Minerals, Where and Why was developed in 1994 with funding from the US Bureau of Mines and the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America. The program runs on both Mac and PC platforms. As you walk through a house you click on objects you see and the program tells you about the minerals used to make the object in the "Why" portion. The "Where" portion of the program tells about the minerals found in each state. The "Minerals" portion includes a list of 30 minerals and how to identify them. The photographs in the program are very high quality. A web version of the program should be released by the end of 2001 or early 2002. You can hear more about MWW here.
The South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy commissioned a version of Minerals, Where and Why for South Africa. It is similar to the United States version except that it was designed for the South African school system.
The American Geological Institute with funding from NSF and corporate sponsors has produced a middle school and high school earth science curriculum that is designed around the national science educations standards. I wrote the minerals module for the middle school project EarthWorks!. I was the team leader for the unit on earth resources for high school project EarthComm and wrote the chapter on mineral resources. For more information visit the AGI web page.
Sustaining Youth in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.
School visits.
I enjoy speaking to schools about careers in engineering, geology, mining, and environmental science. If you would like me to speak to your class contact me at mpoulton@u.arizona.edu