Monday, January 24, 2011















Nina F said...

Hi Garry - A primary goal of NPS intepretive park rangers is to help the park visitor have a "personal and meaningful experience" with whatever park they visit, be it a tiny historical site or a big western park where the geology and wildlife blows them away. When I first started with NPS in 2009 I had a brand new BS in geology and wanted to tell everyone EVERYTHING that I had learned! But people don't want to know everything, nor will they remember most of what a park ranger tells them. So we pick and choose 2 or 3 things that we hope will stay with the visitors as they move on about their lives.
It becomes quite a challenge to give visitors a 'real' impression of geologic forces without dumbing it down or trying to cram too much information into a 45-minute spiel(your 2 hours and 40 minutes with students). I was not a born story-teller (I write better than I speak!) but I continue learning interpretive techniques as I go. I stress the geology as best I can, but people come to parks like Katmai and Yellowstone for their own reasons, to see bears, or wolves, or whatever, and often have not even thought about the geology because (I have been told this) they "just never thought about it" or "it is too difficult to understand." It is just the scenery.
So it it my job to help them understand connections in the natural world in the short time I have with them. I never see them again once they leave. I don't have office hours nor does anyone email me with questions.

I enjoyed this post very much. You sound like you are a great teacher.

Silver Fox said...

I wonder what Ron's punchline was?

Kea Giles said...

Fantastic blog. Will bookmark so I can read it several times.

ryan said...

I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who feels this way about geology. Sometimes the academic world seems too serious for me. I would love to teach, but not necessarily high school and I don't have the PhD for universities. How is it teaching at a community college? Sounds like you're having fun.

Randy A. said...

Ryan: teaching at the community college level IS fun. But like any job, it can also be really frustrating at times.

Garry: What I'm wondering is why yesterday's post had a picture of what looks to me like a beach cobble that has been holed by boring clams. Is it just that it was vaguely heart shaped?

Rock Head said...


Loved your post. I'm covering that same material now. My goal is to get the students to understand that the Periodic Table has a system to it, and to apply that system to solve problems.

Garry Hayes said...

Thanks for the comments! Silver Fox, Ron was referring to a Dear Abby or Ann Landers column years ago when one of them, ahem, insulted women geologists. I think the quote was something like they were so ugly they could train lions without a switch. Ouch, but I think she got a lot of blowback about it.

Ryan, I love teaching in a community college. It won't work for you if you are a research-oriented geologist, because there is not time for much research. But if you like working with all kinds of interesting people, CC's are the way to go.

Randy, yes, it was the heart shape of the rock that made me choose it...

Malcolm V L said...

I can relate to part of the post. I often felt like an alien in 1st & some 2nd year geology courses, and yet it was my major!