SCIENCE COMMUNICATION: WHO DO YOU LIKE?

Social media is an integral part of communication for most students, so why not combine Facebook with a final presentation in Mineralogy? We are the Learning Assistants (LA’s) in Mineralogy and we were tasked with creating a project that would help provide our students with a better understanding of the course material, while limiting their stress. We decided that this Mineral Facebook assignment would be a fun, but educational experience. In Dr. Nord’s Mineralogy class at Mason, students choose a mineral to investigate. We still remember our minerals, Uvarovite and Lonsdaleite, and our projects. Dr. Nord showed us that this project is adapted from "Exercises with Mineral Names, Literature and History" by Dudas in the Teaching Mineralogy Monograph MSA, 1996, - we hadn't even started walking yet! Students complete one assignment every two weeks. First, they investigate the person behind the name, next they create an annotated bibliography, then answer “Why is your mineral important”, and learn that importance is in the eye of the researcher, student or field geologist. Next, they translate sections of mindat into “English”. The final assignment has always been a Powerpoint presentation. This can be boring!

This year we decided to create Facebook profiles for the "top ten" minerals they learn throughout the course, as well as a Mineralogy Facebook group. Our first problem with Facebook rules was names - all pages need a “person” with a first and last name. So, last names are the crystal system and the first name is the mineral. We had to create new emails and do some logistics, then, this is when the creativity kicked in. Quartz tagged Muscovite and Feldspar in a post saying “do you remember when we were just a melt?” and posted a picture of a granitic rock. We then helped the students create their own pages. Witherite Orthorhombic had comments from Mr. Pickles, his cat, and his RV. Sylvite Isometric visited the Dr. for tests and found out that she had only one “n” and no birefringence. Feedback from students indicates that creating Facebook pages was engaging and educational. Even the oldest member of the class (born in the 60s), grasped the project very quickly and ran away with it, clearly, this project has no age boundaries. We encourage anyone to make a mineral profile and join Dr.Nord's Minerals. It's time for minerals to get social!