EDUCATOR’S CORNER
with Special Reference to American Geological History, for the Use of Colleges, Academies, and Schools of Science.”
In the first half of the 20th century, William John Miller (1880-1965), a professor at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, was one of the most prolific and popular authors of geology textbooks in North America. Miller’s text- books were published by D. Van Nostrand Company in New York and all went through several editions: An Introduction to Historical Geology, with Special Reference to North America (1916, sixth edition in 1952); An Introduction to Physical Geology, with Special Reference to North America (1924, sixth edition in 1949); An Introduction to Geology (Physical and Historical), with Special Reference to North America (1916, fifth edition in 1942); and Elements of Geology, with Special Reference to North America (1931 and 1939).
The most popular geology textbook in the mid-20th century in North American universities was Principles of Geology by James Gilluly, Aaron V. Waters, and A.O. Woodford, published in 1951 by W. H. Freeman, San Francisco with successive edi- tions in 1959, 1968, and 1975.
Plate Tectonic Revolution
One of the characteristics of the many of geology textbooks published in North America during the early-mid 20th century was their dismissal of Alfred Wegener’s idea of continental drift. Most American authors instead promoted the geosyn- clinal idea that was developed by James Hall and James Dana in the late-19th century modelled on the Appalachian basins and mountains. Wegener’s idea of continental drift was rediscovered with new evidence from sea-floor mapping (mid-ocean ridges, transform faults, and subduction zones) as plate tectonics in the 1960s. Beginning with the 1970s, geology textbooks increasingly attempted to incorporate plate tecton- ics. For instance, Earth by Frank Press and Raymond Siever (W.H. Freeman, 1974) in physical geology, and Evolution of the Earth by Robert H. Dott, Jr., and Roger Batten (McGraw-Hill, 1971) in historical geology.
In the past five decades, a large number of authors have produced physical and historical geology textbooks that have used plate tectonics as a unifying paradigm to explain igneous activities, metamorphism, earthquakes and volcanic erup- tions, mountain-building events, and so forth (in the same way as the 19th century geology textbooks attempted to interpret geology in terms of uniformitarianism, cooling-contracting Earth or geosynclines). The modern textbooks, however, have evolved in some other manners as well. They have become larger formats (9 x 11 inches, in contrast to the previous 7 x 10 inches). They are profusely illustrated with color photographs and diagrams (in contrast to black-and-white images of the previous textbooks). And with the advent of the Internet and online sources, they have become digital packages (in contract to print-only textbooks) and provide links to the relevant website and audiovisual materials. With the growth of the environmental movement in the last five decades, textbooks on environmental geology and natural hazards have joined the traditional physical and historical geology categories.
Table 1 on page 40 lists some of the most widely used geology textbooks in North America.
Despite remarkable advances in publishing, as far as the content and coverage are concerned, the current textbooks in a given field remain highly similar. They all present a set of established knowledge-base in their respective fields. Pick any one of them; it will suffice for teaching a basic course on gen- eral, physical, historical or environmental geology. Moreover, even though the textbooks go through new editions every three to five years, their contents and concepts change little; new research results or debates are rarely incorporated. The revised editions are largely for digital re-packaging, updat- ing some sources or numbers, or replacing some illustrations. Of course, discoveries significant enough to make us rewrite textbooks (such as the discovery of a meteorite impact at the Cretaceous-Paleocene boundary by Louis Alvarez and his and son Walter in 1980) do not happen every year. And it takes perhaps a decade or so for a discovery or new idea to become established and find its way into textbooks (as we have seen in the case of plate tectonics and mantle plumes). Luckily, we all now have access to online sources, and important research results are fast transmitted through the Internet.1 In this way, geology instructors are in a unique position to engage the students with new developments, debates, and discoveries. They do not need to wait for textbooks.
Open Textbooks
In recent years, there have been a few attempts by college professors to produce online, open, and free geology textbooks for their students. Because they do not enjoy the technical support of a major publishing company, open geology text- books may not have high sophistication in their coverage and presentation as the mainstream commercial geology textbooks do. However, this is only a matter of time. Open geology textbooks will grow and will become more attractive to instructors, students, and colleges, mainly because they are free and save lots of money for students. This will compel commercial textbooks to offer new packages to the instructors, students, and colleges. An open geology textbook that I have used since its appearance in 2017 is the one developed at Salt Lake Community College.2
***
Since the ancient Sumerians and Egyptians began writing on clay tablets and papyrus some 5,000 years ago, humanity has come a long way to today’s digital platforms. The face of textbooks will continue to change. However, two things are certain and will remain the same. First, new knowledge and sound writing will be needed. Second, good teachers will always be in demand. A good teacher, as a German proverb says, is better than two books. The same textbook will speak differently in the hands of two different teachers.
1. See Sorkhabi, Rasoul (2020) Educator’s Corner: Earth Science News for Classes. The Professional Geologist, vol. 57, no. 3, pp. 50-51.
2. An Introduction to Geology: Free Textbook for College-Level Introductory Geology Course, written by my colleagues Chris Johnson, Matthew Affolter, Paul Inkenbrandt, and Cam Mosher (
https://opengeology.org/textbook/).
www.aipg.org Oct.Nov.Dec 2021 • TPG 39
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