9354373 Tewksbury An introductory course on the geology of Africa is being developed. The goals of this new course are 1) to attract black students to take geology and to encourage them to major in geology, 2) to provide all students in the course with a perspective on how the geologic evolution of a region has a fundamental influence on historical, cultural, economic, and social issues, and 3) to provide both non-science students and prospective geology majors with a rigorous, hands-on science course in which students really "do geology". This new course, "The Geology and Development of Modern Africa", will be part of both a major in geology and a major in Africana Studies. Students who take this course will not simply learn facts about the geology of Africa. The course will be designed as a lab course to give prospective geology majors and non-science majors alike a rigorous, hands-on experience in science and an opportunity to think creatively about the underlying geologic context for events and trends in the history and development of modem Africa. The course will be designed to have a maximum enrollment of 50. A group of several students, both black and white, will participate during the summer of 1994 in designing the course, which will be offered for the first time during fall semester 1994. Students who helped develop the course will serve as teaching assistants and tutors during the first year that the course is taught, and one of the goals of the course will be to develop a nucleus of black students who are well-trained and interested in geology. The course will be evaluated and revised during spring and summer 1995 and offered again in the fall of 1995.
