> Go back to Minerals Downunder main page > Minerals Downunder website
Activities for pages 2 and 3 of the Minerals Downunder Student book:
Explore with the students the layout of these two pages - their location within the book, the position of the title, the location of the photographs and the map, the content and labels on the photographs and the map, and finally, the cross section and its arrows.
Discuss the relationship between the title and the cross-section, focussing on students' understanding of the words 'pressure' and 'transformation'.
How do the photographs relate to the words in bold on these pages.
Ask students to read the text and discuss the purpose of each paragraph. Comment on how the whole text is organised. Focus on aspects such as defining, explaining, classifying and describing.
Explain to students that they will be involved in writing a text on one of the minerals mentioned in the information book. This text will be an example of the information report genre.
Ask students to choose a mineral and direct them to use websites to locate other sources of information about minerals. Discuss in general terms what the students found at the various sites and record any information that will be useful as a reference for other students, such as the web addresses.
Download and print copies of the Information Report - Note Taking (Microsoft Word doc 76k).
Ask students to compare the content of the texts they have found on minerals with the headings on this document. Similarly they could identify the similarities and differences in the organisation of the texts and the Note Taking headings.
Model how the students might use the Note Taking sheet (perhaps on an overhead) and how to use key words to record the main ideas for a mineral, metal or energy source.
Download and print the Information Report Scaffold (Microsoft Word doc 72k). Demonstrate how their points on the Note Taking sheet can then be written up as an information report on this document. It is valuable to construct the first two paragraphs of a report with the students so they can see the choices to make when writing a report. For example, topics you write about in your report often appear at the front of sentences. Look for a sentence befinninf with the 'Minerals ...' or 'Valuable minerals...' The tense is usually the present tense.
Students are then ready to research the mineral they have chosen, use Note Taking sheet to record their notes and then writing a report using the Information Report Scaffold.
Map Reading
The map of Australia on page three indicates the location of mineral deposits and mining activity within Australia.
