Instructors: Geneva Mottet and Tyler Stokes
A bit about Geneva: I grew up in Southeast Alaska and the San Juan Islands in Washington state, where I gained a love for the natural world through hiking and fishing. I finished my MS in Physics in 2019 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I currently live on a homestead near Fairbanks and enjoy sharing my interest in science and the natural world through public outreach and a YouTube channel.
A bit about Tyler: I hail from Northern Nevada, where I got my degree in Geology, fell in love with rockhounding, and got exposed early on to the benefits of the mining industry. I've worked for years with the Bureau of Land Management with their abandoned mines and mine permitting programs before working for the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys. My exercises and course materials should be fun and informative to those who have heard of mining and geology or are new to earth sciences.
Rocks Rock: Mining Edition
Grades: 3-7
Dates: Session 1: January 31 - February 28
Zoom Times: Tuesdays, 4 PM - 5 PM
Cost: $195
Description: Where does the stuff that makes up your house, car, and pretty much anything made by people come from? Mines. Mining is an important industry in Alaska, the rest of the U.S., and the world! Learn what it takes to go from discovery to a full-blown open-pit mine. You will learn how to pan for gold, build a mini sluice box, get an introduction to core-logging, and build a model of an open pit mine. Collect the mining treasures you will find while learning about how prospectors develop the rocks under your feet into everyday materials. If it can't be grown, it has to be mined! This class is offered with weekly hands-on experiments, problem sets, and Zoom sessions where students can share their learning with the instructor and each other. Study questions, YouTube videos, and other supplementary materials will be offered through Google Classroom.
Course Kit Content: labels, plastic box, tin foil, pull-back construction toy, tape, ruler, clear straws, excavating tool, plastic 'gold pan,' squeeze bottle, long container, scouring pad, sand, gravel, fishing weights, parafilm, rock collection, mining truck toys, vial for gold, solenite, gold bar toy, paydirt