Skip to content | Change text size
 

At the coal face of e-learning

1 July 2009

science laboratory

One of the most advanced science laboratories in Australia was officially launched last week by the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research Senator Kim Carr.

The $1 million Earth Sciences Teaching Laboratory will provide students with the latest in high-tech learning, giving them access to next-generation computer modelling and microscope technology.

Geosciences Head of School Professor Ray Cas said the new teaching facilities were an exciting development in education with students being able to learn in laboratories that provide them with close to first-hand experience in mining and other geological settings.

"The laboratory is the most advanced facility of its kind in Australia and the technology it employs is at the cutting-edge internationally," Professor Cas said.

Professor Cas said the laboratory also had the capacity to teach at a microscopic scale via the linking of microscopes with smart screens.

"This will enable students to have elite training in mineralogy and mineral optics and allow academic staff to demonstrate linkages between processes at the micro-scale with progressively larger scale processes, right up to the scale of the solar system," Professor Cas said.

"Geosciences is a rapidly-changing area of expertise.

"By bringing the skill set of the next generation of geoscientists up to the level currently practiced in the industry, the laboratory will ultimately facilitate improved collaboration between academic geoscientists and industry."

Monash Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) Professor Adam Shoemaker said the Earth Sciences Teaching Laboratory exemplified the University's strong commitment to innovative e-Education as part of the Monash Passport.

"It will contribute to the vitality of earth sciences in the higher education sector through the provision of highly-trained undergraduate students qualified to pursue research careers, and equip our minerals and resources industries with a new generation of innovative, technology-literate earth science professionals," Professor Shoemaker said.