HR: 0830h
AN: ED11B-0113    [PDF]
TI: Introductory Geophysics at Colorado College: A Research-Driven Course
AU: * Bank, C
EM: cbank@coloradocollege.edu
AF: Colorado College, Department of Geology 14 East Cache la Poudre, Colorado Springs, CO 80903 United States
AB: Doing research during an undergraduate course provides stimulus for students and instructor. Students learn to appreciate the scientific method and get hands-on experience, while the instructor remains thrilled about teaching her/his discipline. The introductory geophysics course taught at Colorado College is made up of four units (gravity, seismic, resistivity, and magnetic) using available geophysical equipment. Within each unit students learn the physical background of the method, and then tackle a small research project selected by the instructor. Students pose a research question (or formulate a hypothesis), collect near-surface data in the field, process it using personal computers, and analyse it by creating computer models and running simple inversions. Computer work is done using the programming language Matlab, with several pre-coded scripts to make the programming experience more comfortable. Students then interpret the data and answer the question posed at the beginning. The unit ends with students writing a summary report, creating a poster, or presenting their findings orally. First evaluations of the course show that students appreciate the emphasis on field work and applications to real problems, as well as developing and testing their own hypotheses. The main challenge for the instructor is to find feasible projects, given the time constraints of a course and availability of field sites with new questions to answer. My presentation will feature a few projects done by students during the course and will discuss the experience students and I have had with this approach.
DE: 0999 General or miscellaneous
DE: 6605 Education
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting