LABORATORY EXERCISES IN PLANETARY GEOLOGY FOR NON-SCIENCE MAJORS

Planetary science may be introduced in a variety of departments (e.g., astronomy, physics). In our Earth and Planetary Sciences (formerly Geology) Department, we developed a course to introduce planetary geology to non-majors. To support and complement the lecture material and to provide additional exposure to arithmetic or science skills, the course uses weekly laboratory exercises with a variety of pedagogical techniques so as to engage the largest number of students possible. Each exercise includes a ‘hands-on’ activities designed to teach a math and/or science skill while also conveying planetary science knowledge. During the semester, these ‘hands-on’ activities transition from physical to computer-based and become more open-ended as students build knowledge and independent reasoning ability. The final activity is creating an apparatus to successfully ‘land’ a raw egg at the bottom of a multistory staircase, designed to mimic landing a rover on Mars. Although semesterly changes in the Teaching Assistants and in the exercises have prevented rigorous measure to date of their effectiveness, course evaluations and anecdotal evidence suggest that the hands-on exercises contribute significantly to student engagement in learning planetary geology.

Topic	‘Hands on’ Activity	PS Knowledge	New Arithmetic/ Science Skills
1: Introduction to the Solar System	Walking out a scaled version of the SS	Solar System size	Scaling
Lab 2: Phases of the Moon	Drawing the moon (multiple drawings)	Lunar phases	Independent observation
Lab 3: Material Properties	Weighing, finding volumes of samples	Common SS materials	Data collection, ratios
Lab 4: Spectroscopy	Taking and analyzing UV-VIS spectra	Common SS silicate materials	Data collection and analysis
Lab 5: Impact Cratering	Using paint guns/sling shots to create craters	Impact crater processes	Hypothesis testing
Lab 6: Volcanism	Measurement of Io plumes in comp. images	Plume volcanism	Computers, algebra
Lab 7: Tectonism	Clay cake experiments, analysis of images	Tectonic styles	Physical modeling
Lab 8: Relative Age Dating	Crater counting	Relative stratigraphy	Plotting data, graphs
Lab 9: Mapping	Accessing, compiling, using ps data	Mapping	Data interpretation
Lab 10: EDL Simulation	Landing an egg on ‘Mars’	Engineering aspects	Teamwork, balance, fun!