Using Data to Teach Earth ProcessesAn Illustrated Community Discussion at the 2003 Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America
Donna S. Anderson Colorado School of Mines
GSA Poster (Acrobat (PDF) 5.6MB Oct21 04)
Learning Goals
Content/Concepts:geologic controls on oil/gas accumulations and fluid flow in reservoirs
Geologic Skills:
mapping structure and stratigraphy, observation, sketching, note-taking
Higher Order Thinking Skills:
analyzing multi-scalar data, integrating technology, projecting into the subsurface, iterative thought processes
Other Skills:
3-D visualization, relating different professional workflows
Context
Instructional Level:junior-level undergraduate, petroleum engineering majors
Skills Needed:
mastery of basic science courses; exposure to geology and petroleum engineering principles
Role of Activity in a Course:
culmination of geology education, bridge to capstone, integrated senior design course
Data, Tools and Logistics
Required Tools:nothing specialized required; geophysical datasets donated by industry
Logistical Challenges:
keeping an applied science approach to maintain interest, keeping students comfortable with outdoors, students not always enthusiastic about subject matter
Evaluation
Evaluation Goals:how learning impacts success in senior design course and over a career: does this experience make a difference?
Evaluation Techniques:
Only technique used to date is interviews with alumni.
Description
The field camp consists of daily lab exercises that focus on those aspects of sedimentary and structural geology that control fluid flow in petroleum reservoirs. Topics are linked and build on each other. Surface geology is related to subsurface by looking at outcrop that produce in subsurface; also link with geophysics. The final exercise that ties the labs together is a day-long Acquisition Gams where students use all the tool and knowledge gained to evaluate geologic, engineering and economic potential of fields in the field camp area.