PROMOTING EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING IN MINERALOGY: A COMMUNITY-BASED, TECHNOLOGY-INTENSIVE EXAMPLE FROM RADFORD UNIVERSITY

Community-oriented learning projects can serve as a valuable means of enhancing student interest in mineralogy. In addition to helping students realize the relevance of mineralogy in society, such activities can also provide a deeper sense of connection with a community. This paper describes a project conceptualized as a collaborative effort between the Department of Geology at Radford University and the D.C. Wysor Mineral Museum and Observatory in Dublin, Virginia. The Wysor mineral collection consists of more than 300 samples that were bequeathed to the Wysor Museum and Observatory in 1969. However, most samples were in need of identification and categorization as parts of specific mineral families. Furthermore the museum expressed need for electronically cataloging a representative part of the collection for dissemination to middle- and high-school students and interested laypeople. Upper-level undergraduate students conducted a series of on-site visits to the museum for study and identification of the mineral samples as part of a 3-credit hour research course. A total of thirty-eight samples were selected for photography, videography and more detailed study in the laboratory. State-of-the-art hardware and software tools were used to design, create, test and mass-produce an interactive, multimedia CD-ROM showcasing the minerals from the Wysor collection. Some of the learning features included are slide shows, narratives, pronunciation aids for mineral names and detailed mineralogical information such as diagnostic physical properties, economic uses and geographic distribution both within Virginia and rest of the United States and the world. The presentation will include a discussion of the specific software programs used for digitally processing images, video-clips and sound along with specific types of hardware components used in the CD-ROM authoring process. A demonstration of the CD-ROM will be provided with suggestions for involving students in similar projects in other educational settings.