Teaching Undergraduate Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology In a Liberal-Arts Environment

Abstract

Igneous/Metamorphic Petrology courses taught in a ten-week term in small liberal arts universities are often limited in what can be done by time, by inadequate chemistry background of the students, by inadequate finances for laboratory equipment and for library petrologic literature, by lack of regularly- scheduled laboratory periods, and by lack of graduate teaching assistants. Further, the liberal arts environment imposes the need for writing and discussion. The limitations can be accommodated, with careful planning, to provide a productive course. Solutions include changing from a lecture-dominated class format to one dominated by class discussion of an instructor-prepared narrative (which substitutes for a textbook). Writing exercises provide “jump-off points” for discussion. More extensive writing experience and an introduction to literature research techniques are supplied by a term paper. There is no effective substitute for a regularly scheduled lab period of at least two hours. High-quality polar...