Classroom Investigation: Minerals – Essential Ingredients in Your Life Teaching Guide for Middle School: Notice of Availability

May 8, 2019

In Reply Refer To:
1115 (420) P

EMS TRNSMISSION 06/06/2019
Information Bulletin No. 2019-040

To:                   All Washington Office and Field Office Officials
                        Attn:  Education and Interpretation Staff

From:               Assistant Director, National Conservation Lands and Community Partnerships

Subject:           Classroom Investigation: Minerals – Essential Ingredients in Your Life Teaching Guide for Middle School:  Notice of Availability

The Classroom Investigation: Minerals – Essential Ingredients in Your Life teaching guide for middle school is available to support the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)’s effort to educate the public about the importance of minerals from their public lands.  Through the teaching guide, students learn to identify the various minerals that are used to make all sorts of products, from personal care items and cell phones to kitchen tools and hybrid cars. They also explore one mineral, cobalt, and determine whether it is necessary for the United States to mine it domestically.  By weighing the considerations of mining cobalt, students learn how land managers apply the principle of multiple-use and sustained yield.

As students begin to understand the complexity of multiple-use management, they gain an appreciation of diverse views and avoid the simplistic sloganeering that can bedevil land use decision making. They discover how BLM land managers balance minerals development, recreation, respect for American Indian tribes and Alaska Natives, grazing, and habitat protection. The teaching guide is downloadable from https://www.blm.gov/learn/teachers/classroom-investigations; an electronic version is also attached.

A printed edition of the teaching guide is available; please coordinate with your office Forms Manager to order printed copies (up to 100 per order) free of charge from the BLM Printed Materials Distribution Services (PMDS) at the National Operations Center, at blm_oc_pmds@blm.gov. The PMDS item number is EE2042G. 

BLM teaching guides serve the American family and engage communities in shared conservation stewardship by supporting outreach to schools and educators.  Booklets may be distributed to BLM staff who work with schools or made available at other appropriate education venues. 

For further information, please contact Scott Richardson, BLM Education Specialist in the Division of Education, Interpretation, and Partnerships, at srichardson@blm.gov or (202) 912-7078. 

Signed by:                                                                   Authenticated by:
Nikki Haskett                                                              Robert M. Williams
Acting, Assistant Director                                          Division of Business Resources,WO-850
National Conservation Lands and
   Community Partnerships

1 Attachment
      1 - Classroom Investigation: Minerals – Essential Ingredients in Your Life teaching guide (28 pp)