chips Ahoy $900
  2. Get mining equipment, (at least two items must be purchased).
    • Paper clip $500/ea
    • Round toothpick $300/ea
    • Flat toothpick $100/ea
  3. Place the cookie on the graph paper, trace the outline of the cookie
  4. Determine the area of the cookie by counting the number of squares that fall inside the line (count partial squares as full squares).
  5. Record the area of the cookie.
  6. Place the cookie back inside the circle.
  7. Once you begin, the cookie is only to be touched by the mining tools. The cookie MAY NOT be touched with fingers or hands. You MAY NOT blow crumbs off the paper at any time. 
  8. Dig out as many chocolate chips as possible.
    • Whole, clean, intact chocolate chips will be purchased by the bank for $500 each
    • “dirty” chocolate chips will be purchased for $200 each
    • partial chocolate chips will be purchased for $100 each (partial chips must be combined to form the amount of ore in one chip).
  9. The cost of an ongoing mining operation is $50 per minute.
  10. Reclamation must be attempted. Try to place all that remains of the cookie back into the circled area on the graph paper using the mining tools (remember, no fingers or hands allowed). 
  11. Draw additional circles around each crumb that is not placed back in the circle, and 
  12. Count the number of squares that fall inside all circles.

 The fine for unsuccessful reclamation is $50 per square (in addition to the original # of squares).When complete, record the end time of the simulation, and raise your hand.

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