Mineralogical collections in teaching andrea,Mineralogical collections, teaching, mineral properties

Mineralogical collections are specialized geological collections consisting of mineral samples. They can be of different type, and the number and diversity of samples depend primarily on the pos-sibilities of the collector, i.e. availability of samples. Collecting of samples is a permanent process, which requires prior knowledge of the minerals to be collected, especially of their physical prop-erties as the first features encountered on a sample. Mineral samples are collected in various ways, i.e. through field investigation, by purchase, exchange, or donations. If mineralogical collections are to be used in elementary or high school teaching, they can be smaller and consist of samples collected only in the schools' vicinity. Mineralogical collections for college education are usually more complex and are based on the crystal-chemical properties of the minerals. A brief introduc-Tion about forming a representative mineralogical collection, processing, maintaining, and utilizing it in teaching is given in this article.