Exercises With Mineral Names, Literature and History
Summary
This activity is a series of exercises I assign outside of class time, with the purpose of getting students to explore the literature resources that are available for mineralogy. The inspiration for the exercises comes from my exasperation with the repeated questions: "Why do we have to know so many minerals?" and "What about these minerals do we have to know?" Rather than saying "Everything that is important," I hope to show students that what they need to know depends on what questions they hope to answer, and that mineralogy developed in historical context, parallel with other sciences.
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Context
Audience
This activity is designed for an undergraduate required course in mineralogy and is generally for sophomore or junior level students.
Skills and concepts that students must have mastered
- Using the library and internet to research a topic
- Optical mineralogy is helpful for assignment 5, where students need to identify their mineral
How the activity is situated in the course
The exercises are designed to stretch over several weeks. I begin the first exercise on the first day of class, and give one assignment per week, but the timing of assignments is flexible. Though the assignments can be incorporated, at the end, into a term paper or research report, I find the separate assignments to work better than the assignment of a single term paper at the outset. This activity is part of a larger volume of classroom and laboratory activities from "Teaching Mineralogy," a workbook published by the Mineralogical Society of America, Brady, J., Mogk, D. W., and Perkins, D., (editors), 1997,406 pp.
Goals
Content/concepts goals for this activity
This activity helps students learn about why a mineral has its particular name and why mineralogy is important.
Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity
Other skills goals for this activity
This activity aids in a student's ability to research using the WWW and the library and to write up a report about their findings.
Description of the activity/assignment
This is a series of 5 assignments I assign outside of class time, with the purpose of getting students to explore the literature resources that are available for mineralogy. The inspiration for the exercises comes from my exasperation with the repeated questions: "Why do we have to know so many minerals?" and "What about these minerals do we have to know?" Rather than saying "Everything that is important," I hope to show students that what they need to know depends on what questions they hope to answer, and that mineralogy developed in historical context, parallel with other sciences.
Determining whether students have met the goals
Students have met the goals of this assignment if they turn in a complete, well-research essay for each assignment.
More information about assessment tools and techniques.Teaching materials and tips
Other Materials
- Assignment description, hand outs, and instructor's notes. (Microsoft Word 41kB May9 08)
- Assignment description, hand outs, and instructor's notes. (Acrobat (PDF) 19kB May9 08)
Supporting references/URLs
Brady, J., Mogk, D. W., and Perkins, D., (editors), 1997, Teaching Mineralogy, a workbook published by the Mineralogical Society of America, 406 pp.
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Mineralogical Society of America - Join today!