My participation in teaching has definitely been one of the interesting and rewarding experiences during my time as both an undergraduate in Germany and Ireland and as a graduate student in the US. In graduate school I have had the opportunity to teach for five years in which I participated in five different courses. Working with Professors Jill Pasteris, Robert D. Tucker, Robert F. Dymek, Ghislaine Crozaz and William McKinnon I have been provided ample opportunities and responsibilities in the scientific training of students at Washington University. My responsibilities have included the usual grading and office hours, but also lectures, lab and homework development, field exercises, and course development. I have also had the distinct honor to be recognized for my work as a teaching assistant.
My belief is that teaching, like research, is an ongoing learning process in itself. As such, my philosophy toward education at the college level is (and hopefully always will be) a work in progress. Nonetheless, I think that there are a few simple principles that guide my teaching. I believe that my role as an educator is to help students learn. A simply stated idea, but one that requires a strong commitment. Just providing reams of information through reading and lectures is simply not enough. In order to gain a basic and fundamental understanding of scientific concepts and their uses requires a balance between presentation and reinforcement of ideas and relevant application of this knowledge.
I am a firm believer in the old cliché of "use it or lose it!" I have found that in courses where students participate in application of their knowledge (related to the real world), especially through laboratory and field exercise, that their understanding is much greater than otherwise. A perfect example is a petrology course that I have helped teach: St. Louis is situated close proximity to the St. Francois Mountains, the structural culmination of the Ozark Dome, where the only significant exposures of Precambrian crystalline rocks in the mid-continent region are found. The bedrock consists almost entirely of ~1.4 Ga granites and rhyolites, exposed in a series of nested caldera complexes. Students are each assigned 4-6 closely related samples to investigate, collected previously by the instructor. Using thin sections of each sample, accompanied by hand samples the students learn how to process the slabs for analysis. Once the analyses are completed, the students had been invited to characterize and interpret their data using all of the theoretical and practical approaches developed in the lecture part of the course. Each student then made a short presentation on their sample suite to the class, and the class then considers the results in their entirety. The most interesting part of this exercise comes later when the class visits the localities from which the samples were collected. Each student led a discussion on the outcrop, wherein they consider the chemistry of “their rocks” in light of petrographic observations and evaluation of their chemical analyses. The net result is that everyone, including the instructor, is humbled by the rocks! Nevertheless, this exercise enhances the learning experience for the students because it establishes a close connection between real data and real rocks.
I think that time is another ingredient to helping students master material, and I mean my time as well as theirs. Now, I have been fortunate to have small class sizes thus far, but I have always had an open-door policy toward my students, if they need help trying to get understand something, I try to help them whenever they have reached the point of needing to ask for that help. More often than not, I have found that just 10 minutes can totally make the difference in a student's understanding of material. Sometimes it takes more, and less often it requires the old, "maybe you ought to come to class a little more often." Regardless, I try to be available and open. The last basic principle of my teaching philosophy thus far is that the ability to communicate is one of, if not the most important tools with which students should leave school. Standard 'term papers' and fill-in-the-blank lab reports are simply insufficient to meet the needs of our graduating students. A concerted effort to learn the art of communication through writing and speaking throughout the educational process via extensive practice and feedback is the only way that we can hope to adequately prepare the preponderance of students.
1992–1994 Teaching
responsibilities for courses at the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, with
the focus on igneous petrology and isotopic geochemistry.
1998 Organized a 14 day field exercise with the focus Caledonian Geology of
Ireland in cooperation with Dr. Uwe Ring.
Since 1999 - present Teaching Assistant at Washington University, St. Louis,
MO for the following courses
EPSc 352 Earth
Materials: Fundamental
principles of crystal chemistry, symmetry and structure of crystals (minerals),
X-ray analysis of crystalline materials, information on the important mineral
groups (definition of the groups; composition, structure, physical properties,
occurrence, and usage of major mineral species); optical mineralogy.
Course examines both geological and environmental aspects of earth materials.
EPSc 200A Evolution of the Earth: Study of Earth as a dynamic, evolving planet. Rocks, minerals, fossils, and geologic features examined with emphasis on their use in understanding events that have shaped our world. Earth's interior as revealed by seismic waves, creation and destruction of ocean floors, building of continents and mountain ranges, volcanism, historical development of Earth and its life-forms.
EPSc 435 Petrography: This course will investigate the origin of selected igneous and metamorphic rock suites by integrating field, laboratory, and theoretical approaches to petrogenesis. Petrographic, electron microprobe, and X-ray fluorescence methods will be taught and utilized as tools in class exercises. Field trips to nearby localities.
EPSc 171A The Solar system: Survey of the planets and satellites of our solar system. Includes results of the Apollo missions to the Moon and NASA spacecraft missions to the planets and their satellites. Present ideas about the age, formation, and early history of the Sun, earth, and meteorites.
EPSc 441
Introduction to Geochemistry: A study of the origin, internal
composition, and geochemical evolution of the Earth. Reactions
and cycles presently operating in the Earth's atmosphere, hydrosphere, and
lithosphere. Introduction to meteorites and
cosmochemistry and to the use of stable and radioactive isotopes in geology.
Principles of geochemical analysis.
December 2000 Special lecturer
during the Graduate Summer School 'Magmatic Processes. Topic: ’Nature
and origin of granites', Galapagos, Ecuador.
As a “founding member” for the Washington University in St. Louis Peer Mentoring program my contact and interaction with undergraduates and graduates, from eighteen years old to mature students, has not only been based in college. This requires the social, pastoral and administrative care of students from a range of countries and cultures, studying for courses across all levels and disciplines. I have also been directly responsible for an for Washington University important Award the “Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award” in which student recognize faculty members of the greater Washington University community for their achievement in mentoring graduate students. This has afforded me knowledge of the different problems and needs of students at the one side while new incoming students adjusting to college life and at the other side what is necessary to create a good mentor relationship. During this time I also organized an informal seminar group for the graduate students who presented their research topics for a non-specialist audience. The aim of this group was to help students with their communication skills.
As a graduate mentor for the undergraduate geology club, I organized in cooperation with the local Science Center a one day discussion conference in November 2003 on multidisciplinary aspects of geological and enviromental research, including contributions from biology, geology and atmospheric sciences.
I also participated in an educational television program on “Geological problems and hazards” for the Kirch Media Gruppe, München.
Within the last few years I tutored gifted children within the St. Louis area in a class environment and on one to one basis over the internet within the outreach program of Washington University.
I believe that subject areas as broad as Geology deserve stimulating and enthusiastic presentation, using wherever possible everyday, human-scale occurrences to demonstrate phenomena with the extremes of scale we encounter in these subjects. I want to develop and teach courses which will emphasize the links between different scales of interaction and different study areas (astronomy, physics, chemistry, mineralogy and geology) to produce well rounded physical scientists who will feel prepared for future study or employment, within or outside the subject.
