Mineral Mayhem is an engineering design-based STEM curricular unit. The unit aims to facilitate the learning of major science and mathematical concepts and skills within the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Common Core State Standards (CCSS) respectively. The unit includes teacher guides, class activities with solutions, and assessment guidelines. 

Grade Level: 7-8

Approximate Time Needed to Complete Unit: Fourteen 50-minute class periods

Unit Summary: Mineral properties and identification tests provide the basis for this engineering-driven STEM unit. Built on the real-world premise of a cargo train derailing from its tracks, students will complete an engineering challenge to design a process to sort minerals that have been spilled into a lake. As they learn about mineral properties and the value of non-renewable mineral resources, students will use this information to support evidence-based reasoning as they make design decisions. In addition, there are components of research and mathematical reasoning in thinking about cost-benefit analysis and in considering the physical property of density, including how to calculate and represent mass, volume, and density in different ways. Students will also strengthen their communication skills by creating a presentation to explain their process and justify their decisions, aiming to convince a client that their process is the best option.

List of Lessons:

• Lesson 1: Off the Rails
  • Objectives: (1) Identify the engineering design problem; (2) Research mineral value and importance; (3) Describe economic, social, and ethical considerations related to minerals.
• Lesson 2: Let’s Sort it Out
  • Objectives: (1) Identify similarities and differences of minerals through hands-on investigation; (2) Identify physical properties of minerals that can be used to sort and classify them.
• Lesson 3: Which Mineral is That?
  • Objectives: (1) Conduct tests of mineral properties; (2) Record mineral data in a table; (3) Use mineral properties to identify three mystery minerals; (4) Describe which properties would be most useful in separating specific minerals.
• Lesson 4: Discovering Density
  • Objectives: (1) • Measure the volume of irregularly shaped minerals using the water displacement method; (2) Generate and interpret a scatterplot; (3) Calculate the slope of a line of best ft on a scatterplot; (4) Calculate density using the formula density - (mass/volume).
• Lesson 5: Go with the Flow
  • Objectives: (1) Identify the criteria and constraints of the engineering design challenge; (2) Evaluate a process flow diagram that shows a mineral sorting process; (3) Make recommendations to improve a mineral sorting process.
  Lesson 6: Engineering Design Challenge
  • Objectives: (1) Create a process flow diagram to sort a given set of minerals; (2) Use evidence-based reasoning to justify their design choices; (3) Evaluate their process based on equipment costs and mineral values.
• Lesson 7: Process Redesign
  • Objectives: (1) Redesign their mineral sorting processes based on new constraints; (2) Evaluate their redesigned processes based on machine costs and mineral values.
• Lesson 8: Convincing the Client
  • Objectives: (1) Communicate science and engineering ideas by creating
    presentations to convince the client that their end product is the
    best option; (2) Use evidence-based reasoning to support their engineering decisions.

Unit Standards:

• NGSS: 5-PS1-3, MS-ETS1-1, MS-ETS1-2, MS-ETS1-3, MS-ETS1-4. 
• CCSS: 8.EE.B.5, HSS.ID.C.7.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant NSF DRL-1238140. Any opinions, findings and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• William Haight, Jeffrey Kohoutek, Cari Kremmin, Jeanna Wieselmann, Rebecca Konz, Aran Glancy, Molly Leifeld, Forster Ntow, Marc Schulte, Kerrie Douglas, Tamara J. Moore (2022), "Mineral Mayhem: An EngrTEAMS Curricular Unit," https://nanohub.org/resources/36140.

  BibTex | EndNote

1. chemistry
2. engineering education
3. EngrTEAMS
4. has CCSS
5. has NGSS
6. K-12
7. middle school
8. minerals
9. non-renewable resources
10. physical science
11. precollege
12. STEM
13. teaching and learning