Narrative Statement
Narrative Statement
Laura A. Guertin, Earth Science
As an Associate Professor of Earth Science at Penn State Brandywine, I have challenges in both teaching and research. I am not part of a department with colleagues in my own discipline; rather, I am the only Earth scientist on my campus. My teaching is not focused on preparing students for a future career in Earth science, but providing general education courses to satisfy graduation requirements for other majors. For research collaborations in the Earth sciences, I must find colleagues outside of the campus. Instead of seeing this as a barrier, I have created interdisciplinary collaborations here on campus and nationally with geoscientists.
TEACHING
I have based my teaching philosophy on overarching course goals rather than content-specific goals. When students complete an earth science or geoscience course with me, I want them to have improved their creative/critical thinking and problem-solving skills, as well as communication and presentation skills in a collaborative setting. Mastery of these skills is not only important to scientists but to any career path that a student may choose. For example, in GEOSC 020 (Planet Earth), students complete three original research projects where they develop hypotheses to test, collect and process data, then report their results. I want my students to be skilled, at least comfortable, with technology. My course materials and resources for students are online, and students complete much work with Microsoft Office, especially Excel.
All of the courses I teach are introductory-level College of Earth & Mineral Sciences (EMS) GN courses, filled with students that need to satisfy a general education science requirement. Unlike the other sciences taught on campus (biology, chemistry, physics), Earth science is a subject in which students have very little prior exposure and classroom instruction. I take these factors into consideration and focus on teaching students why science is important to society and what the relevance and application of science is to their everyday life. I introduce many scientific news stories in class for discussion. I utilize fieldtrips to place students in geologic settings to collect data and observe geologic processes. Example fieldtrips include a cemetery to collect tombstone weathering data, Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware to conduct a temporal and spatial analysis of beach profiles, and a behind-the-scenes tour of the dinosaur fossil collection at the Smithsonian for the honors students. I have been recognized by
RESEARCH
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Pedagogy in Geoscience Education
I am pursuing pedagogical research in the geosciences, specifically focusing on using technology in the introductory-level geoscience classroom. I have presented my pedagogical innovations at regional, national, and international geoscience meetings. I have published the results of my work in the Journal of Geoscience Education, the top pedagogical journal in the geosciences.
The main direction of my research is integrating the use of handheld technology for classroom and fieldwork in my geoscience courses. The College of Earth and Mineral Sciences has been very supportive of my work here at Brandywine and has provided me with twenty-four Palm Pilot handheld computers so that each student enrolled in my courses will have one to use. I have successfully utilized the Palms for in-class diagnostic surveys and quizzes and out-of-class data collection in the field. With the acquisition of PASCO handheld data collection equipment through an Environmental Education Grant with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), I am able to further integrate the Palm Pilots with field research projects for the students.
An additional area of investigation I am pursuing includes the use of virtual lectures and audio files in student learning of geoscience content. With the Brandywine commuting student population, I am exploring the use of virtual lectures and audio in a variety of formats and presentation styles to see if student learning is enhanced, hindered, or not impacted by the medium of presentation.
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Collaborator on Funded Projects (NSF and other)
I was a recipient of a Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence Innovation Incentive Grant which allowed me to develop and implement the Just-in-Time pedagogical teaching technique in my lecture-only courses to engage students in the course material in and out of class. Students respond to questions based on assigned readings through a web-based form. I examine the responses in the database the morning before lecture to see if students have misconceptions of course content, and then I develop collaborative in-class exercises as follow-up. The Schreyer Institute assisted me with an assessment plan, and we continuing to publish manuscripts based on student learning and Just-in-Time Teaching. I was invited to write a chapter on JiTT in the geosciences for an upcoming book on JiTT, due to be published in 2009.
I am working on projects funded through the National Science Foundation. I am currently a co-PI on "Collaborative Proposal: Building and Maintaining a Pipeline for Diversity: A Track2 Proposal" with PI Dr. Tanya Furman (PSU-Geosciences). Dr. Furman and I are collaborators on the NSF-GEO TEACH program, where we are currently developing and teaching summer graduate-level courses for in-service and pre-service teachers in Earth system science education. I have also collaborated on additional NSF-funded projects with colleagues at other universities.
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Undergraduate Research
I am in a unique situation where although my training allows me to supervise undergraduate research projects in geosciences, Earth sciences and geography, only a handful of students have pursued any of these majors my entire time on campus. This is not that unusual, for nationally students do not enter universities with these majors in mind and do not declare these programs until the end of their sophomore year. But I strongly believe in the benefits of undergraduate research, so I do not wait for students to arrive on campus having declared these majors. I encourage non-science students to pursue interdisciplinary independent research projects for the students that have an interest in the sciences. I work with students to choose their own research interests to pursue, not to work on my research. For example, a Letters, Arts, and Science major completed a human demography research investigation involving age, lifespan, and environmental factors determined from cemetery tombstones. A Business major recently developed and executed a one-day outreach project with local Girls Scouts to encourage them to pursue careers in the geosciences and perform hands-on water quality testing experiments. This event was held in conjunction with Earth Science Week and World Water Monitoring Day. I feel very privileged to have recently supervised a senior thesis for an Earth science major from University Park, where he spent the summer at my campus and in the field at Ocean City, MD, comparing the existence of modern anthropogenic and natural beach scallops. The Council on Undergraduate Research invited me to write a book chapter detailing how myself and my campus integrates research experiences into the first two years of college. I am also a co-PI on a NSF grant with Dr. Lydia Fox (University of the Pacific) to lead workshops for faculty interested in beginning to mentor undergraduate researchers.
ADVISING AND SERVICE
Advising is a very important endeavor to me. I keep in close contact with my advisees here at Brandywine and with the ones that have transferred to UP. I am working to enroll additional majors for EMS through my courses, and I collaborate with the campus Admissions Office to recruit more incoming
Since one of my overarching course goals is to have students effectively discuss and communicate science, I incorporate a variety of outreach/service activities into my courses. For example, Change Thru Geologic Time is a project in GEOSC 021 where students map out and research the changes in the 4.6-billion years of Earth's history. They present that information to the campus and area community and in the process collect funds for THON. This project resulted in a publication in the Journal of Geoscience Education. In Spring 2003, the students in my courses began conducting service learning activities with the Girl Scouts. To date, we have had multiple Girl Scout Badge Day projects on campus, with two projects resulting in peer-reviewed publications with student co-authors.
I am the co-coordinator for the intercollege minor on Civic and Community Engagement (CIVCM) for the university and coordinator for the Jane E. Cooper and Schreyer Honors Programs at Penn State Brandywine. I look forward to my continued involvement with the integration of academics, especially geosciences, with