ON THE CUTTING EDGE: TEACHING PHASE EQUILIBRIA

In March 2007 I participated in a SERC On the Cutting Edge Workshop at Montana State University, entitled “Teaching Phase Equilibria”. Conveners of this workshop were David Mogk, John Brady, and Dexter Perkins. The purpose of the workshop was to prepare materials on thermodynamics and phase equilibria in the geosciences. In addition, tutorials were to be prepared to introduce students to the use of modern thermodynamic modeling programs such as ThermoCalc, MELTS, TWQ and PERPLEX.

An intensive two days ensued, where I was working with colleagues preparing topics including (among others) Gibbs Free Energy, the Clapeyron Equation, and Experimental Petrology. Materials (text and images) had to be accurate but also written clearly for an anticipated audience of college undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty needing a ‘refresher’. A series of integrated web pages on this topic were part of the result (serc.carlton.edu/research_education/equilibria/index.html) as was a poster presented at GSA that year (Perkins, et al. (2007) “Web based Resources for Teaching Phase Equilibria,” GSA Abstracts with Program Vol. 39, p. 558). This model of working together in one place benefited all participants, as we were able to clarify our thinking and writing by discussing topics with others.

Preparing the text and images for the final webpages challenged me to think and write more clearly. As a result of this workshop, I incorporated more phase diagrams and thermodynamic exercises into my Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology course (GEO 411) at the University of Dayton, using a number of resources available on these web pages. Web statistics for the “Teaching Phase Equilibria” web pages (since 2011) support the conclusion that other practitioners are accessing and using these web resources also.