An effective undergraduate mineralogy course provides students with a familiarity and understanding of minerals that is necessary for studying the Earth. This paper describes a strategy for integrating the disparate topics covered in a mineralogy course and for presenting them in a way that facilitates an understanding of mineralogy that enables students to apply it in subsequent courses and research. ... Full description.

This article points out that many content- or skill-based labs can be revised to explicitly involve the scientific method by asking students to propose hypotheses before making observations. Labs in which this method has been successfully applied include skill-building labs such as topographic map labs, content-based labs involving experiments with models, and field labs. Because these labs force ... Full description.

During the summer of 1999, a new type of field course was taught in five of eastern Utah's National Parks and Monuments. It targeted a combination of university undergraduates and K-12 teachers, emphasized development of participants' problem-solving skills, and assessed the effectiveness of several non-traditional teaching methods. The course's primary goal was to teach participants to develop and ... Full description.

This report raises the question of whether accreditation may be coming to the geology discipline, and attempts to quantify the positions on accreditation of academic department heads/chairs. The study makes a distinction between institutional and specialized (or disciplinary) accreditation and explores attitudes toward both types. Results of the analysis are presented with a discussion of two methods ... Full description.

The "Where are We?" software and lessons are designed to help children in grades two through four learn to "translate" between the visually-perceived world that they sense around them, and the schematic representation of that landscape on a map. Field-based tests were developed to examine students' ability to absorb information in the real world and to transfer it onto a map and, conversely, the ability ... Full description.

Liberal arts colleges have in recent years placed an increasing emphasis on research. This article presents the results of a survey in which national liberal arts colleges were ranked based on publications in journals listed in the GeoRef Bibliographic Database. The results indicate that research is highly concentrated among a few of these colleges and has increased substantially over time. The rate ... Full description.

Geologists have long recognized the value of field trips, and the National Science Education Standards recommend them for K-8 science curricula. However, many teachers avoid running field trips. This article presents the results of a series of summer institutes for urban geoscience teachers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in which field and laboratory activities were developed in the context of local geology ... Full description.

This article discusses how the two paradigms of education (Teaching-Centered and Learning-Centered) could affect the way faculty members are reviewed when undergoing peer review. The major challenge to fair and proper peer review arises from the need to review the growing number of instructors who conform to the Learning-Centered paradigm. Early preparation for peer review should help avoid the disjunction ... Full description.

This article describes a study in which a series of general education and introductory science courses were assessed using a Likert-scale instrument. As universities across the country have begun to make changes in their science curricula, especially with regards to non-science majors, assessment of courses and curricula has lagged behind implementation. The Likert-scale instrument, Attitudes and ... Full description.

This article describes GLOBE, Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment, a K-12 environmental education program supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). The GLOBE program was introduced to teachers in a series of inservice workshops at Southeastern ... Full description.