Relationship between mineral weathering and groundwater composition
This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Reviewed Teaching Collection
This activity has received positive reviews in a peer review process involving five review categories. The five categories included in the process are
- Scientific Accuracy
- Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
- Pedagogic Effectiveness
- Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
- Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page
For more information about the peer review process itself, please see http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/review.html.
This page first made public: May 17, 2005
Skills and concepts that students must have mastered
- understanding of major rock-forming minerals
- understanding of chemical evolution of groundwater
- understanding of the processes of chemical weathering
How the activity is situated in the course
- this activity occurs in the first half of the course
- this activity is an exercise to be conducted in groups
- this activity is a two-part exercise
Content/concepts goals for this activity
- Students will need to understand chemical weathering in order to infer changes to groundwater composition.
- They will need to be able to read histograms and plot data.
Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity
Other skills goals for this activity
- students will work in groups
- learn to use a pH meter and basic sampling equipment
- acquire and process data
- compare observations with predicted results
Description of the activity/assignment
Determining whether students have met the goals
- Students are evaluated on the quality and accuracy of their reports on published data.
- They are evaluated separately on the quality and accuracy of their predictions on the laboratory experiment.
Download teaching materials and tips
- Activity Description/Assignment (Microsoft Word 26kB May9 05)
- Excel spreadsheet of published data (Krauskopf and Bird) (Excel 44kB May9 05)