This laboratory manual is based on our collective 70-plus years of teaching and coordinating introductory geology courses. Those experiences have helped us understand not only how students best learn geologic principles, but also how to stimulate their engagement with the material to enhance their learning process. Our manual provides (1) an up-to-date, comprehensive background that addresses the hands-on tasks at the core of any introductory geology course; (2) patient stepby-step explanations that are more easily understood by students than those in textbooks; (3) text and exercises that lead students to think like geologists, engaging them in solving real-life problems important to their lives; and (4) the passion and excitement that we still feel after decades as teachers and geologists.

Laboratory Manual in Physical Geology has been developed by the geoscience education community for the benefit of our students and is produced under the auspices of the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) and the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT). For decades and continuing through the present day, it has been the most widely adopted manual available for teaching laboratories in introductory geology and geoscience.

Laboratory Manual in Physical Geology is the most widely adopted, user-friendly manual available for teaching laboratories in introductory geology and geoscience. The manual has been produced under the auspices of the American Geological Institute (AGI) and the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT). It is backed up by an Internet site, GeoTools (ruler, protractor, UTM grids, sediment grain-size scale, etc.), Instructor Resource Guide, Instructor Slide Set, Instructor Transparency Set, and a Digital Image Gallery (DIGIT) CD-ROM.'

The average introductory geology student’s perception of geology normally involves the memorization of rocks and discussions of  natural disasters, but Geology contains so much more. Geology is the study of our planet, which is vital to our everyday lives from the energy we use, to the growing of the food we eat, to the foundations of the buildings we live in, to the materials that are used to make everyday objects (metals and plastics). The ideal place to start this course is discussing the methods that are used to better understand our planet, the processes that shape it, and its history.