An individual response and question... Like the past two respondents, we use the AGI-NAGT lab manual, though in the past we've used Judson, Bonini, Rhodes, and Rossbacher. Of the two I prefer the AGI-NAGT manual because it is more clearly written, visual, and is not entirely paper and pencil activities. That being said, as someone who originally came from physics education, I am constantly looking for lab curriculum that is has a healthy combination of non-office work (e.g. field activity, modeling, and lab work). Suggestions anyone? Frank G. Frank D. Granshaw Earth Science Instructor Portland Community College Sylvania Campus Portland, OR 503-977-8236 On Apr 27, 2009, at 11:24 AM, Van Norden, Wendy wrote: > Another individual response- I use the same AGI-NAGT lab manual > with my honors geology high school students, As I use less and less > of it, with more and more materials being available over the web, I > suspect that I will eventually give up on what I think is the best > general physical geology lab manual. > > Wendy Van Norden > > Harvard-Westlake School > > > > From: GEOEDUCATION RESEARCH INTEREST GROUP [mailto:[log in to unmask] > ] On Behalf Of Maureen Leshendok > Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 10:07 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: question about laboratory manual usage > > > Maggie, > > This is not a study, but purely my individual response. I use the > Laboratory Manual in Physical Geology from Prentice Hall, edited by > Richard M. Busch, associated with NAGT and AGI, for a summer > beginning lab course in Geology at the University of Nevada Reno. > While there are many excellent web resources and even an > accompanying CD, I teach a summer course that is filled with non- > majors, so the lab manual is concise, convenient, and most > important, it's in hand when the students come to class. With only > 10 class meetings, I use most but not all of the manual. I would > love to construct a course with web resources, given the right > environment. > > --Maureen Leshendok > > Maureen Leshendok > Reference Department > Elizabeth Sturm Library > Truckee Meadows Community College > 775-674-7602 > > >>> Maggie Benoit <[log in to unmask]> 4/27/2009 7:52 AM >>> > Hi, > > I am trying to get an idea what role the commercially available lab > manuals play in driving undergraduate instruction. I've been poking > around on different databases, but I can't find any literature on > this. Some of the information I'm looking for involves: What % of > institutions rely on these manuals for their introductory geology > course laboratory instruction, and are there any studies regarding > the efficacy of these manuals? Does anyone know of any papers that > would be helpful? > > I'm planning on calling publishers and asking them for some > statistics (who knows if they are believable or not), but I was > hoping there might be some scholarly work on this topic. > > I appreciate any insight that you would have on this... I'm kind > of new to the geoscience education realm. > > Thank you for any help you can offer, > Maggie Benoit > > -- > Margaret H. Benoit > Assistant Professor of Physics > The College of New Jersey > Science Complex P-113 > Ewing, NJ 08628 > 609-771-2237