Depositional Environments of the Jordan Formation, Winona, MN

Tom Hickson

University of St. Thomas

This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Peer Reviewed Teaching Activities collection. (view details)

This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Reviewed Teaching Collection

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)
Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page

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Initial Publication Date: August 24, 2005 | Reviewed: June 24, 2014 (see revision history: 2 events)

Summary

This project involves a field trip to the Jordan Formation in Winona, MN. Student teams are assigned a section of the outcrop from which they are to determine a stratigraphic column. The class then performs a lateral analysis and builds a composite stratigraphic column for the formation. As a final product, the students write up the class's observations about the formation.

Sedimentary Geology | College Upper (15-16)

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Context

Audience

This activity was designed for an Upper Division Undergraduate class on Sedimentology and Stratigraphy.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

How the activity is situated in the course

This virtual field trip was designed to go along with in class discussion for weeks 6-10 of a 15 week term.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

Measure a detailed section and interpret it in terms of grain size, bedding style and other sedimentary structures.
Correlate two or more sections and interpret lateral variability

Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity

Other skills goals for this activity

Description of the activity/assignment

Project Webpages
Project Summary and Write-up Outline (Acrobat (PDF) 115kB Jul7 05)
Instructor Notes for Project (Acrobat (PDF) 91kB Jul7 05)
Outlines and Notes (Acrobat (PDF) 1.1MB Jul7 05) for each class session for this project

Determining whether students have met the goals

The student must hand in detailed write-ups of the class's observations and conclusions about the formation including figures and pictures of particular features.

More information about assessment tools and techniques.