1. Geology, Bowen’s Reaction Series, & Fractional Crystallization
STRUGGLING LEARNERS
Geology, Bowen’s Reaction Series, & Fractional Crystallization
Courtney Jarvis &
Katie Graham

2. Why do students struggle?
Underdeveloped or Inadequate Study Habits
Poor Critical Thinking and Reasoning Skills
Life Circumstances that Interfere with Learning
Individual Differences in Learning Styles
Poor Awareness of Teacher Expectations
Learning Disabilities
Psychological Impairments and/or Addiction

3. Why do students struggle with science?

4. Why do students struggle with science?
Problems understanding science concepts
Inability to apply scientific knowledge to solve problems

5. Bowen’s Reaction Series (most common)
At first glance:
Students become intimidated by all the details
Why are there two sides?
Why does the series point down?
Why are there 2 ‘y-axes’
Could you draw a magma chamber with all the correct placements?

6. Bowen’s Reaction Series (less common)
Less common format:
Notice whole graph flipped
Still too many details
Still need a lot of information to understand this image

7. Another way of looking at it...
Notice:
How much information this graph provides
Still so many details for students to get tripped up on
Bottom arrow shows crystallization temperature
This also shows how much of each mineral is present (volume)

8. MORE INFORMATION IS NEEDED…
Another addition added:
Now we have to add extrusive, intrusive, grain size, and texture
What is the point of all this?

9. Fractional Crystallization
The process that allows for the differentiation of minerals in magma. Certain minerals crystallize at certain temperatures. Once they crystallize they become more dense allowing them to rain out of the magma and sink to the bottom.

10. Can you make predictions?
After seeing all the charts, can you interpret this magma chamber?
What is the first thing you notice?
Do you think in real life it is always this pretty?
Students struggle with these concepts because it’s not necessarily relatable.
Can you just walk out your door and see this process happening?
Does it always happen exactly like it should?

11. http://img. geocaching. com/cache/19e4d7c7-3df2-40ad-969a-39af102ebe44

12. How do all these connect?
Many students struggle with why they should understand this
Should they understand this concept?
Why do they have to know how to use the concept?
Why can’t they just make general observations?

13. So why do the students struggle with these concepts?
It’s a different language...
You have to understand what an igneous rock is
You have to know the mineral names
You have to know mafic vs felsic minerals and what that means and how that relates to silica content
Then you can look at Bowen’s Reaction Series
From there, to name an igneous rock, you have to know textures, grain size, how vesicular it is and whether it is intrusive or extrusive
Now you can name an igneous rock
This only works if there are NO anomalies with the processes

14. Tutoring experience
2 students came to open office hours to help prepare for an exam
1st student actually wanted help understanding the concepts.
They said they felt overwhelmed by all the information they had to study
They covered earthquakes, Bowen’s Reaction Series, convergent and divergent plate boundaries as well as a little volcano information
They were really tied up with P & S-waves but didn’t realize how little they understood about igneous rocks
“I’m in 103 (GEOL 103 lab). I know the igneous rocks pretty well.”
When we drew the igneous rock chart on the board and had them try to fill it in they didn’t know a single rock
2nd person just wanted me to tell them what was on the test
Wasn’t interested in much help

15. What can teachers do? Why not quit worrying about the words?
Would it hurt for students to understand that certain processes without all the technical terms?
Does handing a student a graph of Bowen’s Reaction Series really explain how these processes work?
What if, instead, we handed them simplified versions of the graphs and omitted all names? Or a flow-chart to follow?
Instead focus on:
What can you say about the rock? Cool fast or slow? Big or small crystals? Is it porous? Does it look like glass? Is it light? What temperature do you think it cooled at? What are the dominating characteristics?

16. References
Armario, Christine. "U.S. Students Still Struggle Mightily with Science Less than Half Are Proficient, Only Tiny Fraction Are Advanced, Exam Finds." U.S. Students Still Struggle Mightily with Science Less than Half Are Proficient, Only Tiny Fraction Are Advanced, Exam Finds. NBCNews.com, n.d. Web. 18 Nov <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcnews.com%2Fid%2F %2Fns%2Ftechnology_and_s cience-science%2F%23.VGql1_nF-So>.
Foushée, Rebecca D., and Merry J. Sleigh. "Going the Extra Mile Identifying and Assisting Struggling Students." Association for Psychological Science: Teaching Tips. Association for Psychological Science, n.d. Web. 18 Nov <
"Nations Report Card." Nations Report Card. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationsreportcard.gov%2F>.
"PISA - OECD." PISA - OECD. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, n.d. Web. 17 Nov <