BENEFITS AND PITFALLS OF THE MODERN LABORATORY: THE CHALLENGES OF IMPLEMENTING HIGH-END INSTRUMENTATION IN GEOSCIENCE COURSES AND RESEARCH AT A MINORITY SERVING INSTITUTION

The modern geological laboratory uses extensive instrumentation (i.e. XRF, XRD, ICP-MS), and students should be exposed to it. Student expectations of and education in the geosciences include hands-on experiential learning by using modern techniques, and student responses are improved when those expectations are met. In addition, students need to see connections to their lives and experiences. As far back as 1998, Steehler noted that modern instruments matched up well with experiments with significant real-world flavor, such as crime scenarios or environmental investigations. Undergraduate research opportunities and advanced courses in Geochemistry, Environmental Geology, Sedimentology & Stratigraphy, Earth Surface Processes at NJCU can and do provide the necessary tools for students to connect abstract ideas to real-world applications, as well as allowing them to acquire useful skills. This in turn provides the student with the indispensable knowledge that persists beyond the course experience in which it was acquired. However, the process of translating this message into the realities of practice in a given classroom context can be problematic. The use of advanced instruments by students can lead to significant problems with broken equipment and their upkeep and repairs are too often expensive. In addition, the “Black Box” instrumentation scenario distances the student experience from the concepts at hand. At NJCU, a predominantly minority-serving institution, we have been very successful in acquiring high end instrumentation (pXRF, benchtop XRD, ICP-MS, Sedigraph, CL-microscope, IC, CNS-analyzer, etc.); however, the implementation of these instruments in courses and our summer research experiences as well as our independent study courses has been more hit and miss. We have had great success in the implementation of the pXRF in courses such as Geochemistry and Environmental Geology and our research experiences. The XRD has worked very well in our Geochemistry and Sedimentology and Stratigraphy courses. The cathode-luminescent microscope was effectively used in an independent study course. However, we have had difficulties implementing the Sedigraph into our courses and research. Other instruments are too new (IC, CNS-analyzer) to access their efficacy in instruction or research.