Mona Sirbescu

Investigating an ore deposit: from metal reserve to waste disposal part of Quantitative Skills:Activity Collection
This is an in-class, group activity for a physical geology introductory course based on a simplified hypothetical mining scenario, with the main scope to practice students' problem-solving abilities and cooperative quantitative learning. Students collect specific gravity measurements on sets of mineral samples and apply them to figure out the total metal (iron) content of a given shape of the ore body (quarry bench) of variable ore grade. The experiments, data collecting and problem solving are performed in teams. A short, individually written report may follow as homework.

Earth Processes part of Quantitative Skills:Courses
Physical Geology at introductory level, with emphasis on developing scientific and quantitative skills through experimentation, quantification, and problem solving. It satisfies the quantitative general education requirement and combines lecture and lab in 4 hours per week, 15 week semester. It includes a two week group project and a 5-7 page written report with calculations and graphs.