New and old practicals

The students who do the trip to Lleiniog do a practical afterwards, and I have never been a part of that. But last year, Mike thought he could improve on how this module was run, and suggested changes. We thought they were amazing, so they were implemented. And that involved a practical session on our Ocean Sciences campus, where the students describe a core that was taken as a part of his PhD project some 20 years ago. And given that I have done core description exhaustively, it would make sense to have me involved in that. So on the Monday after the beach trip, that kicked off.

The core is beautiful! And there is enough to see. Unfortunately, Mike, who doesn't have an awful lot of teaching experience, just told the students to go and describe it. If you've never done it before, you don't quite know how to start! So I found it quite tiring to look over their shoulders and check if they were doing everything the logical way. Apparently, it doesn't speak for itself that the top of the core should also be the top of the core log. Or that a core log has a linear depth scale. I think Mike is open to providing a bit more guidance next year.

The core. Pic by Mike

That same week I also had my own practical, that I have been doing for years. That was a lot more relaxed! I suppose all the difficulties have been ironed out over the years. But it did mean quite many hours with pretty much the same students in the same teaching lab in one week. But that's it now for this academic year!