International Summer School for Rock Magnetism: Teaching Through Question-Driven Research

Since 2011 the Institute for Rock Magnetism (an NSF national multi-user facility), University of Minnesota, has hosted a 10-day, biannual international summer school. The most recent June 2022 school serves as an example of how an academic research center can combine specialized lectures and small-group laboratory projects to create engaging and highly productive educational experiences for advanced undergraduate students through to postdoctoral researchers. Lectures provided foundational knowledge on rock and mineral magnetism, including the physical origins of magnetism, the characteristic magnetic properties of commonly occurring magnetic minerals, magnetic recording in natural materials, experimental techniques, and how rock magnetism contributes to our understanding of Earth evolution, the geodynamo, plate tectonics, past climate changes, the urban environment, and planetary bodies. Lectures were offered in a hybrid format for students without means to travel, to increase the outreach of the summer school. Group projects were based around question-driven research topics such as (1) "How do sediments record a detrital remanent magnetization?" (2) "Do aragonite speleothems record Earth's magnetic field?" (3) "Are anorthosite xenoliths suitable for recording the strength of Earth's ancient magnetic field?" and (4) "What are the magnetic changes of sediments across the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum?" Exit surveys indicated that all in-person students were engaged in the projects, although remote participants could not participate. Student groups produced rich datasets using the array of geophysical instrumentation available, learned the nuances and caveats of the equipment, and gave oral presentations of their findings. The quality of the presentations combined with feedback from exit surveys demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach. Participant diversity within these IRM Summer Schools is broad: Of the 117 participants across six summer schools, 43% originate from the USA, Europe (27%), Canada (12%), Asia (8%), Mexico and South America (7%), and Oceania and the Middle East (3%). The female:male ratio is 55:45, and amongst USA participants, ethnicities were self-identified as White, Hispanic/Latino, Middle Eastern, Asian, and biracial.