Who would have thought studying a lump of coal could be so much fun?

In fact, the American Coal Foundation provides some free resources that make you WANT to ask for a lump of coal in your stocking this Christmas!  

Our Jr. FIRST Lego League team, as part of our study of electricity this “season”, is studying coal.  The power plant that provides our homes with electricity is coal powered.

We ordered coal samples from the American Coal Foundation.  Each packet contained 4 plastic bags – a single sample of peat, anthrasite, bituminous and lignite.

 We then selected lesson plans from this page. 

Starting In the Swamp

 Our first project, and it is still ongoing, is our “swamp” where our coal is created over many years.   

 
In the bottom we layered about 2”-3” of colored play sand (I used colored sand mostly because it was all that was available the day I went to buy it.  However, it has worked out nicely, because the children can see the “layers of Earth” in our swamp.) 

 Next, we lay fern fronds on top of the sand.  These will eventually be the “fossilized” material we excavate and “dissect”.  On top of this we put some water, dead grass, dead leaves, pine cones, sticks, acorns and miscellaneous yard waste. 

 We left it to sit in the sun for 2 weeks, keeping it moist.  After two weeks, the children filled out observation sheets.

 Next, we obtained some silty soil from a coastal river.  We discussed what erosion can do over time and each of the children placed a layer of the silty soil on top of the “swamp”.  We continue to water it, and about mid-November, we will dig up our “fossils” and record what we see.

 The observations sheet we used can be downloaded HERE.

As our swamp was decaying over the weeks, we continued our coal unit with activities and the movie “Did You Ever Wonder?  Where Does Coal and Electricity Come From?” by Oakleaf Productions.

Investigating Coal Samples

Next, we went through each of the coal samples (Although peat is not a type of coal, it is a product of the early stages of coal development.) and conducted some tests.  Coal is considered a mineral, so we put each sample through some typical minerals tests, including a color streak test and a glass scratch test.  

It was a fun time of discovery for the children.

Coal Mining

Maybe it was the cookies, but this activity was a hit, too! 

To add a twist, rather than give the children their “earth sample” and all of their mining “tools”., each child was given Monopoly money.   They had the option to buy tools – half-size wooden skewers, toothpicks and tweezers.  They were given a magnifying glass as a “bonus” for starting their mining business. 

They had to decide how much of their cash to spend on tools to help mine their “coal” (chocolate chips) and earn a dollar for each piece of coal mined.

 It was interesting to see the strategies each child employed….each approached the purchasing decisions differently.

Cleaning the Coal

So, we have a project (the swamp) to produce coal, we’ve mined the coal, we’ve examined the coal, now, it’s time to clean the coal before we burn it to create steam.

So, we crushed our coal.  Each child’s lignite sample was put into TWO plastic zipper top bags.  Then, each child was given half a brick.  They were encouraged to gently crush the coal (The bags will tear and the coal crushes easily, so hitting it hard is not necessary.) 

We then completed this activity.

This  has been a fun way to replicate, via hands-on activities, the path coal takes to get from the ground to the furnace!

Thank you for visiting.  See you next week!

Michelle

 
Michelle and her husband have been homeschooling for 10 years and enjoy life in a tiny southern town.  They are the owners of Treasure Box Press.  Michelle holds a Master's degree in Child Development and Family Studies. She serves as the Judge Advisor for the North Carolina FIRST (www.usfirst.org) Lego League and a judge for the www.FIRST.org World Festival.  She is the author of numerous Sam's Science Adventures, including "RIC: Robots in the Classroom", all available through www.TreasureBoxPress.com.  She spent 15 years in the biotechnology industry before turning her heart toward home.