CFCC Geology Students

And so ends a very busy term. Congrats to all 2013 graduates for a job well done. This term was filled with many exciting classes and projects. Our outreach program expanded to area elementary schools serving some 900+ students.  That number will grow with the several summer programs we will be a part of.

We will have  two new programs in the fall for local schools. “Rocks Talk” and “The Cape Fear River Indians”. They will be great fun and very educational!

Classroom Outreach

As part of this year’s event CFCC staff and students brought an education program to 35 classrooms and over 800 students in Wilmington furthering the college’s commitment to outreach programs for area schools.

CFCC staff have currently 11 varieties of Fly Traps under cultivation ready for more summer programs!

One of 80 Flytraps being cultivated by CFCC staff

Children discover the park’s beauty

New Book From Dr. Garwood!

The Cape Fear River Indians: Creative Abstract

Dr. Phillip D. Garwood

Professor of Geology at Cape Fear Community College

Introduction:

An important portion of North Carolina history that many educators fail to explore is the telling of the history, culture, art, and traditions of the local Native American people.  As a veteran educator, spending more than 30 years in classrooms, including elementary and high school, and being a passionate presenter at The Cape Fear Children’s Museum, it is more the odd exception that a student of any grade level is aware of even the fundamentals of these marvelous tribes.  It was this realization that prompted my writing a classroom book for K-12 public school students, concerning the Cape Fear River Indians.

Problem Statement:

Based on the above discussion, it is possible to identify and share ways that educators can also learn about the stories not being told, the artifacts being buried, and the history that we struggle to recover.   It should be an educator’s passion and profession to ensure that the stories of all people are represented.  More published accounts of Native American history are needed and should be available to K-12 teachers.

Purpose:

The purpose of this presentation is to share the information compiled in my book (to be released in February), The Cape Fear River Indians, which was made possible by a grant from International Paper.  The objective is to find ways that as experts in our field, we are all able to find ways to share our knowledge with a variety of age-levels and preserve the importance of the Native American people.  To discuss opportunities available in supporting American Indian Studies research.

Background:

Students are unaware that North Carolina is home to more than 80,000 people of Native American origin and that the story of North America began more than 12,000 years ago.  Most history books begin with the arrival of Europeans a scant 500 years ago.  Archaeology, geology, anthropology, and forensic science tell a much richer, fuller tale.

This teaching guide also contains research derived from local tribal elders, who have approved the information in the text.   Attached are the title page and introduction information from the book which will be previewed for the first time, if selected for participation in the Ninth Annual; Southeast Indian Studies Conference at UNC-Pembroke.

Dr. Phillip Garwood (Dr.Rocks)

From Graves Mt. Ga

Here is the latest donation to CFCC Geology Program.

Alvin Coleman one of our Instructors recently acquired more than 30 kilograms of  iridescent hematite found on Graves Mt. Ga. The geological history of Graves Mountain is as complex as the rest of the eastern seaboard. To make a complicated hundreds of millions of years story simple and short, a super continent broke up, the pieces drifted apart creating an ocean and volcanic island chains. The pieces came back together, sweeping up the island chains along the way and forming another super continent. This super continent broke up as well and the pieces drifted away to form our present day continents and the Atlantic Ocean.

Geologists still debate the exact details but certain aspects are clear. Sometimes during the continental collisions the Graves area was subducted and subjected to heat and pressure under the earth new minerals were formed, existing minerals were altered. There were many episodes of metamorphism when the rocks were heated and sometimes fractured and secondary minerals formed and filled the fissures. As the heat and pressure varied, different minerals were formed and underwent metamorphism. Eventually the area was raised back near the surface and eroded to its current exposure.(http://www.rockhounds.com/rockshop/graves_mountain.html)

Join us for the

 
Third Annual Flytrap Frolic!

 
Saturday, April 20, 2013

FREE!  

The Coastal Land Trust will be hosting the third annual Flytrap Frolic on Saturday, April 20th at the Stanley Rehder Carnivorous gardens, located  behind the Alderman Elementary School , in Wilmington, NC. This free event will take place between 9:00 am and 12:00 pm and will feature family friendly activities, guest speakers, and more!

In addition the Cape Fear Community College program of geology will be bringing a Fly Trap day to thirty two Elementary School classrooms. For more information about having a program at your school, contact Dan Sheret at dsheret@cfcc.edu

Rare axe Head

Things only got more exciting from there! For the last month the Geology Program has inventoried and begun to catalog hundreds of  artifacts found on the property. The collection has yielded items from 12,000 years old, to items traded by the French in the 18th century. And we have only scratched the surface of what this site contains. Once the winter passes we plan a field school on site that will take a more in depth study. So far evidence suggests that a Native American culture was living there for thousands of years.

David King with just 10% of his collection on loan to CFCC.

Here is another sample of artifacts under study at CFCC.

There is so much to examine.

SPRING 2013

This course provides insights into geological forces that causes environmental changes influencing man’s activities. Emphasis is placed on natural hazards and disasters caused by geological forces. Upon completion students should be able to relate major hazards and disasters to the geological forces responsible for their occurrences. ( Prerequisites GEL 120) 4 Credits

Space is limited. For more information, contact Alvin Coleman course instructor  acoleman@cfcc.edu

Unleash Your Inner Mad Scientist!

Cape Fear Museum wants to UNfrighten you this season as we uncover the science behind the creepy and mysterious at Science Spooktacular! Create concoctions that bubble, glow, or even smoke in the Mad Lab and discover the secrets of magic in the Little Shop of Physics. Explore skeletons, spiders, bats, and more! It's not spooky, it's science! Come join members of the Science Department for a early Halloween party at the Cape Fear Museum of History on October 20th from 6-10 pm. The Science Club along with faculty from Geology, Biology, and Physics will  be on hand to Unleash Your Inner Mad Scientist!

*Appropriate for all ages.

Bring a pick and chisel to the exam and hammer away at any sample of

rock in the room.  If there are no samples, hammer on the chalk-board and

calmly explain to the professor the you MUST do this in order to

understand slate…

Bring a quartz crystal and pretend it’s your pet.  Ask the x-al exam

questions and every now and then loudly exclaim, “YES! I think you’re

right!!!”

Use flint to try to set your exam on fire.  If there is no flint in

the room, bring your own.

Loudly exclaim after each question, “WOW! THAT’S NEAT!”

Pretend to discover gold on a sample in the room that has pyrite on

it.  Run out of the room screaming loudly that you’ve found gold and how

rich you’re going to be so you don’t have to take this (colorful

adjective) test.  Then come back into the room and say, “HA! I fooled ALL

of you!”

Sing “Plaster Caster” by Kiss as you pulverize a chunk of gypsum.

Yell loudly, “Oppressed geology undergrads of the world -

CRYSTALIZE!”

Bring a Brunton Compass and inform everyone around you that this

ISN’T the orientation the room was in the last time you were there.  Then

tell them that it is a vicious plot of the geology department to use

techtonic forces to move all to rooms on campus so that everyone will

sucumb to their devious plans to rule the Earth…etc…etc…

Bring a stuffed animal that looks really bizarre.  Mid-way through

the exam, walk up to the front like you’re in show-n-tell and tell the

class in a cute 5 year old voice about your buddy, “Isogyer.”

Bring a soft black rock (carbonates, coal, …etc…etc…)

and write the entire exam with it.

Lay on the floor while doing the exam.  When the professor asks what

the heck are you doing, just tell the prof that you’re getting closer to

mother Earth so that you’ll do better.

For a palentology exam, bring bones and beat on the table you are

sitting at while singing “Roll the Bones” by Rush.

For an Environmental Studies class walk into the room with an NRA

shirt and begin to inform everybody that they’re a bunch of

envronmentalist wackos.

Use a petrographic microscope to look at the exam.

Bring pulverized sulfur, be creative.

Come to the exam late and before you sit down at a desk strike it

with a pick.  Carefully listen to the tone and pretend it isn’t right.

Don’t sit down until you’ve tried this with every empty desk at least 3

times each.  After you finally find a place to sit, get up every fifteen

minutes and do it all over again and find another place to sit.

When you get the exam, give it back to the professor and tell him to

save the trees.

Pull out a decent sized chunk of gypsum and begin to gnaw on it.

Explain that it makes for a great aphrodisiac.

Hide small farm animals in specimine drawers.

If the test involves topographic maps, put Garfield stickers all over

it…If it’s a map of Michigan, put an Elvis stamp on Kalamazoo.

Comment on how sexy the professor would look with a pick hanging from

their belt.

Run into the room screaming, “OH NO!  IT’S THE GLACIERS!  THEY’RE

COMMING BACK AND THEY’RE PISSED!”

Bring a calculator to an essay exam.  Pretend to use it often.

Do an imitation of soil creep.  Be sure to include sound effects.

Pretend to be blind and act like the only way you can see is by

looking through biotite flakes.

Act as though one of the crystals in the room is sucking the life

force out of you.  Just like superman and kryptonite.

Become a lithophagic organism. ]]> http://cfcc.edu/blogs/dsheret759/2012/10/14/things-to-do-in-a-geology-exam-when-you-are-failing-anyway/feed/ 0 http://cfcc.edu/blogs/dsheret759/2012/10/14/native-american-artifact-collection/ http://cfcc.edu/blogs/dsheret759/2012/10/14/native-american-artifact-collection/#comments Sun, 14 Oct 2012 14:36:41 +0000 dsheret759 http://cfcc.edu/blogs/dsheret759/?p=156

Cape Fear Community College  has the largest collection of Native American artifacts within the region, and it is growing larger with new donations every week. Our staff and work study students are busy cataloging and numbering all of the some eight thousand items in our collection. Once cataloged, the collection will be a great resource not only for CFCC students and faculty, but will become a searchable data base for all interested in the early inhabitants of North Carolina.

November 10th and the 17th are Native American Artifact Identification Day at the CFCC library. The public is invited to bring in any items geology related  for identification.