INTEGRATING REGIONAL CORDILLERAN GEOLOGY INTO A TRADITIONAL BEDROCK GEOLOGY MAPPING EXPERIENCE

The Miami University Geology Field Station recently completed its 63^rd consecutive summer offering of field geology courses for undergraduate and graduate geoscience students. For approximately 50 years the courses were focused strictly on stratigraphic and structural measurements and geologic mapping in the northwestern Wind River Basin region. For over ten years now we have split the courses into two parts: 1) two-weeks traveling throughout the eastern Snake River Plain and northern US / southern Canadian Rocky Mountains and 2) three-weeks based out of Timberline Ranch near Dubois, WY. For a few years as we experimented with various approaches part 1 was primarily an extended field trip but has grown to a near stand-alone experience including rigorous one-day mapping and regional synthesis components. Part 2 features a combination of multiple-day mapping projects and one-day mapping exercises that build in complexity culminating in a final multiple-day mapping project in a structurally challenging locale. A key to maximizing student learning and success given this blend of activities and venues is establishment of clear connections between activities undertaken during the initial two weeks and skills required for the later immersion geologic mapping experiences. For example, while examining the varied geology from the Tetons to Craters of the Moon to Banff, we endeavor to hone student skills in map and aerial image reading, geologic compass use, basic mapping techniques, rock identification and description, structural interpretation, field data acquisition and recording, and visualization and sketching from outcrop to landscape scales. Certainly this all can be accomplished in a single location but we have found that the ever changing venues and time spent at various classic geologic localities stimulates student interest and motivation. Moreover, students are able to hone these skills while observing and discussing large-scale sedimentologic, structural, tectonic, and magmatic processes responsible for Cordilleran development, thus a context is established for their later mapping projects. In addition, since implementing a rubric-based system for conveying expectations and for project/exercise assessment, we have seen overall improvements in student outcomes.