A Practical Study for Learning the Judging Ability of Sedimentary Rocks : Teaching Material Development of a Simple Grain Size Scale Using Everyday Food and its Practice

Abstract

This paper reveals learners' recognition of mud, sand and stones, and shows the actual condition of 5th grade elementary school students who have not yet studied it as well as of 1st grade junior high school students who already have. The result showed that almost half of the junior high school students could not even properly understand the difference between mud and sand. For this purpose, a simple grain size scale was developed as a teaching material, using everyday food as samples. The 5th grade elementary school students were able to make the scale easily and quickly. The scale was also useful for the 5th grade elementary school students as it allowed them to recognize the grain size of sedimentary rocks, enabling them to distinguish these rocks without difficulty.