Plotting Compositions in 2-D and 3-D Space

Dexter Perkins

University of North Dakota

This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Peer Reviewed Teaching Activities collection.

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This activity has received positive reviews in a peer review process involving five review categories. The five categories included in the process are

Scientific Accuracy
Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
Pedagogic Effectiveness
Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
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This page first made public: Jun 8, 2008

Summary

This is a fairly short exercise that can be used for an in-class cooperative learning project or as homework. It includes LOTS of explanation and so is sort of a tutorial. I use it in my petrology class because it works better than lecturing.

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Context

Audience

This exercise is used in a sophomore or junior level required course in petrology.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

Students should have an understanding of basic petrology.

How the activity is situated in the course

This activity is a stand-alone exercise.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

The goal is to get students to understand how compositions can be plotted on a line (2 components) or a triangle (3 components).

Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity

This activity involves plotting and analyzing data.

Other skills goals for this activity

This activity may involve group work.

Description of the activity/assignment

This is a fairly short exercise that can be used for an in-class cooperative learning project or as homework. It includes LOTS of explanation and so is sort of a tutorial.
The goal is to get students to understand how compositions can be ploted on a line (2 components) or a triangle (3 components).
I use it in my petrology class because it works better than lecturing.