Prepare an outline on what a family is and discuss this with your merit badge counselor. Tell why families are important to individuals and to society. Discuss how the actions of one member can affect other members.
List several reasons why you are important to your family and discuss this with your parents or guardians and with your merit badge counselor.
Prepare a list of your regular home duties or chores (at least five) and do them for 90 days. Keep a record of how often you do each of them.
With the approval of your parents or guardians and your merit badge counselor, decide on and carry out a project that you would do around the home that would benefit your family. Submit a report to your merit badge counselor outlining how the project benefited your family.
Plan and carry out a project that involves the participation of your family. After completing the project, discuss the following with your merit badge. counselor:
The objective or goal of the project
How individual members of your family participated
The results of the project
Do the following:
Discuss with your merit badge counselor how to plan and carry out a family meeting.
After this discussion, plan and carry out a family meeting to include the following subjects:
Avoiding substance abuse
Understanding the growing-up process and how the body changes, and making responsible decisions dealing with sex
Personal and family finances
A crisis situation within your family
The effect of technology on your family
Discussion of each of these subjects will very likely carry over to more than one family meeting.
Discuss the following with your counselor:
Your understanding of what makes an effective father and why, and your thoughts on the father's role in the family
Your understanding of the responsibilities of a parent.
Discuss with your counselor the safety equipment, tools, and clothing used while checking or repairing farm equipment. Use this equipment, tools, and/or clothing (when needed or called for) in meeting the requirements for this merit badge.
Draw a plan showing a well-equipped farm shop. Point out the shop's mandatory safety devices and features.
Find all the universal warning and safety symbols on a piece of equipment and explain what they mean.
Describe what a material safety data sheet (MSDS) is and tell why it is used. Obtain the MSDS for any engine coolant, oil, grease, fuel, hydraulic or transmission fluid, or other flammable or hazardous materials you use in meeting the requirements for this merit badge.
Explain how power is produced or transferred in a:
Diesel engine
Hydraulic system
Transmission or any other power system.
Do TWO of the following:
Replace the handle on any tool found on the farm.
Organize a tool rack or a storage system for nails, bolts, nuts, and washers.
Using a hand file, properly dress the mushroom head of a chisel or punch.
Using a hand file, properly dress a screwdriver tip.
Do ONE of the following:
On an engine-powered machine: Grease all fittings, change the oil and oil filter, clean the air filter, clean the radiator fins, and replace the fuel filters.
For any engine-powered machine, create a preoperational checklist; include checking the engine coolant, engine oil, hydraulic and/or transmission fluid, and battery voltage (using a voltmeter). Using your checklist, conduct a preoperational check of that machinery or equipment.
Prepare any farm machine for winter storage.
Visit an implement dealer. Interview the dealer, technician, or service manager for hints on good preventive maintenance. Ask why it is important, the costs, and what causes wear or damage? Report what you learn.
Explain each step in ONE of the following maintenance procedures:
Tightening hydraulic fittings
Checking the air filter
Cleaning a work piece with a wire-brush wheel.
Find out about three career opportunities in farm mechanics. Pick one and find out about the education, training, and experience required for this profession. Discuss this with your counselor, and explain why this profession might interest you.
Give a short history of fingerprinting. Tell the difference between civil and criminal identification.
Explain the difference between the automated fingerprint identification systems (AFIA) now used by some law enforcement agencies and the biometric fingerprint systems used to control access to places like buildings, airports, and computer rooms.
Do the following:
Name the surfaces of the body where friction or papillary ridges are found.
Name the two basic principles supporting the science of fingerprints and give a brief explanation of each principle.
Explain what it takes to positively identify a person using fingerprints.
Take a clear set of prints using ONE of the following methods:
Make both rolled and plain impressions. Make these on an 8-by-8-inch fingerprint identification card available from your local police department or counselor.
Using clear adhesive tape, a pencil, and plain paper, record your own fingerprints or those of another person.
Show your merit badge counselor you can identify the three basic types of fingerprint patterns and their subcategories. Using your own hand, identify the types of patterns you see.
Demonstrate the technique of stop, drop, roll, and cool. Explain how burn injuries can be prevented.
List the most frequent causes of burn injuries.
Explain the chemistry and physics of fire. Name the parts of the fire tetrahedron. Explain why vapors are important to the burning process. Name the products of combustion. Give an example of how fire grows and what happens.
Name the most frequent causes of fire in the home and give examples of ways it can be prevented.
Do the following:
Explain the role of human behavior in the arson problem in this country
List the actions that cause seasonal fires and explain how these fires can be prevented.
List common circumstances that cause holiday-related fires and explain how these fires can be prevented.
Conduct a home safety survey with the help of an adult. Then do the following:
Draw a home fire-escape plan, create a home fire-drill schedule, and conduct a home fire drill.
Test a smoke alarm and demonstrate regular maintenance of a smoke alarm.
Explain what to do when you smell gas and when you smell smoke.
Explain how you would report a fire alarm.
Explain what fire safety equipment can be found in public buildings.
Explain who should use fire extinguishers and when these devices can be used.
Explain how to extinguish a grease pan fire.
Explain what fire safety precautions you should take when you are in a public building.
Do the following:
Demonstrate lighting a match safely.
Demonstrate the safe way to start a charcoal fire.
Demonstrate the safe way to melt wax.
Explain the difference between combustible and noncombustible liquids and between combustible and noncombustible fabrics.
Do the following:
Demonstrate the safe way to fuel a lawnmower.
Demonstrate the safety factors, such as proper ventilation, for auxiliary heating devices and the proper way to fuel those devices.
Do the following:
Explain the cost of outdoor and wildland fires and how to prevent them.
Demonstrate setting up and putting out a cooking fire.
Demonstrate using a camp stove and lantern.
Explain how to set up a campsite safe from fire.
Visit a fire station. Identify the types of fire trucks. Find out about the fire prevention activities in your community.
Choose a fire safety-related career that interests you and describe the level of education required and responsibilities of a person in that position. Tell why this position interests you.
Satisfy your counselor that you have current knowledge of all first-aid requirements for Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class ranks.
Do the following:
Explain how you would obtain emergency medical assistance from your home, on a wilderness camping trip, and during an activity on open water.
Explain the term triage.
Explain the standard precautions as applied to bloodborne pathogens.
Prepare a first aid kit for your home. Display and discuss its contents with your counselor.
Do the following:
Explain what action you should take for someone who shows signals of shock, for someone who shows signals of a heart attack, and for someone who shows signals of stroke.
Identify the conditions that must exist before performing CPR on a person. Then demonstrate proper technique in performing CPR using a training device approved by your counselor.
Explain the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED).
Show the steps that need to be taken for someone suffering from a severe cut on the leg and on the wrist. Tell the dangers in the use of a tourniquet and the conditions under which its use is justified.
Explain when a bee sting could be life threatening and what action should be taken for prevention and for first aid.
Explain the symptoms of heat stroke and what action needs to be taken for first aid and for prevention.
Do the following:
Describe the signs of a broken bone. Show first-aid procedures for handling fractures (broken bones), including open (compound) fractures of the forearm, wrist, upper leg, and lower leg using improvised materials.
Describe the symptoms and possible complications and demonstrate proper procedures for treating suspected injuries to the head, neck, and back. Explain what measures can be taken to reduce the possibility of further complicating these injuries.
Describe the symptoms, proper first-aid procedures, and possible prevention measures for the following conditions:
Hypothermia
Convulsions/seizures
Frostbite
Dehydration
Bruises, strains, sprains
Burns
Abdominal pain
Broken, chipped, or loosened tooth
Knocked-out tooth
Muscle cramps
Do TWO of the following:
If a sick or injured person must be moved, tell how you would determine the best method. Demonstrate this method.
With helpers under your supervision, improvise a stretcher and move a presumably unconscious person.
With your counselor's approval, arrange a visit with your patrol or troop to an emergency medical facility or through an American Red Cross chapter for a demonstration of how an AED is used.
Teach another Scout a first-aid skill selected by your counselor.
Describe the meaning and purposes of fish and wildlife conservation and management.
List and discuss at least three major problems that continue to threaten your state's fish and wildlife resources.
Describe some practical ways in which everyone can help with the fish and wildlife effort.
List and describe five major fish and wildlife management practices used by managers in your state.
Do ONE of the following:
Construct, erect, and check regularly at least two artificial nest boxes (wood duck, bluebird, squirrel, etc.) and keep written records for one nesting season.
Construct, erect, and check regularly bird feeders and keep written records of the kinds of birds visiting the feeders in the winter.
Design and implement a backyard wildlife habitat improvement project and report the results.
Design and construct a wildlife blind near a game trail, water hole, salt lick, bird feeder, or birdbath and take good photographs or make sketches from the blind of any combination of 10 wild birds, mammals, reptiles, or amphibians.
Do ONE of the following:
Observe and record 25 species of wildlife. Your list may include mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Write down when and where each animal was seen.
List the wildlife species in your state that are classified as endangered, threatened, exotic, game species, furbearers, or migratory game birds.
Start a scrapbook of North American wildlife. Insert markers to divide the book into separate parts for mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Collect articles on such subjects as life histories, habitat, behavior, and feeding habits on all of the five categories and place them in your notebook accordingly. Articles and pictures may be taken from newspapers or science, nature and outdoor magazines; or from other sources including the Internet (with your parent's permission). Enter at least five articles on mammals, five on birds, five on reptiles, five on amphibians, and five on fish. Put each animal in alphabetical order. Include pictures whenever possible.
Do ONE of the following:
Determine the age of five species of fish from scale samples or identify various age classes of one species in a lake and report the results.
Conduct a creel census on a small lake to estimate catch per unit effort.
Examine the stomach contents of three species of fish and record the findings. It is not necessary to catch any fish for this option. You may visit a cleaning station set up for fishermen or find another, similar alternative.
Make a freshwater aquarium. Include at least four species of native plants and four species of animal life, such as whirligig beetles, freshwater shrimp, tadpoles, water snails, and golden shiners. After 60 days or observation, discuss with your counselor the life cycles, food chains, and management needs you have recognized. After completing requirement 7d to your counselor's satisfaction, with your counselor's assistance, check local laws to determine what you should do with the specimens you have collected.
Using resources found at the library and in periodicals, books, and the Internet (with your parent's permission), learn about three different kinds of work done by fish and wildlife managers. Find out the education and training requirements for each position.
Explain to your counselor the injuries that could occur while fishing and the proper treatment, including cuts, scratches, puncture wounds, insect bites, hypothermia, dehydration, and heat reactions. Explain how to remove a hook that has lodged in your arm. Name and explain five safety practices you should always follow while fishing.
Learn and explain the differences between two types of fishing outfits. Point out and identify the parts of several types of rods and reels. Explain how and when each would be used. Review with your counselor how to care for this equipment.
Demonstrate the proper use of two different types of fishing equipment.
Demonstrate how to tie the following knots: clinch, palomar, turle, blood loop (barrel knot), and surgeon's loop. Explain how each knot is used and when to use it.
Name and identify five basic artificial lures and five natural baits and explain how to fish with them. Explain why bait fish are not to be released.
Explain the importance of practicing Leave No Trace and how it positively affects fishing resources.
Give the regulations affecting game fishing where you live. Explain why they were adopted and what you accomplish by following those regulations.
Explain what good outdoor sportsmanlike behavior is and how it relates to fishermen. Tell how the Outdoor Code of the Boy Scouts of America relates to a fishing sports enthusiast, including the aspects of littering, trespassing, courteous behavior, and obeying fishing regulations.
Catch two different kinds of fish and identify them. Release at least one of them unharmed. Clean and cook another fish.
Explain to your counselor the injuries that could occur while fly-fishing and the proper treatment, including cuts, scratches, puncture wounds, insect bites, hypothermia, dehydration, and heat reactions. Explain how to remove a hook that has lodged in your arm. Name and explain five safety practices you should always follow while fly-fishing.
Discuss how to match a fly rod, line, and leader to get a balanced system. Discuss several types of fly lines, and explain how and when each would be used. Review with your counselor how to care for this equipment.
Demonstrate how to tie proper knots to prepare a fly rod for fishing:
Tie a backing to a fly reel spool using the arbor backing knot.
Attach backing to fly line using the nail knot.
Attach a leader to fly line using the needle knot, nail knot, or loop-to-loop connection.
Add a tippet to a leader using a double surgeon's loop or blood knot.
Tie a fly onto the terminal end of the leader using the improved clinch knot.
Explain how each of the following types of flies are used: dry flies, wet flies, nymphs, streamers, bass bugs, and poppers. What does each imitate? Tie at least two types of the flies mentioned in this requirement.
Demonstrate the ability to cast a fly consistently and accurately using overhead and roll cast techniques.
Go to a suitable fishing location and make observations on the types of insects fish may be eating. Look for flying insects and some that may be on or beneath the water's surface. Look under rocks. Explain the importance of matching the hatch.
Explain the importance of practicing Leave No Trace and how it positively affects fly-fishing resources.
Obtain a copy of the regulations affecting game fishing where you live. Explain why they were adopted and what you accomplish by following them.
Explain what good outdoor sportsmanlike behavior is and how it relates to fishermen. Tell how the Outdoor Code of the Boy Scouts of America relates to a fishing enthusiast, including the aspects of littering, trespassing, courteous behavior, and obeying fishing regulations.
Using the fly-fishing techniques you have learned, catch two different kinds of fish and identify them. Release at least one of them unharmed. Clean and cook another fish.
Prepare a field notebook, make a collection, and identify 15 species of trees, wild shrubs, or vines in a local forested area. Write a description in which you identify and discuss the following:
The characteristics of leaf, twig, cone, or fruiting bodies.
The habitat in which these trees, shrubs, or vines are found
The important ways each tree, shrub, or vine is used by humans or wildlife and whether the species is native or was introduced to the area. If it is not native, explain whether it is considered invasive or potentially invasive.
Do ONE of the following:
Collect and identify wood samples of 10 species of trees. List several ways the wood of each species can be used.
Find and examine three stumps, logs, or core samples that show variations in the growth rate of their ring patterns. In the field notebook you prepared for requirement 1, describe the location or origin of each example (including elevation, aspect, slope, and the position on the slope), and discuss possible reasons for the variations in growth rate. Photograph or sketch each example.
Find and examine two types of animal, insect, or damage on trees. In the field notebook you prepared for requirement 1, identify the damage, explain how the damage was caused, and describe the effects of the damage on the trees. Photograph or sketch each example.
Do the following:
Describe contributions forests make to:
Our economy in the form of products
Our social well-being, including recreation
Soil protection and increased fertility
Clean water
Clean air (carbon cycling, sequestration)
Wildlife habitat
Fisheries habitat
Threatened and endangered species of plants and animals
Tell which watershed or other source your community relies on for its water supply.
Describe what forest management means, including the following:
Multiple-use management
Sustainable forest management
Even-aged and uneven-aged management and silvicultural systems associated with each type
Intermediate cuttings
The role of prescribed burning and related forest management practices
With your parent's and counselor's approval, do ONE of the following:
Visit a managed public or private forest area with its manager or a forester familiar with it. Write a brief report describing the type of forest, the management objectives, and the forestry techniques used to achieve the objectives.
Take a trip to a logging operation or wood-using industrial plant and write a brief report describing:
The species and size of trees being harvested or used and the location of the harvest area or manufacturer
The origin of the forest or stands of trees being utilized (e.g., planted or natural)
The forest's successional stage. What is its future?
Where the trees are coming from (land ownership) or where they are going (type of mill or processing plant)
The products that are made from the trees
How the products are made and used
How waste materials from the logging operation or manufacturing plant are disposed of or utilized
Take part in a forest-fire prevention campaign in cooperation with your local fire warden, state wildfire agency, forester, or counselor. Write a brief report describing the campaign, how it will help prevent wildfires, and your part in it.
Do the following:
Describe the consequences to forests that result from FIVE of the following elements: wildfire, absence of fire, insects, tree diseases, air pollution, overgrazing, deer or other wildlife overpopulation, improper harvest, and urbanization.
Explain what can be done to reduce the consequences you discussed in 6a.
Describe what you should do if you discover a forest fire and how a professional firefighting crew might control it. Name your state or local wildfire control agency.
Visit one or more local foresters and write a brief report about the person (or persons). Or, write about a forester's occupation including the education, qualifications, career opportunities, and duties related to forestry.
Grow six vegetables, three from seeds and three from seedlings, through harvesting.
Grow six flowers, three from seeds and three from seedlings, through flowering.
Give the food value of the following:
Three root or tuber crops.
Three vegetables that bear above the ground.
Three fruits
Test 100 garden seeds for germination. Determine the percentage of seeds that germinate. Explain why you think some did not germinate.
Visit your county extension agent's office, local university agricultural college, nursery, or a botanical garden or arboretum. Report on what you learned.
Identify five garden pests (insects, diseased plants). Recommend two solutions for each pest. At least one of the two solutions must be an organic method.
Do ONE of the following:
Build a compost bin and maintain it for 90 days.
Build a vermipost bin (worm compost bin) and maintain it for 90 days.
Build a hydroponic garden containing three vegetables or herbs, or three ornamental plants. Maintain this garden through harvest or flowering, or for 90 days.
Build one water garden, either in a container (at least 12 by 6 inches and 6 inches deep), or in the ground as a small, decorative pond no larger than 6 by 3 feet and 24 inches deep. Maintain the water garden for 90 days.
Explain to your counselor what the words genealogy, ancestor, and descendant mean.
Do ONE of the following:
Do a time line for yourself or for a relative. Then write a short biography based on that time line.
Keep a journal for 6 weeks. You must write in it at least once a week.
With your parent's help, choose a relative or a family acquaintance you can interview in person, by telephone, or by e-mail or letter. Record the information you collect so you do not forget it.
Do the following:
Name three types of genealogical resources and explain how these resources can help you chart your family tree.
Obtain at least one genealogical document that supports an event that is or can be recorded on your pedigree chart or family group record. The document could be found at home or at a government office, religious organization, archive, or library.
Tell how you would evaluate the genealogical information you found for requirement 4b.
Contact ONE of the following individuals or institutions. Ask what genealogical services, records, or activities this individual or institution provides, and report the results:
A genealogical or lineage society
A professional genealogist (someone who gets paid for doing genealogical research)
A surname organization, such as your family's organization
A genealogical education facility or institution.
A genealogical record repository of any type (courthouse, genealogical library, state or national archive, state library, etc.)
Begin your family tree by listing yourself and include at least two additional generations. You may complete this requirement by using the chart provided in the Genealogy merit badge pamphlet or the genealogy software program of your choice.
Complete a family group record form, listing yourself and your brothers and sisters as the children. On another family group record form, show one of your parents and his or her brothers and sisters as the children. This requirement may be completed using the chart provided or the genealogy software program of your choice.
Do the following:
Explain the effect computers and the Internet are having on the world of genealogy.
Explain how photography (including microfilming) has influenced genealogy.
Discuss what you have learned about your family and your family members through your genealogical research.
Explain to your counselor the most likely hazards you may encounter while participating in geocaching activities and what you should do to anticipate, help prevent, mitigate, and respond to these hazards.
Discuss first aid and prevention for the types of injuries or illnesses that could occur while participating in geocaching activities, including cuts, scrapes, snakebite, insect stings, tick bites, exposure to poisonous plants, heat and cold reactions (sunburn, heatstroke, heat exhaustion, hypothermia), and dehydration.
Discuss how to properly plan an activity that uses GPS, including using the buddy system, sharing your plan with others, and considering the weather, route, and proper attire.
Discuss the following with your counselor:
Why you should never bury a cache
How to use proper geocaching etiquette when hiding or seeking a cache, and how to properly hide, post, maintain, and dismantle a geocache
The principles of Leave No Trace as they apply to geocaching
Explain the following terms used in geocaching: waypoint, log, cache, accuracy, difficulty and terrain ratings, attributes, trackable. Choose five additional terms to explain to your counselor.
Explain how the Global Positioning System (GPS) works. Then, using Scouting’s Teaching EDGE, demonstrate the use of a GPS unit to your counselor. Include marking and editing a waypoint, changing field functions, and changing the coordinate system in the unit.
Do the following:
Show you know how to use a map and compass and explain why this is important for geocaching.
Explain the similarities and differences between GPS navigation and standard map reading skills and describe the benefits of each.
Explain the UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) system and how it differs from the latitude/longitude system used for public geocaches.
Show how to plot a UTM waypoint on a map. Compare the accuracy to that found with a GPS unit.
Describe the four steps to finding your first cache to your counselor. Then mark and edit a waypoint.
With your parent’s permission*, go to www.geocaching.com. Type in your zip code to locate public geocaches in your area. Share the posted information about three of those geocaches with your counselor. Then, pick one of the three and find the cache.
*To fulfill this requirement, you will need to set up a free user account with www.geocaching.com. Ask your parent for permission and help before doing so.
Do ONE of the following:
If a Cache to Eagle® series exists in your council, visit at least three of the locations in the series. Describe the projects that each cache you visit highlights, and explain how the Cache to Eagle program helps share our Scouting service with the public.
Create a Scouting-related Travel Bug® that promotes one of the values of Scouting. "Release" your Travel Bug into a public geocache and, with your parent’s permission, monitor its progress at www.geocaching.com for 30 days. Keep a log, and share this with your counselor at the end of the 30-day period.
Set up and hide a public geocache, following the guidelines in the Geocaching merit badge pamphlet. Before doing so, share with your counselor a six-month maintenance plan for the geocache where you are personally responsible for the first three months. After setting up the geocache, with your parent’s permission, follow the logs online for 30 days and share them with your counselor.
Explain what Cache in Trash Out (CITO) means, and describe how you have practiced CITO at public geocaches or at a CITO event. Then, either create CITO containers to leave at public caches, or host a CITO event for your unit or for the public.
Plan a geohunt for a youth group such as your troop or a neighboring pack, at school, or your place of worship. Choose a theme, set up a course with at least four waypoints, teach the players how to use a GPS unit, and play the game. Tell your counselor about your experience, and share the materials you used and developed for this event.
Define geology. Discuss how geologists learn about rock formations. In geology, explain why the study of the present is important to understanding the past.
Pick three resources that can be extracted or mined from Earth for commercial use. Discuss with your counselor how each product is discovered and processed.
Review a geologic map of your area with your counselor and discuss the different rock types and estimated ages of rocks represented. Determine whether the rocks are horizontal, folded, or faulted, and explain how you arrived at your conclusion.
Do ONE of the following:
With your parent's and counselor's approval, visit with a geologist, land use planner, or civil engineer. Discuss this professional's work and the tools required in this line of work. Learn about a project that this person is now working on, and ask to see reports and maps created for this project. Discuss with your counselor what you have learned.
Learn about the career opportunities available in geology. Pick one that interests you and explain how to prepare for such a career. Discuss what courses might be useful for such a career. You may use resources found on the Internet (with your parent's permission), at the library, in books and articles from periodicals, from television programs, and at school.
Complete ONE of the options listed below A, B, C, or D.
Surface and Sedimentary Processes Option
Conduct an experiment approved by your counselor that demonstrates how sediments settle from suspension in water. Explain to your counselor what the exercise shows and why it is important.
Using topographical maps provided by your counselor, plot the stream gradients (different elevations divided by distance) for four different stream types (straight, meandering, dendritic, trellis). Explain which ones flow fastest and why, and which ones will carry larger grains of sediment and why.
On a stream diagram, show areas where you will ,find the following features: cut bank, fill bank, point bar, medial channel bars, lake delta. Describe the relative sediment grain size found in each feature.
Conduct an experiment approved by your counselor that shows how some sedimentary material carried by water may be too small for you to see without a magnifier.
Visit a nearby stream. Find clues that show the direction of water flow, even if the water is missing. Record your observations in a notebook, and sketch those clues you observe. Discuss your observations with your counselor.
Energy Resources Option
List the top five Earth resources used to generate electricity in the United States.
Discuss source rock, trap, and reservoir rock - the three components necessary for the occurrence of oil and gas underground.
Explain how each of the following items is used in subsurface exploration to locate oil or gas: reflection seismic, electric well logs, stratigraphic correlation, offshore platform, geologic map, subsurface structure map, subsurface isopach map, and core samples and cutting samples.
Using at least 20 data points provided by your counselor, create a subsurface structure map and use it to explain how subsurface geology maps are used to find oil, gas, or coal resources.
Do ONE of the following activities:
Make a tabletop display showing how oil and gas or coal is found, extracted, and processed. You may use maps, books, articles from periodicals, and research found on the Internet (with your parent's permission). Share the display with your counselor or a small group (such as your class at school) in a five minute presentation.
With your parent's and counselor's permission and assistance, arrange for a visit to an operating drilling rig. While there, talk with a geologist and ask to see what the geologist does onsite. Ask to see cutting samples taken at the site.
Mineral Resources Option
Define rock. Discuss the three classes of rocks including their origin and characteristics.
Define mineral. Discuss the origin of minerals and their chemical composition and identification properties, including hardness, specific gravity, color, streak, cleavage, luster, and crystal form.
Do ONE of the following:
Collect 10 different rocks or minerals. Record in a notebook where you obtained (found, bought, traded) each one. Label each specimen, identify its class and origin, determine its chemical composition, and list its physical properties. Share your collection with your counselor.
With your counselor's assistance, identify 15 different rocks and minerals. List the name of each specimen, tell whether it is a rock or mineral, and give the name of its class (if it is a rock) or list its identifying physical properties (if it is a mineral).
List three of the most common road building materials used in your area. Explain how each material is produced and how each is used in road building.
Do ONE of the following activities:
With your parent's and counselor's approval, visit an active mining site, quarry, or sand and gravel pit. Tell your counselor what you learned about the resources extracted from this location and how these resources are used by society.
With your counselor, choose two examples of rocks and two examples of minerals. Discuss the mining of these materials and describe how each is used by society.
With your parent's and counselor's approval, visit the office of a civil engineer and learn how geology is used in construction. Discuss what you learned with your counselor.
Earth History Option
Create a chart showing suggested geological eras and periods. Determine which period the rocks in your region might have been formed.
Explain to your counselor the processes of burial and fossilization, and discuss the concept of extinction. Identify three plants or animals on the threatened or endangered list of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Explain to your counselor how fossils provide information about ancient life, environment, climate, and geography. Discuss the following terms and explain how animals from each habitat obtain food: benthonic, pelagic, littoral, lacustrine, open marine, brackish, fluvial, eolian, protected reef.
Collect 10 different fossil plants or animals. Record in a notebook where you obtained (found, bought, traded) each one. Classify each specimen to the best of your ability, and explain how each one might have survived and obtained food. Tell what else you can learn from these fossils.
Do ONE of the following:
Visit a science museum or the geology department of a local university that has fossils on display. With your parent's and counselor's approval, before you go, make an appointment with a curator or guide who can show you how the fossils are preserved and prepared for display.
Visit a structure in your area that was built using fossiliferous rocks. Determine what kind of rock was used and tell your counselor the kinds of fossil evidence you found there.
Discuss safety on the golf course. Show that you know first aid for injuries or illnesses that could occur while golfing, including heat reactions, dehydration, blisters, sprains, and strains.
Study the USGA Rules of Golf now in use.
Tell about the three categories of golf etiquette.
Show that you know about the definitions of golf terms.
Show that you understand the "Rules of Amateur Status."
Tell about your understanding of the USGA system of handicapping.
Do the following:
Tell about the early history of golf.
Describe its early years in the United States.
Tell about the accomplishments of a top golfer of your choice.
Discuss with your counselor vocational opportunities related to golf.
Do the following:
Tell how golf can contribute to a healthy lifestyle, mentally and physically.
Tell how a golf exercise plan can help you play better. Show two exercises that would improve your game.
Show the following:
The proper grip, stance, posture, and key fundamentals of a good swing.
The full wood shot, played from a tee.
The fairway wood shot.
The long iron shot.
The short iron shot.
The approach, chip-and-run, and pitch shots.
The sand iron shot, bunker, or heavy rough recovery shots.
A sound putting stroke
Play a minimum of two nine-hole rounds or one 18-hole round of golf with another golfer about your age and with your counselor, or an adult approved by your counselor. Do the following: :
Follow the "Rules of Golf".
Practice good golf etiquette.
Show respect to fellow golfers, committee, sponsor, and gallery.
Review with your counselor the processes for producing printed communications: offset lithography, screen printing, electronic/digital, relief, and gravure. Collect samples of three products, each one produced using a different printing process, or draw diagrams to help with your description.
Explain the difference between continuous-tone, line, and halftone artwork. Describe how it can be created and/or stored in a computer.
Design a printed piece (flier, T-shirt, program, form, etc.) and produce it. Explain your decisions for the typeface or typefaces you use and the way you arrange the elements in your design. Explain which printing process is best suited for printing your design. If desktop publishing is available, identify what hardware and software would be appropriate for outputting your design.
Produce the design you created for requirement 3 using one of the following printing processes:
Offset lithography
Make a layout and produce a plate using a process approved by your counselor. Run the plate and print at least 50 copies.
Screen printing
Make a hand-cut or photographic stencil and attach it to a screen that you have prepared. Mask the screen and print at least 20 copies.
Electronic/digital printing
Using both text and graphics, create a layout in electronic form, download it to the press or printer, and run 50 copies.
Relief printing
Prepare a layout or set the necessary type. Make a plate or lock up the form. Use this to print 50 copies.
Review the following postpress operations with your counselor:
Discuss the finishing operations of paddling, drilling, cutting, and trimming.
Collect, describe, or identify examples of the following types of binding: perfect, spiral, plastic comb, saddle stitched, and case.
Do ONE of the following, then describe the highlights of your visit:
Visit a newspaper printing plant: Follow a story from the editor to the press.
Visit a retail, commercial or in-plant printing facility: Follow a project from beginning to end.
Visit a school's graphic arts program: Find out what courses are available and what the prerequisites are.
Visit three Web sites (with your parent's permission) that belong to graphic arts professional organizations and/or printing-related companies (suppliers, manufacturers, printers): With permission of your parent or counselor, print out or download product or service information from two of the sites.
Find out about three career opportunities in graphic arts. Pick one and find out the education, training, and experience required for this profession. Discuss this with your counselor, and explain why this profession might interest you.
