Geoscience Education

The Geology faculty continually update and improve their courses and provide innovative hands-on learning experiences for our students. Some examples of this work in geoscience education are listed below.

  • Professor Schwartz has recently developed a virtual geologic field trip across the United States for his introductory geology courses; this virtual trip allows students to make connections between geologic processes learned in class and what they see around them.
  • Professor O’Brien has developed a new curriculum in biogeochemistry for first-year as well as upper level students. Recently she has integrated watershed research and geomorphologic mapping as part of the curriculum; some of these ideas are published as O’Brien (2006) and O’Brien and Shaffer (2013).
  • Professor Cole has developed new approaches for teaching field geology, focusing on applications from the environmental and petroleum industries. One aspect of this approach is published as Hoefler and Cole (1999).