Teaching

My overall teaching philosophy is centered on two themes: 1) Providing broad, interdisciplinary content, and 2) Engaging students in how to think and how to problem solve. I focus on broad themes because it is critical, even for non-majors, to see the interconnection among earth processes, particularly as we are accelerating our impact on the Earth System. Learning methods of how Geologists solve problems and think about problems is also important for non-science majors at is provides the context for forming opinions about scientific debates. I also feel that the historical aspect of Geology is critical, and work hard in courses to try to tie together the various sub-fields of geology in a historical context so that students—particularly grad students —see the relevance and importance of the regional historical setting of their thesis projects