LABS AND PROJECTS FOR LARGE GLY101-102 UNDERGRADUATE CLASSES: SUCCESSES AND FAILURES

The University at Buffalo Geology Department offers one 2-semester introductory sequence (GLY 101-102: Global Environmental Science) with a laboratory that fulfills an undergraduate general-education science requirement. Enrollment is capped at 385 for the fall semester, and 2/3 of the students are freshmen and sophomores. The most common declared major among the enrolled students is management/finance, although students with undeclared majors comprise the majority. Students use personal response systems (i.e., “clickers”) in the classroom, and attend a 2.5-hour-long lab on alternate weeks (7 labs during a semester). This is the only introductory course that our department offers, so the majority of our geology majors come from this sequence.

We have implemented a series of labs and class projects designed to make the students aware of their local environment (e.g., the campus, the Marcellus Shale), while providing the fundamental training that is required for upper-level geoscience courses. I will present a selection of successful labs and assignments, as well as some failures. Most of these labs can be adapted to the local or regional geology for use in introductory courses and labs around the country.

The best-liked undergraduate labs are those in which real data are used (rather than manufactured data), and students tend to list labs dealing with planetary processes as their favorites. For example, students are taught how to read geologic and topographic maps using published maps of the Martian surface in an attempt to identify the landing site for the next Mars rover. In another exercise, students learn about impact cratering processes by generating impacts in the laboratory and dropping pumpkins from the roof. Although students tend not to enjoy rock and mineral identification, we implement techniques that seem to alleviate the tedium while enhancing retention by clearly separating the acts of observing and describing from the act of naming.