Learning pseudosections with Perplex
Dave Hirsch
, Western WA University
Summary
This is a set of five assignments that build upon each other to teach students how to use Perplex to make pseudosections.
Context
Audience
I use this assignment for a good portion of my Advanced Metamorphic Petrology course (graduate students/seniors).
Skills and concepts that students must have mastered
Students should understand the concept of a solution model, and basic thermodynamics.
How the activity is situated in the course
I assign these, one per week, for five consecutive weeks. We spend part of a lab session in the computer lab each week getting started on that week's assignment. Note that I run these on a Macintosh. Some of the text is particular to our computer lab setup, and would need to be modified for others.
Goals
Content/concepts goals for this activity
Goals include understanding the use of thermodynamic databases, learning to use Perplex, understanding pseudosections and how to use Perplex to make them.
Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity
During this activity students learn how to develop computer representations of metamorphic rocks.
Other skills goals for this activity
Students also learn to use the command-line (Mac/Unix/PC) to run computer programs.
Description of the activity/assignment
This is a set of five exercises that teach the basic skills of using Perplex and the possible types of understanding one can gain from the use of internally-consistent thermodynamic databases. The exercises culminate in the creation of a pseudosection for a particular rock.
Determining whether students have met the goals
Students are evaluated by checking that turned-in homework has the correct figures, reactions, etc.
More information about assessment tools and techniques.Download teaching materials and tips
- Activity Description/Assignment (Acrobat (PDF) 314kB Apr20 07)
- Solution Set (Acrobat (PDF) 280kB Apr20 07)
Other Materials
- A zipped set of supporting files to be given to students ( 1.6MB Apr20 07), along with versions of the assignment file ("Perplex Tutorials") in Microsoft Word and Macintosh Pages formats
- A zipped set of supporting files for the instructor ( 17.9MB Apr20 07). This contains all Perplex files for each task, together with correct output for each task.
Supporting references/URLs
Current versions of Perplex (it is updated often) can be found here: http://www.perplex.ethz.ch/perplex.html
