THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, JULY
RECOGNITION
Geology TA receives national award
KRISTA MONTGOMERY news@kansan.com
At the end of June, Leah Moelling opened her email inbox and found a surprise-she was one of eight teaching assistants in the nation who received the National Association of Geoscience Teachers Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award.
"I got an email one morning from the association and that was the first I'd heard about it," Moelling, who was a teaching assistant (TA) for Geology 101 in the fall 2013 and spring 2014 semesters, said.
The second year Master's student studying palaeontology from Simsbury, Conn., was nominated by two geology professors.
"I'll probably never know exactly what they said, but in the award letter they noted that my professors had emphasized my enthusiasm, reliability and overall success with the students in the course."
Yifei Wang, a junior from China, said he enjoyed working with Moelling in Geology 101, and that she helped him understand the class. When explaining how tectonic movement affected rock layers, Wang said she used modelling clay to demonstrate rock ductility, making it easier for him to understand.
"A lot of times we'd go through the material,we'd help [students] at a very factual level,but also learn how to think through it on their own for when we were not there," Moelling said.
One of the ways she helps students understand the material is by using diagrams and visual tools to explain geological processes.
"From a personal standpoint, I've always found it very satisfying to be able to sit down and actually figure out a problem, even if I wasn't totally familiar with it," she said.
Moelling said she likes to throw cool geology tidbits into the material to catch the students interest.
"Sometimes it's the little things that will get them looking into a topic they haven't thought about before," she said.
Adebayo Adebogun, a senior from Nigeria, said Moelling helped him with his terminology.
Geology is mostly about terminology, Adebogun said, and you have to know it well.
"To me, what separates geology from other fields is the fact that it's a whole bunch of things going on geologically, and the best way to understand it is to have these geological terms," he said.
"There have been several occasions when I had some problems understanding the terminologies," Adebogun said. "She was . . . really patient to explain things to me."
Moelling said she didn't want the students to leave the class knowing only the facts.
"Facts, they can be looked up, but if [students] walk out knowing how to take a problem and look at it critically, and come up with an answer, I'd actually be okay if that answer was uncertain or ended up being incorrect," she said. "In the real world, we're not always sure of things, but we use the information that we have."
As part of the award, Moelling will receive a one year membership in the National Association of Geoscience Teachers and a subscription to the Journal of Geoscience Education.
Edited by Emma LeGault
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