When eighth-grade students enter Herbert Turner's earth science class each fall, they get $1 billion to play with.
They also prepare to go into the mining business.
Why? Because Turner, who was named AAPG Teacher of the Year for 1998, believes students learn best from hands-on experiences.
So in the first semester, he arranges students in four-member units playing the board of directors for a fictitious mining company -- and each group's goal is to prepare a multimedia presentation detailing:
- Where they found a selected ore.
- How they developed mines there.
- How the resource was extracted and sold.
- How the product was ultimately put to use.
With a $1 billion fictitious budget to start their company with, they also must present their accounting calculations and cite their corporate expenses for data, land, permits, mining equipment, processing equipment, payroll and reclamation costs for each mining site.
They start by learning how to start -- and by using the Internet to search for mining information and to request data from actual mining companies.
"We use the Internet to determine the value of current metal prices," Turner said, "and that is how they sell their product and make money for their company."
Building Blocks
Turner, 43, teaches earth science and math at Waynesville Middle School in Waynesville, Mo. He received the AAPG teaching award for "Excellence in the Teaching of Natural Resources in Earth Sciences," which is sponsored by AAPG and the AAPG Foundation.
Turner, who spent three years in the U.S. Army, originally planned to go into a career in mining engineering. But after earning his degree in geology from Southwestern Missouri State University in 1985, he decided to fall back on his teaching certificate since the industry was suffering through a downturn.
He's been teaching ever since.
Often, his students arrive in the earth science class already burned out on science classes, in which case Turner's objective is obvious.
"I have to turn them on," he said. "Geology is a love of mine, so I try to energize them back into a love of science.
"I try to teach them how to think, not what to think.
"Natural resources are relevant to students' lives," he continued. "Whether it is the pencil they are writing with or the CD player they use at home, everything they need, own or use comes directly or indirectly from natural resources found in the environment."
He starts off the class each year with the periodic table, teaching students the basic elements of mineral and rock formation.
In the "Mining the Earth" project, students work from several disciplines including geology, statistical mathematics and accounting.
During the geology units in earth science classes and statistics units in math classes, students learn basic skills that they will need to succeed in the mining project, he said. During mineralogy lessons, they learn to identify 32 different minerals and the minerals' physical properties.
"Building student anticipation for the project is an important motivational tool in my teaching," he said.
The Game of Life
Turner then uses computer simulation software programs to teach students how geologists look for structures in resources. The eighth-graders work in groups as oil and natural gas companies to play "Gushers 'n Dusters," a simulated computer game that involves drilling for oil and natural gas.
"The game allows the students practice in interpreting geologic structures," he said, "and sets the major foundation for the accounting procedures they will use in the Mining the Earth project."
At the start of the project, teams randomly select from a list of resources: aluminum, copper, gold, iron, nickel, silver and zinc.
Then using a simulated computer game, they discover the latitude and longitude location of the resource they are looking for. The computer game tells them how much ore is in reserve in a particular site where they can establish a mine.
With that $1 billion play money they buy data, land, permits and other equipment to operate a mining company.
After several weeks, the students make a presentation describing their mining company and its operations.
"As part of the group presentation, I encourage the students to use video cuts, pictures, dioramas and computer-generated slides of the mining processes and geology," Turner said. "I also suggest they bring in items that show the finished product used by man.
"The push in Missouri is to do performance-based and more hands-on types of activities in schools."
In the spring semester, students participate in a detailed water quality monitoring project near the school -- "we do meteorology, oceanography and water quality," Turner said.
Award-Winning Efforts
Turner, a major in the U.S. Army Reserves, is a member of the National Science Teachers Association, the National Earth Science Teachers Association, Science Teachers of Missouri and the Association of Missouri Geologists.
He received the Missouri Department of Conservation Award for outstanding achievement in conservation education in 1992, and was Waynesville R-VI Schools Secondary Science Teacher of the Year for 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1997.
School principal Joe Petrich noted that Turner won the essay contest sponsored by the Mining Industry Council of Missouri last year. In 1995 he was named the Conservation Teacher of the Year by the Missouri Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts.
"Herb is truly a skilled teacher and motivator of students," Petrich said.
A fellow teacher at the school, Darrel Vaughan, said he and Turner have taught as an interdisciplinary team for the past two years. While Turner teaches science and math, Vaughan instructs the same group of students in English and history.
"He is a model teacher who works closely with his colleagues and has earned the respect of his peers and his students," Vaughan said.
With the AAPG Teacher of the Year Award, Turner and his school will receive a $5,000 award. Half of that amount will go to the school. Turner decided to use the funds for the school for new geology-related books for the library.
"I've already spent $800 for books on hydrology and geology and on freshman level college books on mining methods for the library," he said.
The balance of the award goes to Turner personally. He said he has yet to decide how he and his family -- his wife Charlene, a kindergarten teacher, and their two young daughters -- will use the remaining award money.
Turner is an avid rock collector in his spare time. He has been collecting rocks since 1968 and now has 300 varieties of mineral specimens as well as 900 different types of fossils. Part of his collection stays in his classroom so he can use it as a teaching material.
"I believe showing a kid the actual fossil gets him more interested than showing it to him in a book," He said.
Over the 13 years of his teaching career, Turner has inspired some students to go into the industry.
"Right now, I have one mechanical engineer who has graduated and one geologist. Three students are in school working on geology degrees," he said. All are women students.
Although Turner has considered going into the mining industry as a geologist, he's happy in the teaching field.
"You build a personal relationship with the kids. It almost hurts to see them move onto the next level," he said. "When they come back on spring break from college, they come by and talk to you and it's the surprise of the day."