Teaching Experience and Interests
My teaching experience includes lecture courses in Physical Geology, Historical Geology and general Earth Science. I am certified in WebCT and teach an internet-based course in Historical Geology. I also organized and taught laboratory courses in Physical Geology, Historical Geology, Petrogenesis, Mineralogy, Crystal Chemistry and Optical Mineralogy. Each of these subjects help draw attention to the mysteries of nature and challenge of discovery along with providing the scientific intrigue that makes teaching fulfilling and enjoyable. As a laboratory instructor, I felt invigorated when helping students through their exercises or when clarifying lecture material presented by the professor. My wonder and excitement over geology are reinforced when I explain various aspects and theories to students who appear eager to learn. I enjoy organizing and presenting lectures that convey the excitement of geology to students who are initially intimidated or indifferent towards science. I want them to sit up and take notice, experience the wonder, not be afraid to explore, and above all to be challenged. I always look forward to the beginning of each semester as an opportunity to correct old teaching mistakes and try new methods in attempting to achieve these goals.
Background
I was introduced to teaching in 1981 when I taught two sections of Earth Science at Waubonsee Community College, Sugar Grove, Illinois, while completing my Masters Degree at Northern Illinois University. I realized the difficulties in teaching Earth Science to non-majors, especially those who lacked interest in the subject, and began exploring ways of making geology more exciting and interesting (see below). My organizational and presentational skills were significantly refined during my years as an Exploration Geologist with Getty Oil/Texaco where I made frequent presentations to management and co-workers. Following my acceptance into the Ph.D. program at the University of Houston in 1987, I was assigned to develop and teach a newly created laboratory course in Petrogenesis. I devised a course plan, wrote lectures and organized the rock and mineral collections (which were in disarray) into weekly teaching sets. The class was a success and I received very favorable evaluations from the students. I was again assigned Petrogenesis Lab the following semester and, following reorganization of the Department curriculum, went on to develop and teach Crystal Chemistry Lab. After several semesters of receiving favorable teaching evaluations, I won the Teaching Assistant of the Year award from the Department in 1991. I spent the following summer developing a laboratory manual for Optical Mineralogy along with assembling teaching supplies and equipment into weekly class exercises. During the summer of 1993, I successfully completed a major assignment of organizing and cataloging the entire collection of rocks, minerals and crystal model sets in the department. My last few years as an instructor involved teaching introductory courses in Physical and Historical Geology from which I gained a great deal of experience.
Philosophy in Teaching
Environment-oriented earth science courses should begin with a big picture such as formation of the solar system, followed by a broad discussion of geologic processes and changes (e.g. climate, plate tectonics, erosion) that shaped the evolving earth into it's present state. Exciting phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanoes, catastrophic mass movements and floods should also be introduced early in the semester to peak student curiosity. Students therefore develop an appreciation of the power and control of nature over mankind.
Incorporation of the human dimension throughout the various topics is a major challenge. It's important to stress that the power of nature also includes dependency of mankind on natural resources and a healthy environment for survival. One perspective should reveal society's unfortunate role in environmental damage and depletion of natural resources in light of mankind's recent appearance on earth and how these negative effects directly impact our survival. Students, however, should also realize they have the ability to reverse these negative trends and to correct damages made to the environment. The discussions of mineral resources, flood control, mass wasting and disposal of hazardous materials should be incorporated and stressed in topics ranging from streams to economic geology.
Methods of Approach
New methods and approaches to teaching environmental-oriented earth science courses should obviously include visual models, colorful slides and transparencies, hand samples of rocks and minerals, field trips, class projects, and discussion of current events relevant to class topics. I utilize a computer via POWER POINT for visual presentations in class. I was recently certified in WebCT and presently teach an internet-based course in Historical Geology. I plan to continually improve and update my websites for students with links to various resources in order to supplement the lecture material and expand their interest in many different topics. I hope to apply various ideas, developed through collaboration with faculty and other sources, when teaching courses as a way of testing different teaching styles and instructional materials. Testing and refining these various techniques over several semesters will eventually produce a very effective core curriculum of earth science courses for majors and non-majors. I hope to continually organize and revise my notes, exercises and lecture materials to eventually produce textbooks for one or more courses.