Please note: This event has been rescheduled for February 25.

Please join us on February 25 as we welcome Dr. Katherine Ryker

Introductory classes play a critical role for geology, serving as a way to train future citizen scientists and recruit majors who may have not previously considered a geology major seriously. However, we don't know much about how these introductory students find their way to our classes. This presentation will share the development of a new survey designed to elicit student motivations for enrolling in introductory geology courses, and examine how responses compare across institution types. The goal of this survey is to better understand and refine recruitment and retention efforts into these classes. 

Katherine Ryker is an Assistant Professor of Geoscience Education in the School of the Earth, Ocean and Environment at the University of South Carolina. Her research is supported by organizations like the National Science Foundation and great graduate and undergraduate researchers. She co-authored "Instructional utility and learning efficacy of common active learning strategies," which received the Journal of Geoscience Education outstanding paper award in 2018. She is a Past President of the Geoscience Education Research division of NAGT.