This lesson discusses the question 'What is a mineral?' in the context of the guessing game 'Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral?'. It introduces a definition of the term, discusses the criteria used in the definition, and...

This poster summarizes common uses of mineral resources in our homes, offices, and equipment we use daily. It shows a diagram of a house surrounded by various mineral names and some of the products made from them. There...

This color poster shows how we use minerals in our everyday life. It depicts common household items (furniture, appliances, plumbing fixtures, personal products, etc.) which are keyed by number to short descriptions that...

Bringing together the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and the lithosphere can be a formidable challenge. This classroom activity created by H. Catherine W. Skinner of Yale University manages to do that quite elegantly, and it...

This website provides an easy-to-understand introduction to the basics of optical mineralogy. Topics include the polarized light microscope, mineral shape and cleavage, relief, color and pleochroism, interference colors,...