This exercise is intended as a group exercise to help students learn the fundamentals of using ternary phase diagrams. It is a much better way for students to learn about the diagrams than to lecture to them. Good students will be able to walk through this with little assistance from the instructor.Weaker students will struggle and need help from peers or instructors. The entire exercise takes 1-2 hours for most.

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This is a wrap-up exercise reviewing the properties of the most important igneous minerals in thin section.

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In this four-part exercise, students look at mafic igneous minerals, learning to distinguish and identify them in hand specimen and thin section.

Part one - Box of Rocks: Students examine a tray of minerals and record their physical properties, composition, and habit. They note chemical and physical similarities and differences and why there are several varieties of minerals in each group.
Part two - Observing Optical Properties: Students learn how to use a microscope to observe thin sections.
Part three - Defining optical microscopy and light ray terms
Part four - Answer questions using thin sections

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This activity is a straightforward project that involves starting with bad looking computer-generated diagrams and making them beautiful and ready for publication.

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This is a short exercise to make sure that students understand mass balance and how different starting assemblages may lead to different results after metamorphism. It is quick but not trivial.

I use this in class and find that students have some difficulties. The exercise then provides the focus of discussion as we work through the difficulties and work toward better conceptual understanding.

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In this three-part exercise, students study hand samples and thin sections of important metamorphic rocks and minerals.

Part one - Box of Rocks: Students examine trays of metamorphic rocks and minerals and record their physical properties, composition, and habit. They note chemical and physical similarities and differences and identify the rock samples and minerals they contain.
Part two - Definitions: Define a list of terms relevent to the lab.
Part three - Minerals in Thin Section: Observe minerals in thin section and answer questions about them.

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This exercise is designed to help students think about the properties of minerals that are most useful for mineral classification and identification.

Students are given a set of minerals and asked to come up with a hierarchical classification scheme (a "key") that can be used to identify different mineral species.
They compare their results with the products of other groups.
They test the various schemes by applying them to unknown samples.
While doing this exercise, the students develop observational and interpretational skill.
They also begin to think about the nature of classification systems.

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Students think about the nature of classification systems and about properties that are most useful for classifying minerals as they derive their own hierarchical scheme, or key, for identifying and naming mineral species. When finished, they read Mineralogy: A Historical Review by Robert M. Hazen and revise their classification scheme. Finally, groups trade their systematic plans and identify unknown mineral samples with them, comenting on the usefullness of the various methods.

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This exercise introduces mineral commodities (elements). Students consider the elements aluminum, iron, copper, nickel, zinc, uranium, lead, gold, mercury and tin and match them with their definintions in a table. Then they use minable grade (minable weight percent) and normal crustal abundance (crustal weight percent) to calculate the concentration factor for several commodities to determine their economic minability. Students then graph their calculations and explain their trend.

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This 6-week laboratory activity has students working in groups of two or more to synthesize a mineral and then analyze their mineral using XRD.

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Minerals are our planet. They form the Earth and the bedrock that we live on, making up all of Earth’s rocks and sediments, and they are important components in soils. So, they literally are the foundations for our lives. Perhaps because they are ubiquitous, most people don’t even notice them or consider that all rock is made of minerals. But, engineers do because building a bridge or other structure on unstable material, or using poor ingredients for construction of all sorts, would lead to disasters. And, farmers care about minerals because healthy soils produce great crops. Petrologists who study rocks of all sorts need to know about minerals. And others who use resources in manufacturing need minerals. So, the world’s people rely on minerals. And, minerals, mineral production, and the study of minerals are absolutely essential to maintain our lifestyles.

This activity is a stand-alone problem set that involves converting mineral formulas to mole and weight %. The results are plotted on diagrams, some of which require projections. Students are asked to consider when they would use such diagrams, and also the shortcomings of projections.

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This project is intended to introduce students to the IUGS rock classification scheme.
Samples come from the Wards Collections (which many schools have). Students are provided with both hand specimens and thin sections. They also get a brief rock description - so this project can be done even if their mineral ID skills are not honed.
This is a lab activity - it requires a microscope. It is best done as a group project.

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There are two parts to this exercise but they are stand-alone if desired. The first part deals with the nature of science: what is science, what does it involve, and what makes science good? It is aimed at one particular paper but any paper could be used. The second part is about a heinous case of scientific fraud and the legal action associated with it. Probing questions make students think about the most important factors, implications, and questions.

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Free Open Educational Resources for the Geosciences. The landing page provides links to three textbooks designed for use with introductory courses in Physical Geology, Historical Geology, and Mineralogy. Content contained within each of these books can be utilized across many related courses. The text is written as much as possible at a high school level. Interactive content and quizzes are sprinkled throughout for a better student experience.

This three part lab introduces sulfides and other ore minerals.

Part one - Ore Minerals: Students fill in a table giving the metal, formula, and mineral group of several ore minerals.
Part two - Box of Rocks: Students examine trays of ore minerals and record their physical properties, composition, habit, occurence, economic value, and use and answer questions about color, luster, density, transparency, and availability.
Part three - Famous Digs: Students answer a series of questions related to famous ore deposits.

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This is a 1-page worksheet exercise involving a peritectic phase diagram. To complete it, students must REALLY know how to use such diagrams.

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This handout and problem set is a stand alone tutorial that introduces students to the basics of phase diagrams and the phase rule. It is a rather lengthy exercise, suitable as a homework assignment. It can replace lectures and yields superior learning.

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This exercise is a good way to get students thinking about the phase rule, metastable and stable reactions and phase diagrams. The exercise contains a lot of reading, and is suitable for in-class work or for homework. The idea is that students can do this on their own with little help from their instructor.
The students only answer a few questions making this is more of a tutorial than a worksheet.

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This is a short exercise that introduces basic thermodynamics. Students write the formulas for grossular, quartz, anorthite, and wollastonite. Then they answer questions and make calculations related to thermodynamics, phase equilibria, and the above minerals.

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