Education

As our global society invariably reckons with the impacts of a changing climate, and the myriad and complex issues engendered thereby, we are increasingly called to recognize the interconnectedness of humanity and Earth-system processes (IPCC, 2014). Looking forward, humanity’s relationship with, and knowledge of, Earth is of paramount importance, and never has an education in the Earth Sciences been so societally necessary for the future and health of humanity. Moreover, as the burden of the climate change crisis is unequally shouldered by marginalized and lower-income socioeconomic groups, as well as by developing nations, diverse representation from a climate-conscious global community is vital to our movement toward a better future. Geoscience education is well-positioned to be an important player in shaping future generations of leaders, both within and outside of geoscience.

Historically, geoscience education has focused predominantly on the cognitive domain—that is, the conceptual understanding of geoscience, and the cognitive processes behind learning. Much less attention, however, has been given to the affective domain—that is, a learner’s emotional relationship with the content (McConnell & van Der Hoeven Kraft, 2011). Yet the importance of addressing the affective domain in educational settings is well understood. Research shows that intrinsic value and positive emotions like enjoyment of learning, hope for success, and pride in a given task result in more effective learning (Emotion in Education, 2007). It is thus that I believe that deeper, more creative, and intrinsically motivated learning is the natural outcome of a balanced cognitive-affective approach to teaching—one that honors the importance of the traditionally important, conceptually-based approach, but additionally seeks to guide students toward their having an emotional connection to content.

Inevitably, the question becomes how? This I believe is founded on the fundamental recognition that each student in every class enters carrying their perfectly unique blend of lived experiences, biases, sense of belonging, expectations, interests, sense of place, learning styles, disabilities, cultural and social influences, and so on. Designing a curriculum to specifically address and integrate each student and their uniqueness is an impossibility, but empowering students to engage with a curriculum through their unique lenses is not. I believe this can be done in many ways, limited only by the creativity of the educator. 

There are a few key ways that I prefer to approach this. One is by incorporating art into a curriculum both in lectures and as low-stakes, art-based assignments that ask students to engage with the content in new and creative ways. This has been shown to increase students’ sense of belonging, their interest in further geoscience education, their sense of place, and even their career goals (Parrish et al., 2024 in prep). Moreover, this was found to be true for non-male-identifying and non-white-identifying students—two groups traditionally less welcomed in the geosciences (Beane et al., 2021; Diversity in the Geosciences, 2020; Keane et al., 2021). Another is by seeking to grant students agency in their education. Agency in learning is of the utmost importance as it empowers students to engage with a curriculum in ways that personally resonate, thus honoring the complex diversity present in a group and increasing the likelihood of enjoyment, interest, and intrinsic motivation (Bandura, 2006; Reeve and Tseng, 2011). I go about this in multiple ways, from offering students the option to engage with assignments in different ways (when possible) and self-assess to collecting daily “Gots and Nots”. Gots and Nots allow me to simultaneously have a finger on the pulse of how students are engaging with and understanding the curriculum while giving them the ability to anonymously offer feedback, thereby allowing me to adapt and update the way I teach from day to day and year to year. When possible, I prefer a “flipped classroom” model (e.g. Brame, 2016; Jamaludin & Osman, 2014; Stockwell et al., 2015). Again, this grants students the agency to engage with the curriculum on their own time with the added benefit of reserving class time for more creative, dynamic, and active modes of learning. Ultimately, I aim to approach my teaching with the heart of a student, that is, to allow it to grow and expand as both my experience and educational research evolve. 

Despite being fresh out of graduate school, I have ample experience in numerous and diverse settings that help me empathize with and mentor students. I’ve held several teaching/leadership roles both in and outside of geoscience that have taught me the importance of empathy, presence, and intentionality in such relationships. Moreover, I’ve worked as an intern and then Geological Technician for Whiting Petroleum and as an intern for Chevron, both of which allow me to speak from experience about industry geology. Finally, as a Whitman alum, I have the relatively unique perspective of having a deeper connection to the experience of Whitman geology students as they navigate the same program I did.

Whether by design or not, the deep emotional connection I developed to geoscience in my days as a student at Whitman has oriented me to the recognition, both in experience and now as part of my Ph.D. research, of the importance of such a relationship in fostering engagement, interest, and retention in a diverse student body. I would relish the opportunity to bring my passion for geoscience and education back to Whitman, this time to give rather than to receive. 

References

Bandura, A., 2006. Toward a Psychology of Human Agency. Association for Psychological Science 1.

Beane, R.J., Baer, E.M.D., Lockwood, R., Macdonald, R.H., McDaris, J.R., Morris, V.R., Villalobos, I.J., White, L.D., 2021. Uneven increases in racial diversity of US geoscience undergraduates. Commun Earth Environ 2, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00196-6

Brame, C.J., 2016. Effective educational videos: Principles and guidelines for maximizing student learning from video content. CBE Life Sciences Education 15, es6.1-es6.6. https://doi.org/10/gf5nz8

Emotion in education, 2007. , Emotion in education. Elsevier Academic Press, San Diego, CA, US.

IPCC, 2014. Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report, Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-0248(00)00575-3

Jamaludin, R., Osman, S.Z.M., 2014. The Use of a Flipped Classroom to Enhance Engagement and Promote Active Learning. Journal of Education and Practice 5, 124–131.

Keane, E.C., Gonzales, L., Robinson, D., 2021. Status of Recent Geoscience Graduates 2021.

McConnell, D.A., van Der Hoeven Kraft, K.J., 2011. Affective Domain and Student Learning in the Geosciences. Journal of Geoscience Education 59, 106–110. https://doi.org/10.5408/1.3604828

Parrish, E.C., Libarkin, J.C., Meyers, S.R., Cohen, G.C., 2024. Honoring the affective domain: re-envisioning geoscience education (in prep).

Reeve, J., Tseng, C.-M., 2011. Agency as a fourth aspect of students’ engagement during learning activities. Contemporary Educational Psychology 36, 257–267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2011.05.002

Stockwell, B.R., Stockwell, M.S., Cennamo, M., Jiang, E., 2015. Blended Learning Improves Science Education. Cell 162, 933–936. https://doi.org/10/f7qj49