Teaching
My favorite classes to teach are ones with labs or field trips. I think it is important for students to get their hands on rocks, fossils and or outcrop in order to make their own observations. This really helps solidify material that they’ve learned in lecture and I think it is an essential component of any Earth Science class. Plus, field trips and lab work are why I thought geology was so cool when I was a student! Seeing students that I teach fully grasp and engage with the science is very rewarding.
Top 3 classes I like to teach are:
- Forensic Geoscience: Students get to analyze the isotopic signature of their fingernails or hair to determine who drinks the most pop or who is the top carnivore of their class.
- Paleobiology: So many weird fossils!
- Historical Geology: It’s exciting to see students grapple with the immensity of deep time and how we measure it using various biological, chemical, magnetic, or astronomical techniques.
Outreach
Yale Open Labs Science Café Fall 2015: Short 10 minute presentation and afternoon meet and greet to answer questions from New Haven, CT kids and their parents about science and how to become a scientist.
More about Open Labs can be found here: https://theopenlabs.org/about
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPvhSDIHJrA
Education Specialist Summer 2009 & 2010, GeoCorps America Program at The Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument Interpretive Center: Developed and lead educational programs for visitors and trained volunteer docents and River Guides on local geology of Central Montana. If you love canoeing, fishing, camping, geology or beautiful scenery I highly recommend floating the Missouri River Breaks sometime!
Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument
