Explore Geology
Theme
Geology
Specimens Included
Calcite, conglomerate, quartz, rocks and minerals sets (calcite, feldspar, granite, limestone, marble, mica, quartz, and sandstone), mineral test sets (fluorite, pyrite, talc, calcite, quartz), rock cycle specimen sets (sandstone, granite, gneiss, pumice, vesicular basalt, obsidian, rhyolite).
Activities Included
“Rocks and Minerals”: Students will learn the differences between rocks and minerals by investigating and comparing different rocks and minerals.
“Mighty Minerals”: Mineral Properties: Students will discover the different properties of minerals through observation and by performing tests in order to identify the minerals included.
“The Rock Cycle”: Students will understand the different parts of the rock cycle by creating their own sedimentary rocks, performing an experiment to learn about igneous rocks and creating a model of a metamorphic rock.
Digging in the Past
Theme
Archaeology
Artifacts Included
Tibia digging tip, biface, Washita arrow point, Fresno arrow point, corn cob, Folsom point, pipe, flakes, Creek potsherds, bison tooth, Clovis point and bone hook
Activities Included
“Stratigraphy”: Students will excavate artifacts and collect data from different time periods in Oklahoma’s past, and explore how the location of an artifact in the earth can help archaeologists understand if it was older or younger than other artifacts.
“Pottery Reconstruction”: Students will reconstruct a broken ceramic pot and collecting data about its design and texture. After identifying the pottery type, students will identify the Oklahoma culture that created it.
“Trashcan Archaeology”: Students will discover what archaeologists can learn about people in the past by studying their trash. Through studying the contents of modern trash cans, students will become detectives as they try to reconstruct the timeline of the people using the trashcan, the importance of the objects and what trash can tell us about our daily lives.
Life on Earth
Theme
Biology, Ecology
Specimens Included
American bullfrog, American elm seeds, ant, aphid, barnyard grass, brown-headed cowbird, brown tarantula, butterfly, black swallowtail caterpillar, cicada, dragonfly, fox squirrel, Great Plains narrow-mouth toad, green ash leaves, ground squirrel, honey bee, house sparrow, meadowlark, mosquito, mosquito fish, oak leaves, raccoon, red swamp crayfish, red-winged blackbird, striped skunk, wasp, yellow-bellied water snake
Activities Included
“Investigating Animals: Past and Present”: Students will investigate and classify Oklahoma animals, compare modern animal features with ancient animal features and infer ancestral relationships between animals based on shared characteristics.
“Symbiosis”: Through the exploration of specimens and different Oklahoma plants and animals, students will investigate energy transfer, mutualism, commensalism, predation, competition and parasitism.
“Go Extinct!”: Students will play a game to reinforce knowledge of biological classification and introduce the concept of an evolutionary tree model.
