CompuServe Thread

Hi, Bob– Being an amateur where earth sciences and education are concerned, I am not really a good judge of what a student should learn first as a foundation for serious learning in earth sciences, or what is most important for a student to know if some other major is chosen. I tend to think more in terms of what will catch a student's attention and perhaps lure them into _wanting_ to learn more geology and such. I was already intrigued by math, physics, and chemistry when I met up with minerals, thus certain physical properties of minerals, like cleavage, double refraction (with polarization), crystal forms, and fluorescence were what lured me into collecting and reading about minerals. Even without that interest in other sciences, perhaps anyone would be intrigued if given a bit of junk calcite and a hammer with orders to take out any frustrations on the calcite. After noticing the rhombic shapes, they might be handed some warm vinegar… Once intrigued by minerals, other earth sciences became of interest to me – how did those minerals form (with special attention to how that might help find them)? When I show people my fluorescent minerals, I get asked a lot of questions about what makes them do that – I can explain it with more attention to physics (electron energy states and such), or I can focus on the chemistry (which impurities are involved in each case). From chemistry I could lead a discussion into geology. Something like: "Many fluorites like this one fluoresce blue-violet due to traces of europium which has a particular tendency to migrate into fluorite as it crystallizes. When fluorite forms in a sedimentary environment, as with the fluorspar belt of Illinois and nearby states, the europium is often more or less absent – thus the blue-violet fluorescence in fluorite suggests to me an igneous method of formation." (I do not really know that the fluorescence correlates well with mode of formation, but it fits the specimens I am familiar with, and fits my fuzzy notion that rare earths mainly get concentrated by igneous action.) Normal-light colors could be a similar jumping-off point – the purple of fluorite or amethyst leads to radiation ("did you know granite is radioactive?") effects, radiation-heating of the Earth and its bearing on the age-of-the-Earth debate, which leads to the geologic column and index fossils. Crystal specimens might lead to discussions of hydrothermal activity and then to other igneous processes. Not everyone responds to minerals as I do, but nearly everyone seems to find catastrophes interesting. A discussion of what killed the dinosaurs should be good bait for many. Pay lots of attention to the geologic evidence favoring various theories – geologic processes must be described to make sense of the evidence (what a shame ;). Any K-T boundary digs near NJ to visit? A discussion of why volcanoes form (which leads to lots of plate tectonics), may also make some "catches", and follows from the volcanic theory of dino death. I wonder if a very introductory geo course might best be modeled on the TV series "Connections"? Should it be perfectly willing to wander into the other sciences and back again? Do geology classes ever have "scavenger hunts" in lieu of tests? My collection, and a part of that interest got packed up when I went to college. Some years later, my interest in minerals revived, which led me to this forum, which in turn reactivated the old interest in more general earth sciences. Getting your students on-line may allow them to connect with people who share some specific interest within the earth sciences or can relate said sciences to some other interest of the student. Does your school offer the students access to the Internet? The most basic access must allow them to subscribe to mail lists (see INTERN.TXT in the forum library). A usenet newsgroup reader would allow them to participate in sci.geo.geology – making sure they know how to use it and posting a list of current topics discussed there in your classroom might entice them into reading the newsgroup and thus more into geo-science. CIS can do all this and offer this forum as well, but may be too expensive to allow them all on. Download the messages here and post them on a PC at school for all to look at? It would not teach as much about the new on-line world, but might help with the earth sciences, especially if it can be organized so they can find what best suits them without wading through too much other stuff. –Doug