Philosophy of Teaching and Learning

Overview

Geology is a unique field of study because it requires combining observations of the natural world with chemistry, math, and physics. In the infancy of many fields of science, all scientists were naturalists, observing the world around them and wondering, “why?” My aim as a geology educator is to clearly articulate simple and complex topics to a variety of audiences, while supporting an inclusive and equitable learning environment. My teaching philosophy has grown and evolved from my own experience as a teacher and a student, noting both the constructive and adverse qualities of my own educators. Inside the classroom and out in the field, I aim to encourage discussion and advance skills in qualitative observation and quantitative reasoning.

Experience

During my graduate work at Washington State University and Portland State University (PSU) I worked as a Teaching Assistant for five years, with exposure to six distinct courses. During my PhD I also worked at Clackamas Community College as adjunct faculty; taught Mineralogy twice at PSU as Instructor-of-Record; consulted for the Community College Research Center at the Teachers College at Columbia University; and earned a Certificate of Innovation in College Teaching through a creative teaching program at PSU.

After defending my PhD, I taught as a Term Assistant Professor position at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). My role was entirely remote due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, and I was pleased to discover that I enjoy online teaching! I taught a variety of 100- and 300-level courses including environmental geology, physical geology, petrology, geologic data visualization and analysis, volcanology, and the environmental geology laboratory.

Pedagogical Approach

My pedagogical approach is centered on using prior knowledge as a building block in the acquisition of new concepts. My goal is to influence student thinking by challenging them to consider how what they already know relates to the new content they are learning. For example, in mineralogy, once we have covered various aspects of fundamental chemistry and are working toward crystal systems – I assign each student a topic and each of these topics is listed in a specific order. The subsequent lecture, each student is asked to define their topic, and explain how it relates to the next topic on the list. We start with ions, build to electronegativity, and end with more complex topics like coordination numbers and repulsion forces. This allows students to build a mental framework and see how seemingly independent topics are interconnected. This can also provide me with a window into their thinking process, which can promote independent learning and overall engagement in students (Richart et al., 2011).

Another method I implement to facilitate student learning involves leading by example. I believe this concept can be translated to teaching – to learn by example. If a student asks a question that I do not know the immediate answer to, I like to share what I know, and explain how what I know allows me to construct a first-order hypothesis. I always follow-up with the student when I learn the solution, and clarify my reasoning. This teaching style contributes to my broader objectives of being an active and enthusiastic communicator - and enhances student’s ability to develop a mental framework, allowing them to learn more effectively. I have found this to be incredibly helpful as I mentor two undergraduate students on their senior capstone and thesis projects. One of these undergraduate students is working on a project that contains a significant research component, and she shared her research at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting (Welch et al., 2019).

In the field with students, I emphasize the difference between observations and interpretations. I notice that students who are early in their field experiences can be hesitant to share and describe what they see. I encourage students to first communicate only what they observe, and then we can work together on what that means, the interpretation of their observations. This highlights the thinking process and how you use prior knowledge to generate new ideas. This approach also assists students in differentiating between meaningful and superficial observations, and I look forward to implementing these methods in my own field-based courses. Development of clear but concise procedural methods is imperative for someone learning the reasoning behind a process.

Teaching Tolerance

This year while teaching at UAA, I added a module on environmental racism to my environmental geology course. The content aligned well with course learning objectives, and the curriculum was presented in a meaningful order. For example, students learn about groundwater and soil in the broader context of contamination, and then consider how this could disproportionately impact certain communities. I provided real-world context through current events like Flint Michigan, and included technical information about lead and how the water became contaminated. Based on early feedback, discussions of environmental racism and groundwater contamination increased student engagement and active learning.

My goal is to create a shareable teaching module on environmental racism and develop a course that's entirely focused on environmental racism and ethics in geosciences (as discussed in my diversity statement). This course would be taught through case studies and examine how subsurface geology/ resources, physical properties of rocks, and geochemistry all influence how an area becomes contaminated. Course objectives aim to merge anti-racism with geoscience education by highlighting how systemic racism can influence our environment.

Connecting Content to a Career

Finally, I’m passionate about preparing students for the workforce. I want students to feel a purpose in what they are learning, that the content connects with the outside world. This allows students to make well-informed and self-serving career choices. To bridge the gap between information learned in the classroom, to the outside world, I promote student research focused in published literature or current events - serving science and non-science majors alike. This provides experience navigating and reading scientific literature, and evaluating current events in the media. My goal as a professor and researcher is to train the next generation of geoscientists for a wide variety of careers in industry or academia. I want my teaching style and methods to foster critical thinking, reading comprehension, and written communication– skills which are highly valued in any workforce. This is incredibly important to me, as I aspire to support technical skills and experiences that will directly serve each student in their future career. The primary reason people attend college is to obtain a better job, and I personally think career options after college are not discussed frequently enough.

Assessment and Evaluation of Student Learning

To assess student learning I frequently implement daily quizzes in my classes. Each quiz is short (~10-15 minutes) and serves to review material learned from the previous lecture, in addition to upcoming topics covered in assigned reading. The quizzes are open notes/ book/ internet and students can work together, encouraging peer dialogue. We review and discuss the quiz as a group, and students are encouraged to correct their answers. When we review, I both verbally discuss the question and correct answer, and have the quiz projected to the front of the room where the correct answer is circled. This allows students to both see a solution and listen to why it is the best choice. Ultimately, these quizzes serve as content review, attendance, and allow me to promote active student learning on a daily basis. For graded assessments such as exams, I often recycled questions directly from these quizzes so there are no ‘surprises’ later on in the term or semester. Student feedback from end-of-term evaluations have been positive on the impact of these daily quizzes.

I also developed a project while serving as the instructor of record for Mineralogy at PSU. The purpose of this project is to combine what we are learning in the classroom with current events and/ or current research. Students choose a mineral, gemstone, or possibly an element that they find interesting and create a short (~8 min/ 10 slides) presentation. Students can navigate scientific literature or current events in the media. This combination facilitates reading comprehension, critical thinking, and verbal communication. My hope is that students who may want to go onto graduate school select a mineral with applications in the scientific community, and students who plan on getting jobs immediately after college (science major or nonmajor) select a mineral or gemstone that directly connects with the economics or geopolitical issues of the world outside of the classroom.

Below are some topics we discuss to helps students think about what mineral (or element) they want to choose for their project.

Examples of things to think about:

• What mineral group is it (i.e. silicate, phosphate, etc.) and what is the chemical formula?

• Where is it primarily found (location and deposit type)?

• What is the hardness?

• What is the cost per carat (also what is the difference between carat and karat)?

• How do we use it (i.e. jewelry, electonics/ circuitry, batteries, fertilizers, explosives, fiberglass, capital (coin and bars as stocks or mutual funds), medical purposes, etc.)

• What colors does it exhibit and do they influence its value?

• Are there any issues surrounding it (i.e. geopolitical conflicts, company monopoly, artificial treatments, academic discussion surrounding application)?

• Something about this commodity you found interesting or surprised you (this could be an academic study, news article, or something that happened which affected the gemstones cost or abundance).

Students also generate a Mineral ID sheet (see attached) during their project. I compile all of these at the end of the term and make them available online for students to use as reference in future courses.

Mineral Sheet

References

Richart, R., Church, M., & Morrison, K. (2011) Making thinking visible: How to promote engagement, understanding, and independence for all learners. San Francisco, Ca.: Jossey-Bass.