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I explore connections between reformed classroom practices, student learning, teaching beliefs and the implementation of inquiry-based labs in introductory Earth science lectures and labs. My research interests also include online educational resources, pre-service teacher identity development, professional development, and student learning strategies and engagement in large introductory courses. I am part of a team looking at the connection between teaching beliefs and practices for geoscience faculty members at a variety of institutions across the country. Recently, I have been working on how to incorporate a homemade Augmented Reality Sandbox into introductory labs.
Introductory geoscience classrooms offer important opportunities for college students to become scientifically literate citizens. One of the challenges of teaching these classes is the need to encourage a scientific mindset in students with diverse academic interests. Hands-on, active-learning environments have been shown to produce students who are better able to model scientific thinking, with higher order reasoning skills and a deeper understanding of the scientific process. The goal of my work is to help the geoscience community incorporate reformed teaching practices in introductory classrooms that fully engage students in the scientific process.
The title of my dissertation is An Evaluation of Classroom Practices and Teaching Beliefs in Introductory Geoscience Classrooms. In it, in order to see where reformed teaching practices were successfully implemented, I needed to address two key questions: what are the teaching beliefs of introductory geoscience instructors, and how are they related to teaching practices? I developed three mixed-methods studies that included surveys, classroom observations, and semi-structured interviews. Participants included faculty members from across the country who completed workshops through NAGT's On the Cutting Edge project and Graduate Teaching Assistants from North Carolina State University. Lessons learned from these studies can be used to guide those who provide professional development for faculty members and Graduate Teaching Assistants that is both effective and low cost while reinforcing effective teaching practices.
Geoscience Education
Below is a video introduction to some of the results of my dissertation research.
Sedimentology
I earned my M.S. in Geology at NC State in Raleigh, NC working with Dr. Lonnie Leithold. My research focused on surface alteration of volcanic ash on the continental margins of New Zealand, and associated organic carbon.
The production of new mineral surface area by the weathering of volcaniclastic glass represents a potentially important influence on carbon cycling on continental margins. The Waipaoa Sedimentary System on the North Island of New Zealand represents a natural laboratory in which to study this phenomenon, due to its proximity to a highly productive volcanic arc. Westerly winds have distributed large quantities of glassy volcanic ash from the Taupo Volcanic Zone and Okataina Volcanic Center to the Waipaoa River watershed and adjacent continental shelf. Surface erosion and mass wasting have subsequently remobilized some of this material. In this study, the weathering of volcanic ash and consequent formation of clay minerals in soils and the seabed of the Waipaoa system were investigated using a combination of analytical techniques, including visual (SEM), chemical (EDS) and mineralogical (FTIR, XRD) methods. Soil samples were analyzed from profiles collected at four localities in the Waipaoa watershed and marine sediments were analyzed from two long piston cores recovered from the continental shelf.
Pumice grains recovered from tephra layers in the terrestrial environment display a wider variety of alteration textures than do those observed in correlative layers in the marine environment, which are relatively pristine. Authigenic minerals were observed growing on some grains in the terrestrial environment, and more rarely in the seabed. On land, the degree of alteration appears to be most strongly dependent on soil conditions. Noncrystalline solids or short-range order minerals which may have been produced as a result of this weathering include imogolite, allophane and halloysite. Zeolites were detected in several soil samples with more weathered pumice, suggesting a possible relationship with alteration. Smectite is common to both the terrestrial and marine environments, while kaolinite was identified more often in soil samples. Calcite was found only in marine samples.
This study was motivated in part by previous work that led to the hypothesis that authigenic smectite formed in pumice-rich horizons in the seabed might be responsible for a trend toward increased organic carbon burial on the Waipaoa shelf during the past 4000 years. Although a general trend toward increasing smectite content was observed in sediments deposited during this interval, evidence for authigenesis was sparse and no difference was found in the amount of smectite within tephra and non-tephra layers It is concluded that the trends observed are more likely the result of increased delivery of soil smectite and associated soil carbon to the continental shelf than of the marine weathering of volcanic ash.
View from a hill of a river flowing down to one of the famous black sand beaches of New Zealand.
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