Dear MSA Colleagues,
I hope you have all enjoyed a wonderful summer.
For those of you working with students of any age this fall, I wanted to
remind you about the 82 episodes of Every Rock Has a Story
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl0Zrg9JFh5o4SPg94veh0w and encourage
you to explore them for use with your students.
The best place to start is THIS EPISODE LIST
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RdXAYFa6GTM3VFrXT-R97T2pOoCZNkg1/edit?gid=1234328097#gid=1234328097
which
is a searchable Google Sheet with all 82 episodes listed. Search for
episodes by topic, rock, location, or co-host. This is the easiest place
to see what's available to suit your particular needs.
Second, take a look at our growing EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1upopaSncm1mwqDyO_IYxJt3VE081nAVP
folder.
There you will find handouts, rock images, templates, and sample lesson
plans (mostly for K-6).
Here are few suggestions from me based on age range:
For K-2: The 44 episodes of Season One are the best place to start with
your youngest learners. They are fun, short, simple, silly, and very much
geared towards a young audience. Then, feel free to move onto later
seasons... try out Episode 54 https://youtu.be/Qo3_my1PUko and then Episode
76 https://youtu.be/6G3NkDNt1Xg to see us look inside a real dinosaur egg!
For 3-6: Seasons 3,4 have the best production value for more discerning
eyes and online video critics; both seasons were nominated for a New
England Regional EMMY Award. They also include exciting travel to labs and
field sites around the world. Some topics are slightly more advanced.
Seasons 2,3,4 all have diverse co-hosts and children
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1upopaSncm1mwqDyO_IYxJt3VE081nAVP
so your students can better see themselves as scientists.
For 7-12: While ERHAS wasnt made with grades 7-12 in mind, the content is
valuable and can introduce, recap, or provoke a discussion. Tell your
class that you are showing them a video for elementary school kids... this
will disarm them and help them relax while digesting the content. Ask them
to see if they can extract, explain, or write up the key messages from any
episode. Episodes on themes like climate change, energy, outer space, or
earth resources (find them by topic in the episode list!) might be
especially useful to spark broader conversation.
College: I use these videos in my college classes. You can do what I
describe above for 7-12. Then I ask them to write a reflection on what
they took away. These reflections can lead to classroom conversation that
can lead into, or recap, a particular class topic or lecture. I have also
had my students make their own video on a topic they choose. Many of the
episodes show how rocks and minerals are relevant to topics that most
students would see as separate. These episodes are intended to show the
myriad connections that integrate our planet together through rocks and
minerals.
I am still working on the future of ERHAS and hope to have news later in
the Fall. For now, I hope you continue to enjoy ERHAS and find them useful
in your educational mission. Feel free to send me questions or feedback as
always.
Best Regards,
Ethan
Ethan Baxter
Associate Dean for the STEM Disciplines
Professor, Earth & Environmental Sciences
Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences
Boston College
Phone: 617-552-1124
Email: ethan.baxter@bc.edu
Website: https://sites.google.com/bc.edu/ethan-baxter
Every Rock Has A Story on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl0Zrg9JFh5o4SPg94veh0w
Pronouns: he/him/his