Hands-on teaching using a Planetary Analogue Rock Collection (PARC) to augment education in planetary science and engineering

In planetary science we study a myriad of internal and external geological processes that are shaping the planets and moons inside the solar system. Thanks to the remote exploration by satellites, we can reconstruct the geologic, climatic and possibly biologic past of these planetary bodies. Key focal points targeted by the Dutch community are planetary evolution and the past and present-day habitability. Herein too, lies an important challenge for our education approach for engineering students. The curricula of a typical Aerospace Engineering student are well-aligned to offer training in solving the engineering challenges of space flight and operations of spacecraft. While our students are not trained as geologists, these future space engineers and planetary scientists would benefit from developing and obtaining a level of proficiency of geological concepts at higher learning levels that help them understand the science drivers for instruments and their potential and limitations on space missions. We believe that the development of such concepts can be supported by an ‘analogue approach’, which involves using materials from Earth that resemble those observed on other planetary bodies [1]. It offers learners an unparalleled opportunity to augment their textbook knowledge with first-hand, real-world observations of materials that drive scientific questions and design requirements for planetary missions. However, rock collections for teaching in the field of geoscience are often compiled and expanded over decades by the involved teaching staff. This means that existing geological collections are not aligned a priori to the educational needs in planetary science teaching. Afterall, collections with a relevant scope for planetary science will be strongly dependent on outcomes of past and present planetary missions.

Here we report on the development of the Planetary Analogue Rock Collection (PARC) and the first outcomes of using PARC in teaching activities. We have recently started involving hands-on materials and to study how these can contribute to a better understanding of numerical approaches and in-situ measuring strategies by space missions. Based on our initial activities and evaluations for the courses ‘Physics of Planetary Interiors’ and ‘Measurement Strategies for Planetary Science Missions’, we found that the assimilation of theoretical knowledge on rocks and minerals benefits from relevant examples and the use of hands-on materials. During the project we aimed to refine and improve our educational formats, expanded the collection with new specimen collected in Iceland and set-up an approach and platform to create and host ‘digital twins’ (3D models) of selected rock examples. Aligned to digital collection trends in education [2-4] these 3D models allow us to develop blended-learning activities to support the students' learning process. We will present our approach to the collection, its use in courses, we propose the use of "educational analogues" to complement [1] and discuss some key outcomes that merits further consideration for those seeking to use hands-on collections in education of the generation of digital natives. 

References
[1]   Foucher, F. et al., Planetary and Space Science, 197, 105162 (2021). [2] Andrews, G.D.M. et al., GSA Today, 30(9), 42-43 (2020). [3] Apopei, A., Carpathian Journal of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 16, 237-249 (2021). [4] Riquelme, A., et al., Rock Mech Rock Eng, 52, 4799–4806 (2019).