The limestone inquiry, 21
st
Century: teachers’
notes
Level
This activity is most appropriate for students aged 14-16 to illustrate useful materials
made from rocks in the context of problems associated with extraction of raw
materials.
The activity also addresses the key skills of communication and working with others.
The activity could be used to help address aspects of citizenship.
Topic
The activity deals with limestone, its uses and some of its chemistry. It also looks at
some of the social, economic and environmental issues concerned with the
extraction of limestone.
Description
The activity is a role-play exercise examining issues related to the quarrying of
limestone in an area of outstanding natural beauty.
Context
Students should already have done some work on the chemistry of limestone,
including some experimental work (see The Chemistry of limestone), and be aware
of some of the uses of limestone and products derived from it (see Limestone in your
everyday life).
Teaching points
The aims of this activity include
complementing and revising prior work on calcium carbonate, limestone and
its uses
developing awareness of issues involved in the responsible exploitation of
mineral resources, particularly concerning environmental impact
providing an opportunity to practise skills in communication, in particular
assembling and presenting an argument
Timing
One approximately 60-minute lesson for the role-play. Preparation time (about 30
minutes in class or homework) is needed beforehand.
Resources
Each student will need copies of the General Briefing (GB) and a copy of those
Specific Briefing Sheets (B1 to B7) appropriate to their role. For a class of 30, 30
copies of the GB sheets and 4 copies of each of the B sheets will be needed.
The activity
Download these sheets in Word or PDF format by clicking on the icons below
GB (General briefing)
B1 (Inspectors)
B2 (RQH)
B3 (Users)
B4 (Trades unions)
B5 (National Park)
B6 (Local residents)
B7 (Local conservation group)