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AFMS Merit Badges AMERICAN FEDERATION OF MINERALOGICAL SOCIETIES Future Rockhounds of America Badge Program Jim Brace-Thompson AFMS Juniors Program Chair [email protected] (805) 659-3577 This packet is available on-line on the AFMS website: www.amfed.org © 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012 Jim Brace-Thompson & the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies AMERICAN FEDERATION OF MINERALOGICAL SOCIETIES Future Rockhounds of America Badge Program MISSION STATEMENT Future Rockhounds of America is a nationwide nonprofit program within the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies that develops and delivers quality youth activities in the earth sciences and lapidary arts in a fun, family environment. Our underlying goals are to foster science literacy and arts education through structured activities that are engaging and challenging and by which kids—and the adults who mentor them—learn while having fun. INTRODUCTION . Philosophy behind the FRA Badge Program & Suggestions on Using It I‘ve developed this manual so as to enable the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies to sponsor a youth program via Future Rockhounds of America, a program that rewards kids on an on-going basis as a means of encouraging and cultivating their interest in the earth sciences and lapidary arts. Through this, we‘ll uphold our chartered goals as nonprofit, educational organizations by actively seeking to foster and develop science literacy and arts education among our youngest members. My guiding philosophy has three underpinnings. They come from both my own values as a person invested in the positive development of young people and from a wealth of research indicating that if one wants to design and deliver programs that effectively promote positive development among young people, three steps are crucial to enact. We must provide young people opportunities to learn important skills. We must provide these opportunities in the context of positive and continuing youth-adult relationships. And, once youth have these skills, we must give them the opportunity to participate in, as leaders of, the programs we present to them. So first, we learn by doing. Book knowledge is great, but reading 1,001 books won‘t craft a cab. You‘ve got to roll up your sleeves, slice a rock, and watch your thumbnails disappear as you shape and grind that first special gem! Second, we are motivated by goals that are attainable and that offer tangible rewards and recognition, especially if we‘re given a clear roadmap and consistent support and guidance toward reaching those goals. With kids, this means encouraging supportive adult-youth relationships through adult mentors who pledge a relatively long-term commitment. The best program would be one in which children, youth, and adults work, learn, and grow together. The importance of fostering—and maintaining—supportive relationships cannot be stressed enough. A basic expectation of clubs enrolling kids in FRA should be genuine, active, and sustained commitment on the part of the individual youth leaders and the entire club in order to foster strong relationships between adults and young people and young people and their peers. Third, kids are motivated the most when they participate the most, both in choosing the activities they‘d like to engage in and in helping to shape those activities. (I‘m especially pleased to note that one of our newest badge units, Reaching Across Generations, was actually proposed and developed by a junior member!) It‘s with these thoughts in mind that I‘ve developed an AFMS/FRA series of guided activities modeled after the Boy and Girl Scouts Merit Badge™ systems. In the following pages, I describe clusters of activities children and youth could do either on their own or at club meetings or workshops and the badges they can earn as a result. For instance, one is a Rocks & Minerals cluster that involves building one‘s own mineral ID kit with readily available tools and then demonstrating how to use it to identify several common minerals. Another cluster revolves around Lapidary Arts and requires planning and crafting a project such as a cab, wire-wrapped necklace, soapstone sculpture, etc., while also learning the basics of shop tools and safety. In this packet, I lay the groundwork for twenty badges covering the full spectrum of our hobby, including: Rocks & Minerals Earth in Space Earth Resources Gold Panning & Prospecting Fossils Gemstone Lore & Legend Lapidary Arts Stone Age Tools & Art Collecting Rocking on the Computer Showmanship The World in Miniature Communication Special Effects Field Trips Fluorescent Minerals Leadership Reaching Across Generations Earth Processes Maps Local youth leaders are encouraged to adjust the level of each activity to match the age range of the kids involved. Take, for instance, the mineral identification project (Activity 1.2). Very young children might be taught only the basics of color and hardness, and the youth leader could guide them through a hands-on session with just a few very common minerals that are easily identified, such as quartz, calcite, sulfur, malachite, galena, mica, and hematite. Older kids might be given more of a challenge, using a wider range of characteristics to identify a wider range of minerals on their own or in teams after a basic overview. You‘ll also find some activities overlap and can be used to help earn more than one badge at the same time. For instance, among the activities for the Rocks & Minerals and Fossils badges, kids are encouraged to collect rocks, minerals, and fossils, thus simultaneously fulfilling the requirements of Activity 5.1 for the Collecting badge. These aren‘t intended to be isolated, individual activities but part of an integrated whole that ultimately will help kids earn a ―Rockhound‖ badge as a mark of significant achievement after earning a minimum of six of the twenty badges and a ―Rock Star‖ pin if completing all twenty. On the ―Kids Corner‖ section of the AFMS web site, we publish ―honor roll‖ listings of kids who have diligently worked their way to becoming Rockhounds and Rock Stars. Youth should become a central part of our efforts in order to best ensure that we are providing activities that our kids find engaging and worth their time. Thus, I welcome feedback and suggestions from both local youth leaders and kids themselves. How can the existing activities be improved? What new activities can we add? In addition, please alert me to any web sites that may no longer be active; in the 2012 update, I‘ve checked each and every site and have removed those that are no longer in service, but that‘s a never-ending battle as web sites come and go, and I can use all the help I can get to continue monitoring and updating any web sites recommended within these pages. I envision this as an evolving program that grows, adapts, and improves with time and use and with the help of all who use it. It‘s also with youth voice and commitment in mind that I developed the Leadership badge with activities that encourage our more enthusiastic and ambitious junior members to take charge of selecting and organizing activities for their peers. Kids should have choices about which activities they participate in, and they should have a chance to help shape those activities. It‘s through youth voice and participation that we engender empowerment and a social commitment and sense of belonging. It‘s often said that our clubs and societies are declining and, therefore, that we need to attract more young people in order to keep our clubs alive. But saying it in this way puts the cart before the horse. Instead, the focus needs to be on what is best for our youth. Only then will we fire the interest of kids in ways that engender a sense of belonging, with meaningful opportunities from which a lifelong interest and commitment will emerge naturally. Let‘s not put our clubs first—let‘s put kids first! If we can find ways to make youth responsible and fully engaged participants, not just recipients, the long-term health of our clubs will follow as a natural result. Suggestions on Forming a New Youth Group in Your Club I‘m often approached via email or a phone call by a member of a local society or club that would like to use this Badge Program but doesn‘t have a youth group in place. How, they ask, can we get started? Here are seven general ―rules‖ I‘ve learned as a result of talking with folks who have taken the initiative to begin one: Go to where the kids are. Work with local school teachers and youth groups (Boy and Girl Scouts, Big Brother/Big Sister, 4-H, Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCA, summer camps, etc.) and volunteer to give earth science related talks to them in ways that are relevant and that benefit their goals—for instance, by helping teachers cover curricular guidelines in the sciences, or by helping a scout leader complete a geology badge unit. Have a Kids Booth at your annual show with sign-up sheets for parents whose kids have a fascination with rocks and fossils and who would like more information about your club and its activities. Arrange to set up a club booth or table at various community events and festivals. In other words, sketch out and implement a proactive plan to raise your profile within the community and to let everyone know what you can offer in helping to educate and cultivate kids with an interest in our hobby. And if you have just one child in your club, encourage that child to bring a friend. Then provide fun activities that catch their attention in ways that will bring them back month after month, along with still more friends.
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