INTEGRATING GEOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL PROCESSES INTO PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING LABORATORY

The importance of interdisciplinary research can be exemplified through a hands-on laboratory experiment that bridges two scientific fields. Using a Problem-Based Learning approach, the following lab experiment joins the fields of geology and chemistry in order to determine the identity of unknown minerals. Physical geological tests are combined with several chemical tests in order to obtain supportive data. Electron microscopy is utilized to verify the unknown samples identity. The importance of acquiring several useful data is demonstrated as means of arriving at an educated conclusion as to the identity of the unknown mineral.