Teaching
I am passionate about applying inquiry-based pedagogical approaches (e.g. the STAR legacy cycle) to teaching Geoscience to a diverse group of students. A list of my involvement in Geoscience education research is listed below and in my CV. Please feel free to contact me about course materials. Also, see my 2019 American Geophysical Union conference poster concerning improving diversity in Geoscience through modification of existing pedagogical approaches here.
GeoFORCE Curriculum Development
GeoFORCE is an out-of-school time program that aims to increase the diversity of students pursuing Geoscience degrees. The program recruits students from minority-majority schools in Texas and introduces them to geology during week-long summer courses. I, along with the GeoFORCE team, develop an inquiry challenge-based curriculum for the course. I also teach for the program.
GIS and Cartography Course Development
I developed and taught a one-credit graduate-level course at Southern Methodist University called GIS and Cartography in Earth Sciences. Prior to the course, less than two students in the department used GIS. Now, closer to ten or more students have used GIS applications within their theses or dissertations.
Sedimentation Lab Exercises Development
I was the teaching assistant for the undergraduate sedimentation course at Southern Methodist University for two years. During that time, I converted all the traditional cookbook labs exercise to inquiry-based ones. To date, roughly half of my students have gone on to attain graduate degrees in sedimentology! In Spring 2019, I stepped in and taught this course for half a semester.
FYRES Research Mentor Program Development
As an undergraduate, I spent a summer developing a research mentor program for an inquiry-based earth science research course that caters to students in their first semester of college. The program is taught at Calvin University where it is called First-Year Research in Earth Sciences. I was also a research mentor for the course.
Other Teaching Assistant Experiences:
- Computer Methods in Earth Sciences, SMU
- Mineralogy, Calvin University