Designing Geoscience Courses Around Projects With Realistic Scenarios Bosiljka Glumac Geology Department, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts Idea: To motivate students geoscience courses could include assignments that demonstrate the relevance of the work that geologists do. Example: The Sedimentology (Geology 232) course I teach at Smith College is structured around carefully designed projects that take advantage of the local geology and address a variety of topics. The projects are designed to mimic real-life situations: the students address concerns of a local farmer, or have roles as field conference organizers and collaborators (with paleontologists) on a multidisciplinary research project. (http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/sedimentary/activities/13884.html) Questions/Comments: Is this a useful approach? (Recently a colleague commented that demonstrating such relevance is not needed and that students should want to study rocks to enrich their lives, just like reading poems.) Other examples?