The course will be divided in two halves: one focusing on Crystallography, and one focusing on Mineralogy. Half of the abovementioned percentages of the different activities will correspond to each of this halves.

The requisite to pass each of the activities included in the assessment is to obtain a minimum grade of 5 out of 10 points in each of those activities for each half of the course. Otherwise, the student will not pass the course. In those cases when the average of all grades of the different activities is higher than 5, but the student did not obtain a minimum of 5 in all the activities, the grade that will be assigned in the official records will be 4.

Once all the activities have been passed, the final grade of the course will be the sum of the different grades obtained in the tests and activities. The mixed test will yield 50% of the final grade. Laboratory work will account for 30% of the final grade, and problem solving will result in the other 20% of the final grade. Nevertheless, it will be strictly necessary to obtain 5 points out of 10 in each of the activities: the mixed test, the laboratory work, and the problem-solving activities. The attendance to lectures, laboratory work, and the completion of exercises are compulsory in order to be evaluated. Unjustified absence to one of the laboratory sessions or one small group activity will imply the discualification from the course.

The student will be assessed as NOT PRESENTED only if he/she did not participate in any of those activities whose contribution to the final grade is higher than 10%.

The tests of May-June (first opportunity) and July (second opportunity) will be evaluated similarly in terms of percentages and requirements to pass the course. The qualification obtained in the laboratory work and group activities will be preserved until the second opportunity, while the mixed test qualification in the second opportunity will replace the one obtained in the first one.

Honors will be given only to students whose evaluation is conducted during the course and pass the tests in any of the two opportunities, until the maximum number of Honors dictated by the institution regulations is reached. Part-time students are not obligated to attend to lectures and small-group activities, although they must attend to laboratory work. The percentage of the final grade corresponding to small-group activities will be replaced by the corresponding increase in the percentage of the mixed objective/subjective test, both in the first and second opportunities.

Learning outcomes	Study programme competences
The study of minerals, as natural inorganic chemical compounds, and mineral formation processes, provides knowledge on the reactivity of chemical elements that result in natural compounds	A1 A3 A6 A12	B1 B3	C1 C2
Laboratory work includes the analysis of crystal forms and the identification of common minerals through a critical analysis of its symmetry, the development and training of spatial perception and the students’ abstraction capabilities.	A1 A12 A15 A16 A23 A25 A27	B1 B4 B5 B7	C6
The student will face practical and theoretical aspects of minerals and crystalline matter, and the relationship between atomic arrangement and macroscopic properties	A9 A12 A16 A20 A25		C1 C2
The internal structure of each mineral class, crystal system and the most representative unit cells are analyzed	A1 A3 A6 A16	B3 B7	C1 C2 C3
The student will be able to relate mineral properties (density, cleavage, hardness, piezoelectricity) and mineral chemical composition, bonds and internal structure	A6 A12	B1	C6 C7
Small group assignments are focused on solving problems related, in general, to practical aspects of mineralogy. The student should be able to present it in a synthetic manner, and to establish the interactions between the problem and other disciplines	A15 A16 A20 A24	B1 B5 B6 B7	C1 C2 C7
The student will learn to recognize crystalline matter, to analyze its structure, and to describe its internal symmetry	A1 A3 A6	B1 B3 B4	C1 C2
The student will become familiar with the international standard terminology both in crystallography and mineralogy studies	A1 A3 A16	B1 B4 B7	C1 C2

Topic	Sub-topic
Crystallography and symmetry of crystalline matter	1. Introduction to crystallography and mineralogy. Definition of crystal and mineral. Main properties of crystalline matter. Fundamentals of crystal chemistry: coordination. 2. Crystal systems: Orthorhombic, tetragonal, hexagonal, monoclinic, triclinic and isometric. 3. Point symmetry: symmetry elements, symmetry class. 4. Morphology of crystal forms: crystallographic axis, axis relations, faces, Miller indices. 5. Crystallographic projections (spheric and stereographic). 6. Planar symmetry: 2-dimensional order and planar lattices. Planar symmetry and groups. 7. Space symmetry: 3-dimensional order. Bravais lattices. Space symmetry (glide planes and screw axes). Space groups. Relations between point groups and space groups. 8. Molecular symmetry and Schoenflies notation.
Geological processes, mineral formation, and types of rocks	9. Formation of chemical elements. 10. Formation of minerals. 11. Types of rocks: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. 12. The most aboundant minerals in Earth crust: silicates.
Chemical and physical properties of crystalline matter	13. Physical properties of minerals: cleavage and fracture, hardness, piezoelectricity, pyroelectricity, magnetic properties. 14. Optical properties: X-ray diffraction, color, luster and streak, refraction, luminescence and phosphorescence).

Methodologies / tests	Competencies	Ordinary class hours	Student’s personal work hours	Total hours
Guest lecture / keynote speech	A1 A3 A6 A9 A12 A20 A25 B1 B3 B6 C1 C2 C7	26	60	86
Laboratory practice	A12 A15 A16 A23 A27 B1 B3 B4 B5 B7 C1 C2 C6	15	22.5	37.5
Problem solving	A15 A20 A23 A24 B7 C1 C2 C3 C7	9	13.5	22.5
Mixed objective/subjective test	A25 A23 A20 A16 A15 A12 A9 A6 A3 A1 B1 B3 B7 C1 C2	2	0	2
Introductory activities	B1 B3 C7	1	0	1

Personalized attention		1	0	1

(*)The information in the planning table is for guidance only and does not take into account the heterogeneity of the students.

Methodologies	Description
Guest lecture / keynote speech	50-min sessions that will cover the theoretical aspects of the course using audiovisual contents
Laboratory practice	Hands-on activities where the students will learn to identify crystal groups, symmetry operations, and point groups based on model structures. These activities will include also the recognition of the most representative minerals and rocks.
Problem solving	These sessions will be focused on the individual work of students solving problems related to crystal lattices, structure, origin and properties of minerals and rocks, and the identification of combinations of symmetry elements in point groups.
Mixed objective/subjective test	A written test that will be conducted in order to verify the knowledge and competences that the student developed during the course.
Introductory activities	An introductory session during the first day of the course, where the methodology, contents, assessment criteria and time schedule of the different activities will be discussed.

Methodologies	Competencies	Description	Qualification
Mixed objective/subjective test	A25 A23 A20 A16 A15 A12 A9 A6 A3 A1 B1 B3 B7 C1 C2	A test designed to assess the theoretical background of the adquired during the course. The minimum grade to pass the test will be 5 points out of 10	50
Problem solving	A15 A20 A23 A24 B7 C1 C2 C3 C7	The assessment will consist on a booklet with problems that the student needs to solve	20
Laboratory practice	A12 A15 A16 A23 A27 B1 B3 B4 B5 B7 C1 C2 C6	The assessment will include questions to be aswered during the laboratory work and a test about crystalline structures	30

Assessment comments
The course will be divided in two halves: one focusing on Crystallography, and one focusing on Mineralogy. Half of the abovementioned percentages of the different activities will correspond to each of this halves. The requisite to pass each of the activities included in the assessment is to obtain a minimum grade of 5 out of 10 points in each of those activities for each half of the course. Otherwise, the student will not pass the course. In those cases when the average of all grades of the different activities is higher than 5, but the student did not obtain a minimum of 5 in all the activities, the grade that will be assigned in the official records will be 4. Once all the activities have been passed, the final grade of the course will be the sum of the different grades obtained in the tests and activities. The mixed test will yield 50% of the final grade. Laboratory work will account for 30% of the final grade, and problem solving will result in the other 20% of the final grade. Nevertheless, it will be strictly necessary to obtain 5 points out of 10 in each of the activities: the mixed test, the laboratory work, and the problem-solving activities. The attendance to lectures, laboratory work, and the completion of exercises are compulsory in order to be evaluated. Unjustified absence to one of the laboratory sessions or one small group activity will imply the discualification from the course. The student will be assessed as NOT PRESENTED only if he/she did not participate in any of those activities whose contribution to the final grade is higher than 10%. The tests of May-June (first opportunity) and July (second opportunity) will be evaluated similarly in terms of percentages and requirements to pass the course. The qualification obtained in the laboratory work and group activities will be preserved until the second opportunity, while the mixed test qualification in the second opportunity will replace the one obtained in the first one. Honors will be given only to students whose evaluation is conducted during the course and pass the tests in any of the two opportunities, until the maximum number of Honors dictated by the institution regulations is reached. Part-time students are not obligated to attend to lectures and small-group activities, although they must attend to laboratory work. The percentage of the final grade corresponding to small-group activities will be replaced by the corresponding increase in the percentage of the mixed objective/subjective test, both in the first and second opportunities.

Basic	Borchardt-Ott, W. (2012). Crystallography: An Introduction. Springer Phillips, F.C. (1972). Introduccion a la Cristalografía. Paraninfo Gay P. (1977). Introduccion al estado cristalino. EUNIBAR KLEIN, C. y HURLBUT, C.S. Jr (1996). Manual de mineralogía basado en la obra de J. Dana. Reverté
	Web resources: http://webmineral.com http://www.xtal.iqfr.csic.es/Cristalografia/index-en.html  http://www.iucr.org/
Complementary	Amorós, J.L. (1990 ). El cristal. Morfología, estructura y propiedades físicas. Atlas Galán, E. y Mirete, S. (1979). Introducción a los minerales de España. IGME
	Web resources: http://www.nature.com/news/specials/crystallography-1.14540 Tindle, A. 2010. Andy Tindle’s Pages. The Open University (checked on July, 2017). http://www.open.ac.uk/earth-research/tindle/

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