Improving Undergraduate Learning Through Use of a Low-Vacuum Scanning Electron Microscope with an Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometer

该项目通过将个人电脑控制的LVSEM/EDS整合到本科课程中，优化了专家和新手学生的学习。使用“动手”的发现和研究经验来教育本科生，实现了Bonwell & Eisons（1991）的“主动学习”和Tewksbury（1995）的“远离课堂的策略”等建议。其他教学报告强调研究活动，如美国国家科学基金会的“塑造未来”和霍利迪etal的（1996）“对地球科学教师的研究直言不讳”康涅狄格学院、阿默斯特学院和米德尔伯里学院已经成功地在他们的课程中使用了该仪器。通过将该设备用于本科科学和非科学专业课程，学生可以对一系列标本（如矿物、微化石、海胆、细胞结构、骨工具和陶瓷）进行成像和化学分析，从而促进问题的解决和发现的交流。我们在所有课程（即地质学、生物学、化学和人类学的入门、中级和高级课程）的实验室中实施了这种设备的使用，我们与学院内外的同事分享实验室和结果。该项目对地质学课程产生了特别的影响，因为地质学课程目前有丰富的实地经验，但在适应这些技术的分析实验室经验方面却很差。地质学课程的本科生正在使用LVSEM/EDS进行各种应用，包括分析矿物以获得晶体形式和化学信息，以及通过检查悬浮颗粒物来了解海洋生物地球化学通量。该乐器被纳入整个课程的18门课程。学生们正在体验发现，在科学过程中获得第一手知识（包括假设生成和数据收集），并欣赏科学在他们生活中的重要性和意义。

This project optimizes the expert and novice student learning by adapting the personal-computer controlled LVSEM/EDS which integrates research and discovery-based experiences into undergraduate courses. Using "hands-on" discovery and research experiences to educate undergraduate students implements recommendations such as Bonwell & Eisons' (1991) "Active Learning" and Tewksbury's (1995) "Strategies fro Moving Away from lectures. Other pedagogical reports emphasize research activities such as NSF's "Shaping the Future" and Holliday, etal's (1996) "Straight Talk about Research to Geoscience teachers" Connecticut College, Amherst College and Middlebury College there has been success in using the instrument in their courses. By adapting this equipment to uses in undergraduate science and non-science majors courses, students are imaging and making chemical analysis of a range of specimens (e.g. minerals, microfossils, sea urchins, cell structures, bone tools, and ceramics) which are promoting problem solving and communication of discoveries. We are implementing the use of this equipment in laboratories in courses across the curriculum (i.e. introductory, intermediate, and advanced courses in geology, biology, chemistry, and anthropology) and we share the laboratories and outcomes with colleagues within and outside the college. This project is having a particular impact on the geology curriculum that is currently rich in field experiences, but poor in analytical laboratory experiences by adapting these technologies. Undergraduates in geology courses are using the LVSEM/EDS in a variety of applications including analyzing minerals to obtain information on crystal form and chemistry, and by examining suspended particulate matter to understand marine biogeochemical fluxes. The instrument is incorporated into 18 courses throughout the curriculum. The students are experiencing discovery, acquiring first-hand knowledge in the processes of science (including hypothesis generation and data collection), and appreciating the importance and significance of science in their lives.