GLIMPSING MOUNTAINS FROM THE MIDCONTINENT: AN INTEGRATIVE PEDAGOGICAL MODEL FOR EXPLORING EARTH'S INTERNAL PROCESSES THROUGH THE LENS OF THE GLOBAL TECTONIC PARADIGM

Though mountains may seem a distant mirage from the midcontinent, a long enough view in space and time reveals how Earth’s internal tectonic engine has shaped and continues to shape our world. The past decades have seen a revolution in our understanding of the integrative nature of the Earth system, and yet often we teach our students in ways that isolate rather than integrating their understanding of that system. At the University of Dayton we are in the visioning stage of creating a new 2^nd year course with the aim of equipping students to apply foundational knowledge and inquiry-oriented skills to explore Earth’s internal processes of magmatism, metamorphism and deformation in the context of larger-scale tectonic models. As such, it will take plate tectonic theory as a template for organizing and integrating curricular objectives. In this way we aim early in their careers to stimulate students to see Earth as an integrated whole.

As presently envisioned, the course will begin with 4-5 weeks of grounding in the most basic techniques and concepts used today to explore Earth’s inner structure, tectonics and petrogenetic evolution. Building on this foundation, deeper technical understanding will be developed iteratively through the remainder of the course within the context of a systematic exploration of the petrogenetic environments associated with each of Earth’s major plate tectonic settings. For example, rather than exploring seafloor magmatism in one chapter and hydrothermal metamorphism of basalt in another, students will explore the magmatic and metamorphic environment of oceanic spreading centers as an integrated system. A similar process-oriented approach will drive exploration of Earth’s other major petrotectonic environments such as the mantle, subduction zones and magmatic arc systems, collision zones, continental rifts, and intraplate environments. Another unit will explore the origins and early history of Earth and the question of how far back in time the plate tectonic paradigm can be projected. The course will emphasize contemporary approaches, controversies and unsolved problems throughout and will close with a perspective on the inner Earth as a key component in the larger Earth system, thus setting the stage for other elements of the core curriculum.