Mineral Thermodynamics

students are expected to demonstrate their knowledge and their ability to understand, in order to improve those associated with the first cycle of studies and to be able to elaborate and/or apply original ideas, with a better confidence, to the subjects of the lectures. The students, at the end of the course, should have an advanced knowledge of 1) the mechanisms of solid state reactivity, of diffusion, and on the influence on them of the system variables, such as temperature and pressure, 2) the mechanisms of nucleation and crystal growth, 3) ideal, regular, non ideal solid solutions, 4) phase transitions.
Students are expected to be able to generalise their knowledge, and to apply what they have learnt to problems and issues that are different from those proposed during the lectures.

Students are expected to be able to integrate their knowledge and to understand complexity, but also to make educated guesses on the base of limited or incomplete information, with an eye to the social and ethical responsibilities connected to this.
The students are expected to be able to communicate in a clear and unambiguous way their knowledge, to specialist scientist, as well as to a more generalist public. These abilities are tested during the course on a daily basis, when the students are asked to perform a brief search on the internet (on a subject proposed by the lecturer) and to explain their findings to the rest of the class, and to point out the connections with the actual lecture.
It is advisable for the students to have developed the learning skills that allow them to continue their course of studies in a direct and autonomous way.