My teaching is motivated by a curiosity about the natural world and its history. There is no substitute for hands-on learning for geology students, and I aim to help students grasp the vastness of geologic time, while exploring how similar evolutionary and sedimentary processes are at play throughout Earth’s history. I use fieldwork and lab activities to cement knowledge introduced in the classroom, and as an ideal environment for students to put the scientific method into action. I am committed to creating learning experiences for a diverse student body, because understanding our world better benefits everyone’s lives.
I also am invested in improving the accessibility and versatility of geology education, and have been developing virtualfield experiences that function across multiple scales and details of data. Here is detailed a virtual field project on the sedimentology and stratigraphy of Grand Ledge, Michigan (Marshall and Higley, 2021): grandledge.weebly.com!
Courses at Albion College:
GEOL 103: Introduction to Earth History & Lab
GEOL 115: Oceans, Atmosphere, and Climate
GEOL 205: Sedimentation and Stratigraphy & Lab
GEOL 209: Invertebrate Paleontology & Lab
GEOL 389: Life and Chemical Sediments (Spring 2021)
GEOL 210: Regional Field Geology (Spring 2022)
Albion College Geology Field Camp (Summer 2019)
Courses taught at Cornell College:
Marine Science (Fall 2018 & Spring 2019)
Invertebrate Paleontology (Fall 2018)
Paleoecology (Fall 2018)
Historical Geology (Spring 2019)
Sedimentology & Stratigraphy (Spring 2019)
Experiential learning highlights at Albion College:
Sedimentation & Stratigraphy – in-person and virtual field trips to Grand Ledge, Michigan: grandledge.weebly.com and published
Invertebrate Paleontology and Life & Chemical Sediments -- both courses include significant research projects driven by students on a topic related to my own research (both to provide samples, and for student data and interpretations to build towards publications)
Redesigned introductory Earth History and Oceans courses to incorporate extensive hands-on activities, discussions of environmental and racial justice, creative final projects (comic strips and Brain Scoop-style videos, respectively). Highlights include a Mass Extinction Mock Trial, and creating model ice cores to learn about relative age dating.
Experiential learning highlights at Cornell College:
Marine Science -- field trip to the Shedd Aquarium, Chicago; students created final video projects about ocean issues
Invertebrate Paleontology -- field research trips to the Devonian Fossil Gorge and Rockford Quarry, Iowa
Paleoecology -- field trip to Graf and Dubuque, Iowa; learning with the Taphonomy: Dead & Buried board game
Sedimentology & Stratigraphy – multiple field trips for student research projects to the Paleozoic sedimentary outcrops of Eastern Iowa and Southern Wisconsin (Starr's Cave, Wildcat Den State Park, Pike's Peak State Park; Devil's Lake and Parfrey's Glen, Baraboo)