{"id":305,"date":"2015-05-13T19:46:26","date_gmt":"2015-05-13T19:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/hwleimer\/?page_id=305"},"modified":"2015-05-13T19:46:26","modified_gmt":"2015-05-13T19:46:26","slug":"whats-in-a-name-classification-systems","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/hwleimer\/geol-1040\/geol-1040-lab\/whats-in-a-name-classification-systems\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s in a Name? — Classification Systems"},"content":{"rendered":"

Objectives:<\/u>\u00a0 This is an introductory exercise that is designed to 1) help students develop their observational, descriptive, and interpretive skills; 2) place classification systems in a rational context based upon the student\u2019s observations; 3) prepare students for more detailed coverage of material by encouraging them to \u2018be scientific\u2019; and 4) demonstrate effective teaching practices using a constructionist approach, collaborative learning, and peer assessment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Assignment:<\/u>\u00a0 Develop a classification system that will differentiate and organize the materials furnished.\u00a0 Your classification system must have the following:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1)\u00a0 the system must be expandable, so that you can use it to classify new materials that may be discovered;<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2)\u00a0 the system must be reproducible, so that other scientists can use your criteria to come to make the same interpretation about classification that you have originally determined;<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3)\u00a0 the system must be easily applied by other workers who will need to use it to effectively in the field or in the lab.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Work in small groups(3-4) to develop your classification system.\u00a0 First, look at all the objects as a group.\u00a0 What characteristics do you see(you may have to use your hand lens to see the smaller objects), feel, smell, taste, hear, or whatever that the objects have that could be used to compare and contrast them.\u00a0 For example, some of the objects have different colors.\u00a0 What is color?\u00a0 If you choose color as a defining characteristic, how many choices do you have?\u00a0 Some of the objects have different shapes.\u00a0 Why does any object have a particular shape?\u00a0 If you choose shape as a defining characteristic, how many choices do you have?\u00a0 Some of the objects look like metals whereas others do not.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 If you choose this as a defining characteristic, how many choices do you have?\u00a0 Some of the objects are magnetic whereas others are not(use magnet in lab kit to test).\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 If you choose magnetism or lack of it as a defining characteristic, how many choices do you have?\u00a0 Make a list of the characteristics you find.\u00a0 Next, you will have to come to a consensus about which properties should have the highest priority, which properties are useful for general discrimination of materials, and which properties may be diagnostic of specific materials.\u00a0 Your final product should be a taxonomic \u2018tree\u2019 with a written description of how to systematically use your procedures to classify materials.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Selected groups will present their classification system to the class.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Assessment: <\/u>\u00a0Trade your classification system and \u2018user\u2019s guide\u2019 with another group.\u00a0 Each group should then assess how effective the classification system is.\u00a0 Pick out a number of representative materials and use the system to see if you get the same answer as the original group.\u00a0 Did you run into difficulties in making decisions about the characteristics of some of the materials?\u00a0 Take a \u2018newly discovered material\u2019 (provided by your instructor) and see how this system works for the new material.\u00a0 Is this system internally consistent (i.e., you get the same answer for the same types of materials)?\u00a0 Is it easy to use?\u00a0 Provide constructive advice on problems you may have encountered, and provide some suggestions on how you could solve this problem.\u00a0 This is meant to be an informative review that allows you to help you colleagues better perform their tasks.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is not an exercise in destructive testing.<\/u>\u00a0 Many of the materials provided are excellent examples.\u00a0 Keep them that way.\u00a0 When in doubt, ask your laboratory instructor.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Modified from:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mogk, David W. (1997),\u00a0 Mineral Classification\u2014What\u2019s in a Name?\u00a0 In<\/strong><\/p>\n

Teaching Mineralogy, edited by John B. Brady, David W. Mogk, and Dexter Perkins, Mineralogical Society of America, Washington, D. C.,\u00a0pgs. 37-41.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Objectives:\u00a0 This is an introductory exercise that is designed to 1) help students develop their observational, descriptive, and interpretive skills; 2) place classification systems in a rational context based upon the student\u2019s observations; 3) prepare students for more detailed coverage … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"parent":227,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-305","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/hwleimer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/hwleimer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/hwleimer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/hwleimer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/hwleimer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/hwleimer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/305\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/hwleimer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/hwleimer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}