Students in Andrea Durbin’s Advanced Placement Environmental Science class at West Babylon Senior High School recently turned into miners for a lesson on the economics of mining. Using chocolate chip cookies, students learned that ore is a naturally occurring material from which valuable minerals can be extracted at a profit. In their hands-on lab, the chocolate chips represented ore, and the cookie represented the tailings.

In groups, they worked together to keep track of mining costs, including the cost of cookies, equipment rental, and mining and reclamation time.

During the activity, students each “bought” a cookie and rented the mining equipment, represented by flat toothpicks, round toothpicks or paper clips. After setting a timer, they used their tools to remove the chocolate chips from the cookie. Following the removal of all chips, they attempted to replace all the “tailings” or broken pieces of the cookie to replicate the restoration of the land. Students then tallied their chocolate chips, calculating the time it took to complete their mining and the total cost.

Click here to view the Scientists Mine Chocolate Chip Cookies slideshow.

Date Added: 3/19/2025