When I first began the class I had third-grade knowledge of rocks, and not gonna lie, not much motivation to learn about some boring rocks either. But after actually starting the class and learning so many cool facts I take it all back. After taking this class, I look at things differently now, and I also feel so prepared being able to identify so many rocks and minerals. And also smarter knowing some of the Earth's timeline. Throughout the class I feel like I applied my goals to the best I could, the only one I couldn't was because I found a better method.
Entering this class, I have the most basic knowledge of geology: the Earth is round, rocks have layers, rocks erode, and coal can turn into diamonds. Growing up I moved around a lot, so I have seen some places and been in many different types of environments. I always have liked taking pictures of cool river rocks or caves, and such, but I can't identify a single rock. I am interested in learning more about our Earth and all of its different elements. And also, by knowing how the Earth was formed and how its elements are affected with the non-stop damage we cause to the Earth with different types of pollution, overpopulation, deforestation, and fossil consumption.
For the first student learning outcome for this class, "Identify the dynamics of the Earth's interior", I feel like it will be the easiest for me since it sounds like the basic breakdown of the Earth’s interior which I have some familiarity with. For the last four student learning incomes, I am nervous but excited to learn all the different minerals, their geological processes, how to date different rocks, and their different locations. I want to focus the most on the student learning outcome, "Identifying the rock-forming minerals by their physical properties" because I feel like this is knowledge that I could use in my everyday life, to be able to identify different rocks and minerals just by looking at them and their characteristics. It could come in handy while hiking or exploring!
To be on time and prepared for class with a charged computer and notebook for notes.
To be caught up with the material provided for that day's class while also being prepared for the quiz passed out at the beginning of the class based on the lectures on canvas.
To not let the non-grading distract me from continuing to learn in any way.
Making sure I have a full meal before and after every class to keep healthy.
I plan on trying to do mental maps with our main topics because they help me a lot because of the way they are formatted and laid out. Instead of having all my information clustered into one page or more.
In order to find the answers to the quizzes, I plan on watching the lectures whether it is before or after the quiz. And also by paying close attention in class and taking notes on the quiz itself about the topics that are mentioned in the quiz.
I plan on trying to follow the class schedule calendar provided on canvas, in order to be ahead on the assignments instead of rushing to finish them or bringing them incompleted.
In general, I feel like my goals were met, especially the one about going back and studying the quizzes in order to actually retain the information about the topics we learned and conversed about. I also followed the class schedule a lot more than I thought I would, which made me feel responsible and prepared the next day for class, even if I hadn't watched the full lecture on the quiz that was due the next day. One that I struggled with was trying to use mental maps as a method just because due to the format they require and also the extensive information on each topic, it was much more organized and easier to read just by taking normal notes while making sure everything was labeled, and the important stuff either highlighted or capitalized.
In conclusion, I feel like I did quite solid in this class. I didn't complete three assignments but the ones that I did complete, I worked very hard on and took some time due to many things that I didn't understand at first. What helped me understand what I was doing wrong on some assignments was going back and resubmitting when they were incomplete. I was present for each class except the day of my birthday, even if I was a bit late. And the day I did miss I caught right back up before the next class. The topic I have had the most practice with are the minerals. I studied them very extensively and can identify them in rocks and other materials which I was not able to do before. After all the topics we learned about geology I feel very educated on our Earth and its processes, and I also feel like this class was the college class I have learned the most in, and for that I am grateful. Because of this class not only do I feel informed to be able to identify minerals and rocks, I also look at things differently, while also sharing some of the things we learned in class to my family and friends. This class also gave me the motivation to go to places that I didn't even know of until after our group presentations. My greatest achievement in this class is being able to identify the rocks and minerals since there were over 50 to remember. I would give myself a B because I did miss three assignments, but I feel like the work I did present and work on had quite some effort to make up for the missing assignments. Overall I am very proud of how much I learned in this class.