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Earth Sciences

Teaching Facilities and Resources

Our department prides itself on teaching “hands-on”, face-to-face, experiential courses. The “hands-on” and experiential aspects of the courses are an important aspect of both the lecture and the laboratory component of the courses. They are also found in various exercises including those from field courses and field trips. These courses help to prepare students for their future work as Environmental Geoscientists or Geologists. As such, completion of the courses and the degree are the first steps toward APEGS certification as a professional geoscientist.

While our lecture locations vary across campus, this is not the case for the laboratories as they involve the use of specific materials and equipment designed for better understanding of the material introduced in the lectures.

We have three rooms devoted to laboratories and a fourth that is used for both lectures and laboratories. They vary in size, holding 15 to 36 learners. Each of these rooms is equipped with a projection system, speakers, and a whiteboard along with materials necessary for the specific laboratories.

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Teaching Facilities

Teaching Staff

Experiential Learning

Other Teaching Materials

OER Resources

Teaching Facilities

Students discussing at a table.

CW 237.1

Primarily used for introductory laboratories (e.g., GEOL 102, 240) to foster learners working in groups (pods) with materials. These tables are large enough to allow for the examination of large maps, rocks, minerals, fossils, and core. The room also includes a “sandbox” which is used to help students understand concepts in 3-dimensions as they apply to maps.
Geology students studying rocks.

CW 237.3

Used for 1st to 4th year classes such as GEOL 201, 241, and 307. It is also used for classes that require the use of computers with geological programs (i.e., ArcGIS, Geoscout). We also often use this space for departmental seminars.

Geology students studying a map.

CW 209

Used for small senior and graduate classes in a smaller setting. This is the most recently renovated room with tables to allow for the examination of large maps, core, etc.
Geology students in a lab using microscopes.

CL 407

Used for classes that require the need for petrographic microscopes, related thin and thick sections, and associated rocks. Our Leica binocular petrographic microscopes were purchased between 2012-2014 and are very user-friendly. As one of our newest classrooms, it is equipped with adjustable whiteboards and seats, blackout blinds, and a demonstration petrographic microscope. Consequently, it is room is used for 2nd to 4th year laboratories that use petrographic microscopes or reflected light microscopes specific to geological applications.
Geology technician using a rock saw.

CW 021 and CW 022

Other rooms are used for exercises related to sample preparation and analysis which include furnaces, and rock cutting (and crushing) facilities. 

Teaching Staff

 

In addition to our faculty who teach the lecture components of the courses, we have two dedicated lab instructors and a technician to support our teaching activities. Student teaching assistants (TAs) also support lab activities (these are generally graduate students in our department, and occasionally 4th year undergraduate students).

Meet Us
Geology teaching assistant working with students.
Meet Us

Experiential Learning

For many geoscientists, our main laboratory is the outdoors. As such, field trips are a part of many of our classes. Several classes include trips to southwest Saskatchewan and around the university to examine rocks, fossils, soils, and even snow!

 

Our students learn how to examine geological materials outdoors in the locations where they occur. The previously mentioned trips and the field courses (GEOL 396, 496, and 497) offered by the department are essential to the development of our learners. They get to apply the knowledge they have gained in their classwork to achieve a better understanding of the key concepts, themselves, and group work which are essential to them as future practicing geoscientists.

See our courses
Geology students hiking on rocky terrain.
See our courses
Samples of geological material for core lab.

The Subsurface Lab

Some laboratory classes travel to the Subsurface Lab of the Geological Survey of Saskatchewan in Regina to examine core for “hands-on” experience.
Students using a geology sandbox.

On-campus Trips

On-campus trips include those to investigate rocks on campus and the use of the scanning electron microscope and other research facilities in the department.

Various geological field gear.

Teaching Equipment

Our field teaching equipment include Brunton and Silva compasses, hand lenses, magnifying glasses, grain size charts, GPS units, safety equipment (vests, hard hats), grids, measuring tapes, rock hammers and chisels, acid bottles, measuring wheels, shovels, trowels, petrometers, and Munsell soil charts. 

Other Teaching Materials

  • Our departmental library and the Archer Library
  • Our museum and UofRocks tour guide
  • Thousands of rock and mineral specimens, fossils, core, and rock slabs
    • Hundreds of thin and thick sections of these materials
  • Microscopes include: Leitz Wetzlar monocular -black scopes, Leica DM 750P, Nikon LABPHOT-POL - ore scopes, Nikon SMZ745 stereoscopes, various other stereoscopes
  • Faculty of Science drone
  • Numerous maps – both geological and topographical
  • 3D TV screen and microphone(s)
  • Ultraviolet lamps (and containers) and Geiger counters
  • Stereoscopes and air photographs
  • Models: structures, crystals, and minerals
  • Computer programs: MSOffice/365 and SolidEdge
    • Upcoming computer programs: Global mapper and IgPet (coming in 2024/2025) 
  • New Geophysics Equipment (2023)! A hand-held KT-10 S/C meter for measuring magnetic susceptibility and conductivity.
  • Kits for remote learning (if needed for situations where required, e.g., pandemic learning): GEOL 102 – rock and mineral specimen kits, GEOL 201 - rock and mineral specimen kits, GEOL 210 – mineralogy I minerals and 3-D printed crystal form kits, GEOL 211 – mineralogy II minerals and rocks kits, GEOL 240 – historical geology rocks and fossil kits, GEOL 241 – palaeontology fossils kits, GEOL 313 – igneous rock kits, GEOL 314 – sedimentology rock kits, GEOL 429 – Glacial geology kits

OER Resources

Four of our courses now use free Open Education Resources (OER) textbooks and other resources developed, in some cases, primarily for the course. These courses are:

  • GEOL 102 (textbook, workbook)
  • GEOL 201 (textbook and lab book – new lab book!)
  • GEOL 240 (virtual field trip)
  • GEOL/GES 329 (new virtual tour and tutorials!)