REE Modeling of Melting and Crystallization
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
For more information about the peer review process itself, please see http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/review.html.
This page first made public: May 17, 2005
Summary
Context
Audience
Skills and concepts that students must have mastered
- students in the course are required to have had two semesters of college chemistry
- students need at least a calculus I mathematics background
- students should have already had a module on the periodic character of the elements and chemical bonding
- the exercise is prefaced by a lecture on the nature of trace elements
How the activity is situated in the course
Goals
Content/concepts goals for this activity
- this activity emphasizes understanding the role of rare earth elements in the magmatic processes of melting and crystallization
- this activity also emphasizes using forward models to compare and contrast the manifestations of these different processes in igneous rocks (basalts)
Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity
- translating mass balance constraints into analytical equations
- understanding the concept of a forward model and its comparison to data
- translating equations into useful numerical tools like spreadsheets
- critical evaluation of model sensitivities/isolation of variables?li>
Other skills goals for this activity
- visualizing numerical data in graphs and diagrams
- participation in class discussion during the delivery and assimilation of lecture materials
Description of the activity/assignment
Determining whether students have met the goals
Assessment includes
- student participation in the class discussion points
- students' write-up of their numerical models
- exploration questions associated with the culminating exercise
Download teaching materials and tips
- Activity Description/Assignment (Acrobat (PDF) 401kB May7 05)
- Solution Set (Excel 84kB May7 05)