NOVA Annandale | Geology | Bentley | Honors

I teach an Honors section of both my Physical Geology course and my Historical Geology course. The requirements are the same for each.

Honors students take lecture and lab at the same time as "normal" students, but they also do additional work and activities. Honors is for high-achieving students who are REALLY interested in geology, possibly as a career choice. It is NOT "just another section of geology" to be considered when regular classes are filled.

I require my Honors students to do two main things: (1) over the course of the semester, attend a series of FIVE geology events (seminars, field trips, meetings, etc.) outside of class and (2) complete an independent research project on a geologic topic of their own choosing.

Geology events

Possibilities for seminar venues include, but are not limited to:
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Geological Society of America (GSA)
Geological Society of Washington (GSW)
Smithsonian Institution (if geology related)
Smithsonian Center on Environmental Research
Smithsonian Department of Mineral Sciences
Marian Koshland Science Museum (National Academies)
Potomac Geophysical Society
George Mason University GeoClub seminars
George Mason University Science seminars
University of Maryland (College Park) geology seminars
American Meteorological Society environmental science seminars
Carnegie Institution’s Geophysical Lab
Carnegie Institution’s "Capital Science" evening lectures
Lectures at the National Zoo (if geology related)
Films at the D.C. Environmental Film Festival (if geology related)
Café Scientifique (sponsored by NSF) (if geology related)
National Geographic (if geology related)
Northern Virginia Mineral Club
Gem and Mineral Hunters (of Prince William County, VA)
Stone test wall (visit it at NIST in Gaithersburg, MD)
Virginia Geological Field Conference (once a year, in the fall)
National Association of Geoscience Teachers (once a year, in the spring)
The Paleontological Society of Washington (no website)
NOVA Science seminars (will be announced in class)

Field trips are regularly sponsored by the GMU GeoClub, NOVA GOL 135 courses, and GSW. Intense, multi-day trips are sponsored by the GSA in association with their annual meetings and regional section meetings.

In addition, there are a number of topical and relevant geologic films and documentaries. Ask me for a list of possibilities. (Sorry, fiction like "The Day After Tomorrow," "Dante's Peak," and "The Core" don't count.)

The student shall discuss his/her impressions of the talks/trips/films with the instructor. If the instructor is not able to himself attend, then the student shall present the instructor with a summary of the talk’s principle questions, data, and conclusions. (Note-taking is encouraged.)

Research project

The student shall choose a topic to research. With approval and guidance from the instructor, the student will pursue independent library research and/or field work to learn more about the topic. At the end of the semester, an oral presentation will be made to the instructor. (Please click on this link to review the requirements for the presentation.)

Here's some additional geology-specific advice for formatting your PowerPoint correctly.

The Honors option counts for 20% of your overall grade in geology. (The rest of the requirements – for "normal" geology get condensed to count as 80% of your overall grade.) This breaks down to 10% for your five events, and 10% for your research project.

Here's a list of past geology Honors students and their projects.

Research links

GEOBASE (NOVA library geology-related journal search)
GEOREFS (AGI geology-related journal search)
Other geology databases on our library system
The USGS geology library in Reston, Virginia (the nation's premier geology library, only ten miles from our campus & open to the public)

 

 
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