Teaching Strengths

Breadth

MSU Mankato faculty get around. The core geology staff have experience teaching at universities and carrying out research from New York to California. The map on the left shows some of the places in the US where we have taught and/or completed personal research. The Mankato geology staff brings these experiences home to optimize student learning in classes large and small—in lectures and laboratories—and throughout our curriculum.

Personal Instruction

Most geology classes at MSU Mankato consist of integrated lectures and laboratories. Because laboratory seating is kept small, students get a lot of one-on-one time with their instructors. Our advanced geology classes typically enroll fewer than 15 students and include many opportunities for interaction in a positive learning environment. Faculty also reserve at least eight hours a week of "office hours" — time used to meet with students for further discussion (or help with homework).

Hands On Learning

Our geology staff all adhere to a philosophy of "learning by doing". Whether it is time spent with maps, minerals, or (computer) mouse in hand, geology at MSU Mankato is all about active learning. We really encourage undergraduate research and keep a constant stream of juniors and seniors gathering field data, analyzing samples in our labs, and presenting results to audiences including national geology organizations.

Field Work and Travel

We go, go, go! The Mankato area affords us many opportunities to get students into the natural world in nearly all of our classes. For example, the Environmental Geology class takes six separate field trips in a typical semester! When maximum student learning is best attained from sites not near Mankato— we go! From Lake Superior to the Black Hills and everything in between, we often use the great outdoors as our classroom.