Abstract
The 2012 PCAST report and recent NRC publications have highlighted course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) as a high-impact STEM educational practice scaleable to serve large numbers of students. However, the costs of developing such programs have limited their broader adoption. For the past four years we have pursued a CURE in the course GLY 3311C (Mineralogy, Petrology, Geochemistry) at USF that examines recovered mafic rocks and shipboard-acquired datasets from IODP Expeditions 352 (Izu-Bonin forearc) and more recently Expedtions 367-368 (South China Sea). Undergraduates are introduced to Expedition findings through freely available Preliminary and Expedition reports and journal publications. Polished thin sections of Exps. 352 and 367-368 mafic rocks were prepared from samples acquired from the Kochi Core Repository. Each student has primary data collection responsibilities for a sample, and they are broken into working groups by sample type or core segment studied. Students do hand-sample and thin section petrography on their samples, and do mineral chemistry analysis with a JEOL 8900R Superprobe electron microprobe (EPMA) at FIU-FCAEM, operated remotely in class. All data are collected during regular in-class activities. Traditional mineralogy and petrology coursework is tailored to support project efforts, so students can immediately apply lab activity results to investigating their unknowns. Each student completes a written report that presents their collected data along with results on related samples, and draws first-order inferences about the origins and history of their rocks. Petrographic imagery and EPMA data on Expedition samples are compiled and maintained year-to-year for student review and use in their term projects. Student learning gains are assayed via a pretest/post-test strategy, using modified "creative exercise" assessments (Lewis et al., JCST, 2010) as well as rubric-based reviews of course projects. This CURE also seeks to make contributions to our understanding of Izu-Bonin and SCS volcanic rocks. The discovery of non-equilibrium mineral overgrowth textures in late-stage Exp. 352 Izu-Bonin boninites in the first year of this CURE documented the role of open system exchanges between different melt packets in the evolution of boninitic lavas.