Examples of Good Practice in Earth Science
Learning & Teaching:

Basic Maths / Science Skills

Do geologists need to understand some chemistry?
Robin Gill (Department of Geology, Royal Holloway, University of London)

The University of Bristol 'Quantative Skills' Programme.
Heidy Mader (Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol)

Interactive Mathematics and Geoscience Education (IMAGE)
Helen Joyce (Department of Geological Sciences, UCL)

Baseline Assessment
Dave Croot (School of Geographical Sciences, University of Plymouth)

Basic Skills Material by the UK Earth Science Courseware Consortium
Bill Sowerbutts (Department of Earth Sciences, University of Manchester)

Do geologists need to understand some chemistry? If so, what and how?

Robin Gill, Department of Geology, Royal Holloway, University of London

A basic fundamental understanding of chemical principals, as distinct from Geochemistry, underlies much of what we do as Earth Scientists (e.g. petrology, mineralogy). With the breadth of students entering Universities today with different standards of science attainment it is not appropriate to simply farm them out to Chemistry departments to deal with. The basic scientific fundamentals which underpin the Earth Sciences need to be delivered in context.

What needs should we cater for?

The student's immediate chemistry needs in coping with a flexible Geology BSc or MSci degree programme (ensuring that later options are not denied).
Those aspects of general chemical literacy that will inform a professional working life in the new millennium.

So, do geology students actually need to understand any chemistry?.......YES

Learning Objectives - what ought students to understand?

Nuclei
Atoms
Bonding and minerals
Periodic table
Crystals
Phase equilibrium / mineral stability / melts
Rates
Solutions
Elements
Organics

The objectives in italic are used as exemplars below:

e.g. Bonding and Minerals
Learning Objective:
Understand why atoms bond, the types of bonds they form, the properties on which bond-type depends and the influence of bond type on the characteristics of geological materials.

Topics Included
Electronegativity in the Periodic Table, ionic, covalent, metallic, hydrogen and van der Waals, instances of minerals, consequences for mineral properties - mechanical, optical, thermal and electrical.

Applications
Explaining why quartz, pyrite, calcite and graphite are so different.

Applications 1: Why does pyrite resemble a metal?
Sulphides lie in an intermediate position in the mean-electronegativity versus difference-in-electronegativity surface (shown right) between oxide-type bonds and those in metals, indicating an affinity between sulphide and metallic bonding. This diagram is a development of the more familiar Pauling ionicity versus difference-in-electronegativity diagram on the left.

Applications 2: Why is calcite so strongly birefringent?

The sp2 hybrid used by the carbon atom in forming the carbonate ion involves Y-shaped delocalised electron clouds above and below the planar complex (see right, from Chemical Fundamentals of Geology). These clouds are readily polarised by electromagnetic radiation vibrating as in (a), giving rise to a high refractive index for such waves, but not by waves vibrating in direction (b) which therefore experience a lower refractive index.

e.g. Phase Equilibrium / Mineral Stability
Learning Objectives
Understand why minerals may be stable in some circumstances and not in others; understand the meaning of phase diagrams and be able to interpret them quantitatively; predict aspects of phase diagrams from thermochemical data.

Topic Included
Ranges of P and T relevant to mineral reactions; DS, DV & dP/dT; T-X and P-T diagrams; eutectic, cotectic and solid solution I phase diagrams; lever rule, Le Chatelier, Clapeyron; fractional and equilibrium crystallisation; partial melting

Applications
Magma evolution; partial melting; prograde and retrograde reactions.

Applications: Melting in the Iherzolite Mantle

The figures illustrate an area of petrology where a secure understanding of chemical equilibrium aids the student. The right hand diagram shows the formation of the initial melt in the system Di-Fo-En at 20 kbars (2 Gpa), and emphasises that all three phases present (in this simplified mantle model) participate in melting and contribute to the initial eutectic melt (red dot). It helps to dismiss the common student misconception that different phases melt individually, one after the other. The left hand diagram, representing a hypothetical 'thin-section view' of melting geometry, reinforces the point and allows one to test student comprehension:

if melting involves all three minerals, at which points in this section can melting begin? Clearly only at 3-phase (as opposed to 2-phase or 1-phase) junctions.
The initial melt must be in equilibrium with all three minerals.
Thus melting begins when all three minerals are in mutual contact.

Skills - Numerical
Geology students should be able to:

Manipulate chemical concentrations between mass (e.g. 'weight' %) and molar (e.g. mole fraction) forms.
Express chemical quantities in appropriate units (e.g. equilibrium constant).
Test models and equations against chemical data (e.g. a rate equation).
Appropriate manipulations of chemical data (e.g. in a spreadsheet).

Skills - Interpretative
Geology students should be able to (for example)

Interpret phase diagrams and relate to geological conditions (P, PH2O, T.....) and processes.
Predict features (e.g. dP/dT) of phase diagrams from thermochemical data (e.g. DV, DS).
Identify elements from simple elemental spectra (e.g. XFRS).

Skills - Laboratory?
Beneficial if facilities are available, but not essential?

Weigh sample.
Make up to a volume.
Dilute to a volume.
Prepare standards and calibration.
Simple titration.
Measurement of pH (e.g. in field?).
Estimate precision and bias.

How can foundation chemistry best be delivered?	Consensus from Participants
An introductory course delivered by the Chemistry department?	Not recommended
An introductory course delivered by the Geology department?	Slightly better
By a progression of timely, relevant interventions in mainstream Geology courses?	Best solution

Conclusions

Students (and graduates) benefit from a basic understanding of relevant chemistry (as distinct from applied geochemistry).
It is preferable to teach this as part of the geology curriculum.
There may be merit in delivering such material as a series of 'interventions' in geology courses, where its relevance can be most clearly demonstrated.
However, it is important that such interventions should form part of an agreed overall (chemistry) curriculum with pre-defined learning objectives.

The University of Bristol 'Quantitative Skills' Programme.

Heidy Mader, Department of Earth Science, University of Bristol

The Quantitative Skills programme of the Department of Earth Science at the University of Bristol is a 2nd year programme aimed at improving the mathematical skills of the Geology and Environmental Geoscience undergraduates. Staff at Bristol were concerned because some students seemed unable to do even very simple mathematical manipulations reliably and confidently, had little feel for magnitude and trend and were generally unable to interpret quantitative information, despite the fact that they are regularly presented with quantitative information and theory relating to Earth Science topics.

Aims/Constraints

Focus on basic skills
Relevance of mathematics to Earth Sciences.
Transparency
Transferable skills.
Make students responsible for their learning.
Minimise load on staff.

Structure:

TAUGHT COURSE: 6 practicals in first 3 weeks of 2nd year on errors, calculus and statistics.
INDEPENDENT ASSIGNMENTS: 12 in total, 1 every two weeks throughout the 2nd year.

Sources of Support:

Departmentally produced handbook and other recommended texts.
Website (worked solutions).
Tutorials (in collaboration with maths/education; tutors are level 3 mathematics students)

Assessment:

Submission of 80% of work = credit points.
Mark based on practicals and termly tests. (Tests aimed at basic skills. No choice. Pass mark of 50%).

The Quantitative Skills programme is designed to place the onus on the student for their learning and to emphasise to the student the importance of mathematics to their subject. It was also important to put together a programme that, whilst supporting the students, is not overly demanding of staff time. It runs throughout the 2nd year and involves 6 taught practicals and 12 independent assignments. There are no formal lectures. Some 15 teaching staff are involved in producing material for the programme. Assessment is based on the practicals and termly tests. Students are supported in office hours with teaching staff and through tutorials with 3rd year mathematics undergraduates who take these tutorials as the practical part of a mathematics teaching option.

Interactive Mathematics and Geoscience Education (IMAGE)

Helen Joyce, Department of Geological Sciences, UCL

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/geolsci/edu/ugrads/image.htm

What is IMAGE?
IMAGE - Interactive Geoscience and Mathematics Education - is a project developed in the Department of Geological Sciences at University College London with funding from the HEFCE Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning (FDTL).

The project aims to develop essential skills applicable to geoscience education, primarily under the subdivisions of mathematics and fieldwork.

The mathematical skills component is focussed towards developing a suite of modular learning materials for self-study that will provide

the means for geology students to quickly develop mathematical knowledge and skills they may be lacking on entry to the undrgraduate programme,
the means for students to review mathematical concepts when and where necessary and relate these concepts to 'geological' situations,
to provide support for the development of mathematical skills through graduate level with particular emphasis on more advanced geometry, data analysis, graphical representation and statistics.

The computer-aided learning package is provided on the World Wide Web and is intended to run alongside lectures together with postgraduate-provided support in the computer lab. The package enables students to learn independently at their own pace.

The package is made up of three sets of maths modules: the revision modules, the first-level modules and the second-level modules. Each of the first-level and second-level modules starts with a geological context in which some maths arises. From there you can go into the "MathHelp Notebook" on that particular topic. There is also a "glossary" of mathematical words, giving a brief explanation of a given keyword and the option to go to the relevant module.

For more information on the mathematics modules produced by the IMAGE project see their web pages at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/geolsci/edu/ugrads/geomaths/front.htm from where you can order copies of the material on CDROM, formatted for Mac and PC.

Baseline Assessment

Dave Croot, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Plymouth

It is becoming widely recognised that students entering Earth Sciences programmes in HE do so from an increasingly wide range of backgrounds. These days not only do many lack geological knowledge, but they may also have patchy numeracy and scientific backgrounds as well. It can no longer be assumed that even those with apparent strength in some areas are able to cross-apply their skills to a geological context.

Under the auspices of the SEED (Science Education Enhancement and Development) project at the University of Plymouth (http://www.science.plym.ac.uk/departments/seed/), a PC-based system of skills testing, which included some contextualised numeracy/data interpretation tests, was developed and piloted.

Further information on the format of these tests is not currently available but as they were produced as part of an FDTL project it is hoped / assumed that they will be made public shortly. Further information will be posted on the Earth Science Staff Development website as it comes available.

An important issue arising from the use of such baseline assessments is that of support - if students are shown that they are not doing well then there must be support available (tutor and/or computer-based) to help them improve.

Basic Skills Material by the UK Earth Science Courseware Consortium

Bill Sowerbutts, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Manchester

http://www.man.ac.uk/Geology/CAL/index.html

The UK Earth Science Courseware Consortium (UKESCC) is a non-profit making joint venture involving 47 Earth Science departments in UK universities and colleges. The UKESCC was established in 1992 to develop, produce and distribute high quality interactive courseware for use in Earth Science teaching and learning. Between 1992 and 1995 the UKESCC received development funding from the UK Higher Education Funding Councils as part of their Teaching and Learning Technology Programme (TLTP). Since 1996 the UKESCC has been working towards becoming self-financing by making its Earth Science courseware available for purchase by institutions and individuals outside the Consortium.

The Courseware comprises a suite of 20 modules covering a range of Earth Science subjects and is available for both PC (Windows) and Macintosh computers. The modules are supplied on CD-ROM with installation notes and a user guide for each module. A list of available modules is given in the bibliography section at the end of this booklet.

Basic Skills in Earth Sciences
by Arl�ne Hunter, Dee Edwards and Dave Williams (The Open University)

This courseware module covers some of the fundamental principles of maths, chemistry and physics needed to study first year geology at university level. It enables students to revise the specific topics they need and so increase their confidence to cope with these topics in their coursework. The module is subdivided into three main areas: maths, chemistry and physics. Within each subdivision the ideas presented use geological examples. In this way students are introduced to some of the science in geology and the hope is that this will make the module both interesting and relevant to their coursework.

This courseware module occupies about 20Mb is divided into four sections:
1. Calculating the Size and Shape of the Earth.
2. What is the Earth composed of?
3. Earth Physics.
4. How to Use this Module.

Students are directed to section 4 first. In sections 1-3 there are pre- and post-assessment tests. Each test comprises ten questions covering most of the subjects dealt with in the section. One attempt at each question is allowed and at the end all the results are listed. From the pre-assessment test students can discover which topics they need to revise, and from the post-assessment tests how well they have understood the material.

For more information on the Basic Skills module and other modules produced by the UKESCC see their web pages at http://www.man.ac.uk/Geology/CAL/index.html.

Examples of Good Practice in Earth Science Learning & Teaching: