Well, I've been back in College Station for a couple of days now after a fantastic 2 week vacation! My trip with Adrian in Southern California was great fun, and I've already finished my scrapbook pages for that trip! Then I also had some nice, relaxing days at home in Corpus. :)
Now, it is time to really try and motivate myself to do some real work! I've been back for 4 days now and haven't done too much besides making a compost pile and looking through 3 of my samples under the microscope. Must get more done!
Friday, December 30, 2005
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
it's only 5:45....
and my paper and poster are done!!!! Well, pretty much done. I just have a few touch-ups and then that's it! I have to say that data analysis was a difficult course. It was a lot of work and often I wasn't too sure that I really understood what was going on. But in the end, I have found the class to be pretty satisfying, because I completed analysis on a dataset, came up with REAL, interesting conclusions that I didn't anticipate, and made a beautiful poster illustrating and explaining my results.
What a great teaching tool. I wonder if I could do something like that for petrology next semester where the students (in groups) have a dataset, hand samples, and thin sections of an area and work on it throughout the semester to analyze it and then make a poster to present their results...hmm, I don't know, I think I am getting in over my head, and I don't think I really know enough about petrology to create this. Well, I'll think about it during the break. :)
What a great teaching tool. I wonder if I could do something like that for petrology next semester where the students (in groups) have a dataset, hand samples, and thin sections of an area and work on it throughout the semester to analyze it and then make a poster to present their results...hmm, I don't know, I think I am getting in over my head, and I don't think I really know enough about petrology to create this. Well, I'll think about it during the break. :)
Thursday, December 01, 2005
it's almost over!
school is almost over! Currently, I am stressed about my data analysis project. My advisor keeps changing the dataset and I have to go back and redo some of my analyses. My last paper for that class is due Wednesday and that is when our poster presentation that highlights all of our results from the past semester is as well.
my last mineralogy lab was today. :) sad but also kind of relieved. It took a lot of my time. I had to prepare the lab materials, work through the lab, make nice notes for the class, make quizzes, grade labs, grade quizzes every week. I learned a lot and I had fun working with some of the students. I didn't do too much work on my thesis this semester though. :(
I also might have to teach petrology next semester....I'm not sure how I feel about that. It will be a lot of work again. Also, I never enjoyed the lab as an undergrad...it's pretty much all looking at thin sections, and many students never look at thin sections ever again and most don't enjoy the lab. So I found this great website called, "teaching petrology in the 21st century" and it had some great activities. It involved the students working with real datasets to figure out mantle compositions and rock suites. sooooo, I talked to the petrology professor and he pretty much said that I could do whatever I wanted - that he doesn't ever get involved with the lab, just that I had to include some thin section work. Sigh, so if I do that, that is going to take a TON of time....and thesis must be completed!
my last mineralogy lab was today. :) sad but also kind of relieved. It took a lot of my time. I had to prepare the lab materials, work through the lab, make nice notes for the class, make quizzes, grade labs, grade quizzes every week. I learned a lot and I had fun working with some of the students. I didn't do too much work on my thesis this semester though. :(
I also might have to teach petrology next semester....I'm not sure how I feel about that. It will be a lot of work again. Also, I never enjoyed the lab as an undergrad...it's pretty much all looking at thin sections, and many students never look at thin sections ever again and most don't enjoy the lab. So I found this great website called, "teaching petrology in the 21st century" and it had some great activities. It involved the students working with real datasets to figure out mantle compositions and rock suites. sooooo, I talked to the petrology professor and he pretty much said that I could do whatever I wanted - that he doesn't ever get involved with the lab, just that I had to include some thin section work. Sigh, so if I do that, that is going to take a TON of time....and thesis must be completed!
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