UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Students can learn about minerals, crystals, gems, fossils and Earth sciences at the annual Minerals Junior Education Day. The educational program, co-sponsored by Penn State's College of Earth and Minerals Sciences’ Museum and Art Gallery, is designed to encourage the interest of students in grades one through eight in the Earth sciences.

Minerals Junior Education Day will be held Saturday, April 7, at the Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology in Pleasant Gap, Pennsylvania. Starting at 9 a.m., parents can accompany their children to a range of stations with demonstrations, activities and discussions with experts. At the stations, students will receive a properly labeled specimen related to the topic, building a collection as they visit all the stations.

Stations this year include gold panning; caves and karst; petroleum drilling; gemstone cutting and polishing; flame test for mineral identification; fossil shells and bones; a sphere-grinding machine; crystal structure and formation; ultraviolet fluorescence and more.

The cost is $5 per child; parents attend free. Registration is limited. For more information, directions and to register, visit www.nittanymineral.org/juniored.htm.

The event also is co-sponsored by the Nittany Mineralogical Society, the Bald Eagle Chapter of the Gold Prospectors Association of America, and the Junior Museum of Central Pennsylvania.