MORE WITH LESS: MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FACILITIES AND LEARNING OUTCOMES AT SMALL UNDERGRADUATE COLLEGES

In order to give students an experiential learning opportunity, I have developed a semester-long laboratory and field project that integrates the petrology, petrography, and tectonics of the local Adirondack and Champlain Valley regions of New York, Vermont and adjacent Quebec. Plattsburgh State University is a small undergraduate state college and the only analytical facilities available for hands-on student use are petrographic microscopes and thin section-making equipment. The regional geology of northern New York State provides excellent opportunities to learn about a variety of Precambrian granulite facies metamorphic rocks and basaltic dikes as well as the Mesozoic Monteregian alkaline intrusives and associated lamprophyre and trachyte dikes. Suites of igneous and metamorphic rocks from several locations throughout the region have been collected. Each suite is from an easily accessible field location most of which has been described in the professional literature.

At the beginning of the semester, each student picks one sample to research. Thin section making, which requires two complete lab periods plus additional outside lab time, begins two weeks before mid-semester once the students have completed several petrographic labs. Each student must make one usable thin section and write a detailed hand specimen and petrographic description for their chosen rock. Four field trips are included in the course to visit all the project localities chosen. The students are required to keep a field notebook which contains a detailed description of all field trip stops and is graded at the end of the semester to encourage careful note taking. Each student is responsible for researching the petrologic, structural and tectonic history of their particular sample in the available literature. If no literature exists for their specific sample location, the students are forced to make inferences about the origin of their rock based on their own observations like professional geologist. For their final exam, the students give a power point presentation which includes digital photographs of specific minerals and textures in each student's thin section. Through this project, students integrate petrographic and field research using tools available at most small colleges and do original research on their own samples.