Geology curriculum through the School Crystal Growing Competition

Teachers have been looking for different materials and resources that allowed them to increase their student’s interest and motivation in scientific subjects. Recently it seems that they have found a way to do it by using non-formal activities such as scientific fairs and contests. However, these activities are not just an occasional complement for formal education but an interesting teaching aid which can be very useful to improve education.
In this article an analysis of Aragon’s curriculum is presented. It is focused in the geologyrelated subjects in compulsory and non-compulsory secondary education. The aim of the study is to determine which contents could be covered while participating in a school growing-crystals competition named Concurso de Cristalización en la Escuela. Results showed that the contest´s activities may be useful to work different contents from several topics as well as to reach the objectives that are proposed for the subject. Finally, it has been discovered that the contest could be an interesting tool to change some of the student’s misconceptions.