A Training Workshop on Teaching Mineralogy

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Mineralogy is the inaugural course in the geoscience curriculum, but typically presents major obstacles to learning, and may not be relevant to the contemporary needs of students or society-at-large. This training workshop is designed to develop a variety of hands-on, discovery-oriented laboratory exercises. The goals of the workshop are to develop new materials to make mineralogy more accessible and relevant to our students, and to develop these exercises in accord with modern learning theory. Five different types of learning activities are included: field experiences, "dry labs" (mineral identification, crystal structures), "wet labs" (experimental exercises such as crystal growing), analytical exercises (using XRD and SEM), and computer-assisted learning (modelling programs). Selected workers present model activities at the workshop; the other participants rotate through 16-20 of these new lab exercises at the workshop. All participants develop at least one new exercise, and these are to be field tested at the home institutions during the following semester. These exercises will be compiled and submitted for publication by the Mineralogical Society of America. The product of this workshop will be a core of instructors trained in new instructional methods and materials, and a laboratory workbook of new exercises that may be used by all students in the geosciences.