I believe in science education which is consistent with the nature of scientific inquiry. Students should experience science in the classroom, in addition to reading or hearing about it. This approach starts with questions about nature relevant to students’ background experiences, actively engages them in collections and use of scientific evidence and, finally, follows up with the communication of results to peers. Student should learn science by doing science. My personal goal is to use active learning techniques not only to teach students the required course material, but also to introduce them to scientific methodology and the thrill of discovery. Accordingly, courses are designed to identify the relationships between theoretical concepts and their manifestation in the environment, through a combination of assigned readings, lectures and classroom discussions.
Courses Taught:
Chemical Oceanography 11:628:472 and 540 (grad)
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The goal of this course is to teach students how to apply basic chemical concepts to understand the distributions of natural and anthropogenic chemical constituents in the ocean, biogeochemical cycles and ocean evolution. The interdisciplinary nature of modem chemical oceanographic problems will be reflected in class material. Interactive problem solving will be emphasized in the classroom and in assignments so that students gain experience using real chemical data to predict the processes governing a wide variety of marine situations. Students will also be introduced to current research problems and methodologies in chemical oceanography in class and through readings of the scientific literature. Throughout the course, recent publications will be assigned as reading material along with chapters from the class text. Be forewarned this is a survey course and we will have to move quickly through many topics. Significant time will be needed outside of class to thoroughly understand readings and to fill in details of lecture topics. The goal is to equip students with a framework of understanding and knowledge of available resources so that the tools necessary for deeper understanding are available in lecture for solving related problems during research or other professional pursuits. |
Water Planet Geology 01:460:204
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This is an introductory course for non-science majors that deals with The Earth as an integrated system and explores the interactions between its major components: the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and the biosphere. In the first part of the course we'll explore the evolution of the earth system and the natural processes governing global environmental change. In the second part of the course we'll assess how human activities have influenced the natural system and examine their consequences to our environment. Text: The Blue Planet by Skinner, Porter & Botkin For inquiries please contact Ms. Abigail Ajala at: ajala@marine.rutgers.edu |
The geochemical basis of paleoceanographic proxies? 16:712:593
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The main goal of the course is to develop broad understanding of the geochemical basis of different proxies used in paleoceanography, within the context of the geochemistry of the modern ocean? The course will focus on the geochemistry of several elements and their isotopes thus providing the students rigorous tools to evaluate paleoceanographic records and understand elemental cycling in the ocean? We will not devote much time to interpretation of paleoceanographic records, which is the topic of other graduate courses such as Paleoceanography, but will explore in detail the geochemical approaches used in developing these records? Text:
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