Olympus Mons and Hawaii part of Introductory Courses:Activities
Carol Ormand Ph.D., Carleton College
Students estimate the volume of Olympus Mons and the volume of lava that has erupted from the Hawaiian hotspot and compare them.

Effects of Pressure and Temperature on Igneous Rocks CogSketch geoscience worksheet part of Introductory Courses:Activities
Bridget Garnier
Sketching activity that uses a sketch-understanding program, CogSketch. Using pressure/temperature charts with a solidus line, students draw arrows to show how the pressure and temperature and state of a rock would ...

Modeling Exsolution (and Perthite Formation) as an Example of Complex-System Behavior part of Complex Systems:Teaching Activities
Dave Mogk, Montana State University-Bozeman; Barb Dutrow, Louisiana State University
Students use a physical model, computer simulation, examples from the natural world, visualizations, and overarching thought experiments to explore this phenomenon. Exsolution embodies attributes of a complex ...

Peritectic Phase Diagram part of Petrology:Teaching Examples
Dexter Perkins, University of North Dakota-Main Campus
An exercise to help students figure out what is going on with peritectic phase diagrams. It is NOT trivial.

Introduction to Ternary Phase Diagrams part of Petrology:Teaching Examples
Dexter Perkins, University of North Dakota-Main Campus
Includes a number of hands-on exercises involving ternary phase diagrams. Some questions are quite easy, some are not.

The use of visualization and sketches of thin sections to encourage a better understanding of phase diagrams: Binary and ternary phase diagram exercises part of Petrology:Teaching Examples
Jennifer M. Wenner and Drew S. Coleman
In these homework exercises, students manipulate two- and three- component phase diagrams. At various points during their interpretation of melting or crystallization of a composition, they are asked to ...

Calculating Compositional Variation and Common Substitutions for Igneous and Metamorphic Minerals part of Petrology:Teaching Examples
Dave Mogk, Montana State University-Bozeman
This problem set uses Excel spreadsheets to calculate mineral formulae from analytical data (typically from the electron microprobe) using a variety of formulations that assume numerous variations of crystal ...

What Goes into Making Volcanic Arc Magmas, and How Do We Know It? part of MARGINS Data in the Classroom:MARGINS Mini-Lessons
Jeff Ryan, University of South Florida-St. Petersburg
This activity is a directed reading exercise focused on papers that have been key to our understanding of the major source contributors to subduction zone volcanic rocks.

Geothermal Gradients part of Petrology:Teaching Examples
Cameron Davidson, Carleton College
In this problem set the students use two different equations to calculate a conductive geothermal gradient using a spreadsheet program like Excel. Once they have the geothermal gradient plotted, they are asked to ...

Simple Peritectic Exercise: Leucite-Quartz part of Petrology:Teaching Examples
Dexter Perkins, University of North Dakota-Main Campus
This can be done as an in-class exercise (I use it as a group project) or as homework. It is intended to help students learn how to interpret and use peritectic diagrams.