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- Practising science: Reading the rocks and ecology
Practising science: Reading the rocks and ecology

Have you ever wondered how scientists analyse the environment? This free course, Practising science: Reading the rocks and ecology, introduces you to the techniques used by science students at residential schools. You will learn how to determine where rocks have come from and how they were made. You will also examine the processes involved in determining the ecology of a particular area.
Course learning outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
After studying this course, you should be able to:
- explain the difference between a mineral and a rock
- describe the textural differences between igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks
- account for these differences in terms of the processes that produce these rocks
- classify igneous rocks according to their grain size and mineralogical composition
- recognise the difference between a body fossil and a trace fossil.
First Published: 09/08/2012
Updated: 10/04/2019
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Course content
- Introduction
- Learning outcomes
- 1 Earth Sciences: reading the rocks
- 2 What is ecology?
- Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- This site has Copy Reuse Tracking enabled - see our FAQs for more information.
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About this free course
14 hours study
Level 1: Introductory
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